EDUCATIONAL
REMI\NISCENCES
AND
SUGGESTIONS.
BY
,R,ATHARINE  E.  BEHR
NEW YORK:
J. B. FORD AND - COMPANY.
I 874.
I'
BEECHER. 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year x874, by
J. B.'FORD AND COMPANY,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
To AMERICAN WOMEN,
WHO, AS HOUSEKEEPERS, MOTHERS, AND
SCHOOL TEACHERS, ARE TO DECIDE THE SAFETY AND
PROSPERITY OF OUR COUNTRY,
THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.
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1)
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I
I 
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.......................  I
CHAPTER II.
WOMAN'S DOMESTIC DUTIES CULTIVATE THE INTELLECT.  4
CHAPTER III.
DOMESTIC TRAINING ILLUSTRATED.........   9
CHAPTER IV.
' HARTFORD SEMINARY............,.   27
CHAPTER V.
HARTFORD SEMINARY-MENTAL PHILOSOPHY.....  5
CHAPTER VI.
WOMAN'S INFLUENCE-AN EPISODE................   59
CHAPTER VII.
WESTERN FEMALE INSTITUTE............82
CHAPTER VIII.
MISS GRANT AND MISS LYON................       90
CHAPTER IX.
GOVERNOR SLADE...............    OO0
CHAPTER X.
BOARD OF NATIONAL POPULAR EDUCATION......    I1 4
CHAPTER XI.
MILWAUKEE FEMALE COLLEGE.......... 1    49 
~~vi  ~         CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XII.
/ COUNSELORS AND CO-LABORERS.......... I60
CHAPTER XIII.
TRUSTEES, SCHOOL COMMITTEES AND SUPERINTENDENTS. I77
CHAPTER XIV.
"   THE AMERICAN WOMAN EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION.. 200
CHAPTER XV.
AMERICAN WOMEN: WILL YOU SAVE YOUR COUNTRY?. 208
CHAPTER XVI.
QUERIES AND SUGGESTIONS......................238 
CHAPTER S.
INTRODUCTION.
T is over half a century, that the author of
this volume has devoted her time and
chief attention to the higher education of
woman, and has had a wide field both of observation and experience. Owing to this fact,
frequent requests have been made for some
records which will avail for the guidance of
others who are commencing similar efforts.
There are special reasons, at this time, for
directing public attention to the topics in this
work. The subject of "Woman's Rights and
Wrongs" is now agitating communities all
over the nation, sustained by wide spread
organizations of energetic, intelligent, and
conscientious men and women, many of them
in high positions of influence.
The question of woman's admission to
men's colleges and professional schools is exciting much discussion.
The subject of woman's health, as connected with methods of education, is involving many questions of difficulty and delicacy. 
2    EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
The question as to hown. far the supervision
and control of public schools and higher institutions of her own sex should be committed to women eqiaZly with men is another
topic that is increasing in public interest and
attention.   This is especially a matter of
more than ordinary interest, as very large
benefactions for establishing institutions for
women have recently been given exclusively
to the control of business and professional
men, who have had little or no experience in
regard to female education, and who are
seeking counsel from those who have had
more.
The personal history of the writer and her
family, friends, and co-laborers, will serve to
illustrate some important principles of mind
which have been too little regarded in family
and school education.
This contribution of past experience and
observation includes a narrative of serious
mistakes as well as of successes, which may
serve both as needed warning and cheering
encouragement. Especially will it illustrate
the beneficent power committed to cultivated
and benevolent American women, which it is
hoped ere long will be more effectively organ 
INTRODUCTION..
ized, so as greatly to promote the safety and
prosperity of our country.
As it has become so common for authors
and public characters to publish their own
autobiography, and as much of the family history of the author is already before the public, what follows of that nature will be allowed
without need of apology.
3 
CHAP TER ZI.
WOMAN'S DOMESTIC DUTIES CULTIVATE THE
INTELLECT.
A LARGE portion of housekeepers are
neither wives nor mothers, and yet have
the control and education of the young, who
are either orphans, or servants, or children of
friends. The aged and the sick also are
dependent on their counsel and ministries;
while often a family of boarders brings to
their care and sympathy persons of all ages,
characters and conditions. Thus many housekeepers have more difficult and complex
duties than usually rest on mnost wives and
mothers.
These multiform duties call into constant
exercise all the mental faculties, especially
those popularly called the intellectual powers.
Philosophers place among the intellectual
powers what in common parlance are called
sometimes Reason  and  sometimes Common
Sense. These are dependent on that feature
of our mental organization which leads every
sane mind to the feeling and belief that
II 
INTELLECTUALITY OF DOMESTIC DUTIES.
'~whatever is best for all concerned is right
as fitted to secure the end for which all
things are made." For, without any metaphysical or theological training, all men say
that whatever secures the most good with
least evil to all concerned is right. Thus
the words best and rig,ht in practical questions
express the same idea to the mass of mankind.
This feature of our mental constitution is
that which especially distinguishes man from
the lower animals; for the beasts have no
power to compare, to judge and reason as to
what is best for all concerned, even for life,
much less for the life to come.
This distinctive feature of a rational being
is constantly called into exercise by woman's
domestic duties. For a housekeeper must
attend, contrive, reason and judge every hour
of the day.
She must compare, imagine, calculate and
reason as to the best kind of house to seek;
the best way of furnishing and ornamenting
it; the best way of warming and ventilating
it; the best heating apparatus and the way
of managing it; the best cooking apparatus
for economy, convenience and comfort; the
5 
6    EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
best kinds of fuel for economy, health and
convenience; the best way of storing and
using it.  She must arrange and  provide
the best kind of food for the young, the aged
and the invalid; the best modes of purchasing, storing and preserving it; and the best
modes of cooking, for health, economy and
enjoyment. She must decide as to the best
stuffs for clothes and furniture, the best way
to cut, fit and mend; the best mode of washing and ironing, and the best way to'secure
the neat and cleanly ways of comfort.
A housekeeper is responsible for the health
of all the inmates of her family; especially of
children and servants who have not the needful knowledge  and  discretion.   She must
seek-the best modes of preserving health and
of treating common illness so as to keep a
doctor away or send for him when needed;
she needs to know the best way of managing
a new born infant and its mother; the best
way to manage young children; the best way
of training and controlling servants; the best
way of giving religious instruction, and the
best school for the children.' All these topics
of transcendent interest for both time and
eternity are demanding the exercise of every 
INTELLECTUALITY OF DOMESTIC DUTIES.
intellectual power for almost every woman
who is a housekeeper.
To these add the distinctive duties of the
wife and mother, and there is another long
list of questions to be considered, compared,
reasoned'upon, and judged in settling what is
the best and so the right course.
It is true that in many of these duties a husband and father shares both care and responsibility. But many housekeepers have neither
father nor husband.  Moreover that vast majority of men who toil all day in the field, the
shop, the mill, the store and the office, are at
home but little during the day, and often are
too wearied to bear any more burdens. The
woman must, in such cases, do much of the
contriving, executing and governing in the
family state, and in almost every department;
while the husband or father listens to her results with the veto power which in most sensible families is seldom used.
In a family of children in humble or even
moderate circumstances, the eldest daughter,
almost in infancy, begins to share the duties
and cares of the mother.  She learns to help
wash and dress the younger ones, to guard
and regulate the impulses of an infant, and
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8          EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
to contrive methods of safety and amusement.
She aids in teaching language, learns herself,
and then teaches the younger to sew, knit,
and perform many other domestic operations
which demand intellectual effort and perseverance, as much so as any school study or
exercise. 
CHAP TER HII.
DOMESTIC TRAINING ILLUSTRATED.
T  has been maintained in the previous
pages that those duties of  the family
state which are woman's distinctive profession tend to cultivate quick perception in
observing, active imagination in contriving,
abstraction and comparison in forming judgment, and a constant exercise of reason and
common sense in determining what is best to
be done or left undone in the manifold employments of a housekeeper, wife and mother.
It is the object of what follows to illustrate
this.position by the personal experience both
of myself and of many of my co-laborers in
education.
It was my good fortune to be born in humble circumstances, the eldest ot thirteen children, all but two trained to maturity, and
most of them in a good degree under my
care through infancy and childhood.
My mother lived till I was fifteen, and she
and her sisters taught me to read, write and
spell, with a few lessons in geography. They 
10         EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
also gave me a little instruction in arithmetic
which was soon forgotten.
They also taught me to sew neatly, to knit,
to perform properly many kinds of domestic
labor, and to aid in the care and training of
the younger children. My mother taught me
to draw and paint in water colors, and then
to varnish with a fine white varnish she learned
how to prepare from a small English Encyclopedia. When about fourteen I thus painted
and varnished a chamber set of fine white
wood made to order, including bureau, dressing table, candlestand, washstand and bedstead. These were ornamented with landscapes, fruits and flowers, and at that time
were a great novelty.
Much of my success in after life has been
owing to certain traits in my mother's character and their influence on my early training.
These were a high ideal of excellence in
whatever she attempted, a habit of regarding
all knowledge with reference to its practical
usefulness, and  remarkable perseverance in
holding on persistently till the object sought
was attained.
In illustration of these traits, at one time
my father bought a bale of cotton simply be 
DOMESTIC TRAINING ILLUSTRATED.
cause it was cheap, without the least idea or
plan for its use. On its arrival, my mother
projected a carpet for her parlor, such an
article being unused through the whole primitive town, where in place of carpet were lumps
of wet sand evenly trodden down, and then
stroked with a broom into zig-zag lines. So
she carded and spun the cotton, hired it
woven, cut and sewed it to fit the parlor,
stretched and nailed it to the garret floor, and
brushed it over with thin paste. Then she
sent to her New York brother for oil-paints,
learned how to prepare them, from an Encyclopedia, and then adorned the carpet with
groups of flowers, imitating those in her
small yard and garden. In like manner she
painted a set of old wooden chairs, adorned
them with gilt paper cut in pretty figures, and
varnished them. This illustrates the esthetic
element of her character directed to practical
usefulness, while her beautiful specimens of
needlework, her remarkable paintings of fruits,
flowers and birds, her miniature likenesses of
friends on ivory, accomplished when the
mother of four and five young children, a
housekeeper and a teacher of a boarding
school, are all illustrations of her high ideals
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12         EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
and her perseverance in attaining excellence
in most unfavorable circumstances.
As teacher of drawing she was led to seek
the rules of perspective in her small English
Encyclopedia. There she encountered not
only difficult mathematical problems in perspective, but also a mistake in one, which she
persevered in studying till she discovered and
rectified it.  In some book of travels she
had read of the Russian stove, and so with
only her Encyclopedia and a common mason,
she had one constructed which warmed six
rooms with no more fuel than many of her
neighbors used for one fire.
One specimen of perseverance which especially attracted notice was a puzzle of iron
rings.inserted in a steel bow so that it seemed
impossible to take them out without breaking.
Day after day, while nursing an infant, she
persevered till she succeeded, to the wonder
of all.
Some of my own natural traits were decidedly the opposite of those of my mother,
and what I accomplished in after life was in
a good degree owing to her early training
which modified these defects. But oh, the
mournful, despairing hours when I saw the 
DOMESTIC TRAINING ILLUSTRATED.
children at their sports, and I was confined
till I had picked out the bad stitches, or
remedied other carelessness, or had completed
my appointed "stents "!
But I was trained to perfect and uncomplaining obedience, and after years of drilling I learned to perform whatever I attempted; at least with moderate excellence. But
my good educators all had a hard task; for
it seemed as if I had a decided genius for
nothing but play and merriment.
Yet, in due time, even in childhood, I was
comforted by finding that my uninteresting
toils, with long sheets to be over-sewed and
pillow-cases to be neatly hemmed, and other
family duties, could be made available to
amusement. For I contrived with scissors,
needle, paint, and other matters to construct
dolls of all sizes, sexes, and colors, and surround them with all manner of droll contrivances. For instance, the Queen of Sheba,
with a gold crown, and her negro driver were
seated in a chariot made of half a pumpkin,
scooped out, shaped, and furnished with
wheels, while four crook-neck squashes were
transformed to horses for the chariot. With
my brother's knife I whittled out ears and
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14         EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
legs, and stuck them into the squashes; and
I also made appropriate harness. When all
was completed, I was amply rewarded by the
surprise and hearty laugh of my father, and
then by the merriment of all the family.
My object in thus introducing this and
other items of family history is to show that
interest in practical duties not only tends to
develop the intellectual powers, but that inequalities in mental powers may be remedied
by appropriate culture. It is admitted that
there are, in both sexes, high and low grades
of mind, and that some minds have an original superiority in certain faculties that is
usually called "genius." But it can be shown
that appropriate culture can raise the grade
of mind, and sometimes secure a development equal to natural genius. And what is
still better, such appropriate culture may rectify natural inequalities in mental character
so as to produce that most perfect of all
existences, a superior and well-balanced mind.
I think that my mother's natural and acquired traits tend to prove that there is in mind
no distinction of sex, and that much that
passes for natural talent is mainly the result
of culture. 
DOMESTIC TRAINING ILLUSTRATED.
For my father had that passionate love of
children which makes it a pleasure to nurse
and tend them, and which is generally deemed a distinctive element of the woman. But
my mother, though eminently benevolent,
tender, and sympathising, had very little of
it. I cannot remember that I ever saw her
fondle and caress her little ones as my father
did; but her devotion to them seemed more
like the pitying tenderness of a gentle angel.
Then, again, my father was imaginative,
impulsive, and averse to hard study; while
my mother was calm and self-possessed,
and solved mathematical problems, not only
for practical purposes, but because she enjoyed that kind of mental effort. She had
not the taste and talent for poetry that her
sister Mary showed in early life, and her style
of writing was simple, clear, and unornamented.  But my father was quite the reverse in natural tendency to, illustration, and
might have been a poet had his profession
led to that culture.
My father was trained as a dialectician, and
felt that he excelled in argumentation; and
yet my mother, without any such training, he
remarked, was the only person he had met
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16        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
that he felt was fully his equal in an argument. Thus my father seemed, by natural organization, to have what one usually
deemed the natural traits of a woman, while
my mother had some of those which often are
claimed to be the distinctive attributes of
man.
My mother had the refined and shrinking
nature which made her unable to take the
lead in general gatherings as ministers' wives
are expected to do, so that she was always
seen to blush whenever in any way made
conspicuous. But at the same time, in sudden emergencies she had more strength and
self-possession than my father.
At sixteen, I lost this lovely mother, and
her place for a considerable time was taken
by my father's only sister, Aunt Esther.
From my father's autobiography I transfer
the following account (written by myself)
of one who had a decided influence in
forming certain habits and opinions, which
greatly contributed to my future success.
"The first event that followed the death of
our mother was the removal of' Aunt Esther,
with her mother, to our house, to take charge
of the family. What a sacrifice of personal 
DOMESTIC TRAINING ILLUSTRATED.
tastes, ease, and comforts this was to them,
can be better appreciated if we consider what
was their character, what they gave up, and
what they undertook to do.
"Grandma Beecher was a fine specimen of
the Puritan character of the strictest pattern.
She was naturally kind, generous, and sympathizing, as has been seen in her great tenderness for animals; in her wise and patient
accommodation to her husband's' hypochondriac infirmities; in her generous offer to give
up her little patrimony rather than have Father, her step-son, taken from college. Conscience was the predominating element in her
character.   She was strict with herself and
strict with all around.
"Aunt Esther, her only child, was brought
up under the most rigid system of rules, to
which she yielded the most exact and scrupulous obedience; and yet, such was her mother's fear that one so good and so bright
would'think more highly of herself than she
ought to think,' that the result was most depressing on the character and happiness of
the daughter.  The habitual sense of her own'shortcomings; the dread of any increase of
responsibilities; the fear of sinful failure in
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18         EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
whatever she should attempt; the quiet life
she had led for so many years with grandma
in the' little establishment of bedroom, parlor,
and half a kitchen; her habits of extreme
neatness and order-all these seemed to forbid even the wish that Aunt Esther should be
asked to assume the management of such a
household as ours.
"But her love and sympathy for us overcame all impediments, and very soon her
parlor opened from our north entry, her neat
carpet, her bright brass andirons, with grandma in her rocking-chair, her trim, erect figure,
with bright black eyes and arched eyebrows,
all combining to induce carefulness, neatness
and order around the premises.
"Our mother's early training was in the
free and easy dominions of General Ward,
while Grandma Foote's chief doctrine was
that everybody. especially children, should
do everything and have everything they
wanted.
"At both Nutplains and East Hampton the
style of housekeeping was of the simplest order, demanding little outlay of time or labor
compared with more modern methods.  The
style of dress for children also required very 
DOMESTIC TRAINING ILLUSTRATED.
little expense of material or of time in making. Our mother was gifted with great skill
and celerity in all manner of handicraft, and
was industrious in the use of time. Thus
neither mantua-maker, tailoress, or milliner
had ever drawn on the family treasury.
"But kind, anxious, economical Aunt
Esther had no gift in this line. As a close
economist, as an accomplished cook, as systematic, orderly, and neat in all family
arrangements, none could excel her, but with
scissors and needle she felt helpless and less
than nothing; so that, although she could
patch and darn respectably; and grandma
could knit and mend stockings, the preparation of wardrobes for the eight children rose
before her as a mountain of difficulty. It
was here that Father's good sense, quick discernment, and tender sympathy intervened.
He gently and tenderly made me understand
the great kindness of grandma and Aunt
Esther in giving up their own quiet and comfort to take care of us; he awakened my sympathy for Aunt Esther in her new and difficult position; he stimulated my generous ambition to supply my mother's place in the care
of the younger children, especially in the de
19 
20        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
partment in which he assured me he knew I
would excel, and that was where Aunt Esther
most needed help.
"Happily, our mother's skill in household
handicraft was bequeathed in good measure
to her daughters; and thus stimulated, I, for
the first time, undertook all the labor of cutting, fitting, and making all the clothing of
the children, as well as my own. So also,
under Aunt Esther's careful training, sister
Mary and I were initiated into all the arts of
kitchen labor, cheered and animated by the
consciousness that it comforted father and
relieved Aunt Esther.
"There are some who control the young in
such a way as to make them feel that all
they do is nothing more than what they
ought to do, and usually considerably less.
Others have the happy faculty, which our father possessed in a remarkable degree, of discovering and rejoicing over unexpected excellence in character and conduct. He not only
felt pleased and grateful when kindnesses were
done to him and his, but he had the gift of
expression. He not only discovered and appreciated all that was good in character and con-'
duct, but he made known his pleased approval. 
DOMESTIC TRAINING ILLUSTRATED.
"Oil and water were not more opposite
than the habits of Father and Aunt Esther,
and yet they flowed along together in all the
antagonisms of daily life without jar or friction. All Aunt Esther's rules and improvements were admired and commended, and,
though often overriden, the contrite confession or droll excuse always brought a forgiving smile. Indeed, it was Father's constant
boast to Aunt Esther that, naturally, he was a
man possessing great neatness, order, and system; that the only difficulty was, they were
all inside, and that it was Aunt Esther's
special mission to bring them out. And he
had a triumphant way of taking her around,
whenever he arranged his outdoor implements
or indoor surroundings in any respectable
order, to prove to her that it was his nature to
be orderly and careful.
"In this new administration the older children were brought in as co-laborers, inspired
by the sympathetic, grateful and appreciative
sentiments Father communicated to the family.
All the children were in habits of prompt
obedience, were healthful, cheerful, and full
of activity. With these busy workers around,
and Aunt Esther to lead, every room, from
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22         EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
garret to cellar, was put in neat and regular
trim; every basket, bundle, box, and bag
was overhauled, and every patch, remnant,
and shred laid out smooth, sorted, and rolled,
folded, or arranged in perfect order; all aged
garments were mended to the last extremity
of endurance; pegs and hooks were put in
position, where coats,  pantaloons,  jackets,
hats, caps, bonnets, shawls, and cloaks were to
conform to the rule,'a place for everything,
and everything in its place.' The barn, the
garden, and the orchard, were the only cities
of refuge from this inflexible rule.
"The special object of nightmare" dread to
Aunt Esther was debt. The fear that under
her administration the expenditures would
exceed the salary could be relieved by no
possible calculations; and so we learned, on
every hand, rules of the closest economy and
calculation. We were saved, however, from
all uncomfortable retrenchments by the
abundance of gifts from generous and sympathizing  friends  and parishioners.   So we
gained the benefits without the evils. But, in
spite of all, Aunt Esther was burdened with
ceaseless anxiety. The responsibility of providing for the family, the care of eight young 
DOMESTIC TRAINING ILLUSTRATED.
children as to wardrobe, health, and behavior,
and the thousand and one responsibilities that
rested upon one so exact, so conscientious,
and so self-distrustful, was a burden too great
to bear, and we all felt anxious and troubled
to see her so burdened; yet she rarely complained, seldom found fault, and never scolded. Whenever anything went wrong, or the
children misbehaved,  grandma's black eyes
peered over her spectacles like two cold stars,
and Aunt Esther sighed, and looked discouraged and sad.
"The experience of this year of our family
history was similar to that of a landscape in
sunshine suddenly overcast with heavy
clouds.   The  gentle,  contented,  smiling,
healthful mother was gone, and the sunlight
of our home departed with her to return no
more."
When I was sixteen, a second mother,
aided by wealthy friends, introduced a more
complete and refined style of house-keeping,
which she had acquired or observed in the
families of her two uncles, Gov. King, of
Maine, and Rufus King, a former Ambassador
of the United States to England. Under her
quiet and lady-like rule, I again was trained to
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24         EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
habits of system, order, and neatness entirely
foreign to my natural, inherited traits. As it
respects personal habits, while in the most
unfavorable circumstances, she was a model
of propriety and good taste.   Though  the
mother of infants and step-mother to eight
children, and at times with young lady boarders added to her cares, I think I never saw
her appear in the morning, or at any other
time, with an unneat or disordered dress.
Her closets and drawers were at all times in
perfect order;' and even when most sleepingrooms are in confusion, hers was remarkable
for its order. Her rule, for herself and for her
subordinates, was always to put every article
in its proper place as soon as it was released
from use. For want of obedience to this rule,
both housekeepers and servants, even after a
general cleaning up, keep their surroundings in
perpetual confusion. What she accomplished
in our family in preserving punctuality, order,
and neatness, with a husband and several
children whose habits in these respects were
directly contrary to her own, was a marvel.
And it was done without the vulgar practice
of scolding.   She had  a most sweet and
gentle mode of speech, which, even in the most 
DOMESTIC TRAINING ILLUSTRATED.
trying circumstances, never became load or
harsh. That she sometimes failed in manifesting pleasure and words of approval at the
well doing of subordinates, only proved that
the best of women have opportunities for improvement.
I came under her care just as I was entering a society including law students from
almost every State in the Union, and from
her I received instruction on those rules of
delicacy and propriety so important for every
young woman. At the same time, she was a
pleasing example of atractive lady-like manners and excelled in cultivated and refined
conversation.
Some of the results of my domestic training
under-such superior educators will appear in
the following outline of my experiences as a
school teacher.
As to my school training, it amounted to
very little. My mother, at the age of nine,
had given me some instruction in reading,
writing, and arithmetic, and a good deal in
drawing and painting, which suited my taste
better than study.
My teacher, Miss Sarah Pierce, received
me when only ten years old in her large
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26        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
school of young ladies.  She had a quiet
relish for humor and fun that made her very
lenient toward one who never was any credit
to her as a pupil, while my father was equally
indulgent.   Moreover, it was not till I left
school, and Miss Pierce made her nephew,
Mr. John P. Brace, her associate, that the
higher branches were introduced, so that little else was required but the primary branches, drawing, painting, and music. In school
and between schools I was incessantly busy in
concocting or accomplishing plans for amusement. One of these methods, in which my funloving associates aided, was a fashion practised by many in the school, of adroit guessing.
Then I would learn the answer sometimes to
only one question, and my associates, by unnoticed change of places, would contrive to
have it come to me. With these contrivances
and a few snatches at books, I managed to
slip along without much trouble. Occasionally my teacher would express wonder as to
when and how my lessons were learned, and
complimented  me  as "the busiest  of all
creatures in doing nothing." 
CHA P TER I.
HARTFORD SEMINARY.
HE  preceding particulars of personal and
family history will indicate that much
which is often ascribed to remarkable native
talents, is result of appropriate culture. And
in the following narrative of what has been
accomplished by my co-laborers and myself
the last fifty years, it will be seen that it was
achieved chiefly by good, common sense, persevering energy and high religious principle,
and not by remarkable genius, or by the aid
of that literary and scientific training sought
in our colleges and regarded as a marked
privilege of which women have been unjustly
deprived.
When nearly twenty I began preparation to
teach, by taking lessons on the piano and in
this, as in my domestic training, I was favored
by a very thorough and accurate teacher. I
had no special taste or talent in that direction
as was manifest from the fact' that when I was
eleven years old, a lady parishioner gave me
lessons for two years, and having no piano, I 
28         EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
did not feel interest enough to accept her invitation or that of another friend to use their
instruments.
My success in this case was chiefly owing
to the quickening of my faculties by interest
in gaining alractical result, that o'f making myself independent, and aiding to support my
family. For though I had forgotten both
notes and keys, under the training of a friend
warmly interested in my success, in a year
and a half I was recommended to teach in a
school, in New London, and play the organ
in an Episcopal church. I also taught drawing and painting-having been further qualified by a lady who had taken lessons of the
best masters in New York. But at that per iod -very humble performances in these ac complishments gave satisfaction.
When, at twenty-twivo, I commenced pre paration to teach "the higher branches" in
which I had had no knowledge, I also was
favored by most thorough instruction from a
friend in the family where I spent the winter.
Then it was that I first took in hand the mys tical performances in DabolI's Arithmetic, and
as my domestic training had formed a habit
of enquiring why any practical operation was 
I-IARTFORD SEMINARY.
to be performed, I began to annoy my teacher
with demanding we,y the figures were to be
put thus, and so, and why a given answer was
gained. And so when I had pupils in this
branch I taught as no book then in use did,
and finally made an arithmetic first issued in
manuscript by my teachers, and then published. Of this book Prof. Olmstead, of Yale
College, wrote to me thus:
"Your Arithmetic I have put into the hands
of my children, giving it a decided preference
over those in common use. Reflecting how I
might best serve you, it has occurred to me
that when your revised edition is out, I may
write a notice of it, more or less extended, for
the Christian Spectator, which could be used
by your publisher."
This fact is the more striking, because of
all studies I ever attempted this was both the
most difficult and most uninteresting; so that
my success was wholly owing to the interest
xcited by its practical usefulness in my profession. That same winter, beside completing Daboll, I went through Day's Algebra, a
few exercises in Geometry, a work on Logic,
and two small works prepared for schools, on
Chemistry and Natural Philosophy.
29 
30         EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
Then, associated with my next sister, I
commenced a school for young ladies in
Hartford,  Conn.   We  began in the upper
chamber of a store with seven young ladies,
receiving none under twelve; and my younger
sister (now Mrs. H. B. Stowe) joined us as a
pupil when she had attained that age.
Soon the increase of pupils removed us to
a larger chamber, and thence to the basement
of a church, where nearly one hundred young
ladies had only one room, no globe or large
maps, and, most of the time, no black-board,
and only two teachers. At this time I had
heard that Mrs. Willard and one or two others
were teaching the higher branches, but I knew
nothing of their methods. All the improvements I made were the result of the practical
training of domestic life, in which the constant aim had been to find the best way of
doing anything and everything; together with
the very thorough manner in which, at mature age, I was taught.
Owing to previous neglect in the proper
training of my pupils, I had to form classes
in different degrees of advancement in all the
primary branches, in addition to those in the
higher branches, and, in consequence, scarcely 
HIARTFORD SEMINARY.
ten minutes could be allowed to each class
for recitation; and even then, I had to employ
some of my best scholars as assistant pupils,
a method which afterwards was reduced to a
system and proved a most invaluable method,
as will be shown hereafter.
But at this time the whole process of our
school-keeping consisted in trying to discover
how much each pupil had committed to memory without any help from her teacher; nor
could it be ascertained how much was clearly
understood, or how much was mere memorizing of words. To preserve order while attending to recitations all in one room, to hear
such a succession of classes in so many different studies, to endure such a round of confusion, haste and imperfection, with the sad
conviction that nothing was done as it should
be, now returns to memory as a painful and
distracting dream. The only pleasant recollection is that of my own careful and exact
training under my most accurate and faithful
brother Edward, and my reproduction of it to
my sister Harriet and two others of my brightest pupils. With them, I read minost of Virgil's
,Eneid and Bucolics, a few of Cicero's Orations, and some of the finest parts of Ovid
31 
32        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
portions of the last being turned into English
verse by one of the class. In addition to
their proficiency as scholars, knowing my love
of humor, they frequently contrived to inter
sperse some merriment with their lessons.
For example, when  studying the story of
Phoebus delivering the chariot of the Sun to
his son Phaeton, they remembered that old
ladies driving a horse and chaise, and having
np other resource, would sometimes double
up the long reins and use them as a whip.
And so, in the passage where Phoebus, with
tearful eyes, delivered the reins, he said:
"Parce, puer, stimulis, et fortius utere loris."
-Ovid Meta., II. I27.
When they came to this line, all of them
restraining their merriment and looking as
usual, one of them translated it thus:
Oh, my son, save the whip,
And use the ends of the reins!
They were rewarded, first by my puzzled
look of astonished inquiry, followed by a
burst of simultaneous laughter, so long continued as to attract the whole school to learn
the cause.
At the end of four laborious years, I drew 
HARTFORD SEMINARY.
the plan of the present seminary, except the
part containing the Calisthenic hall,-Mr. Daniel Wadsworth aiding in preparing the front
elevation. This I submitted to some of the
leading gentlemen of Hartford, and asked to
have such a building erected by subscription.
Many of them were surprised and almost dismayed at the " visionary and impracticable"
suggestion, and when it became current that I
wanted a study hall to hold one hundred and
fifty pupils, a lecture room, and six recitation
rooms, the absurdity of it was apparent to
most of the city fathers, and, with some, excited ridicule. But the more intelligent and
influential women came to my aid, and soon
all I sought was granted. This was my first
experience of the moral power and good judgment of American women, which has been my
chief reliance ever since.
It was  eight years from the commencement of my school, when, my health beginning to fail, I was requested, by the trustees,
to prepare a statement of my modes of
teaching and management for the use of
my successors. This was put, in an enlarged form, in as mall volume entitled, Suggestions on Education, which excited much
33 
34         EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
attention both at home and in Europe.   It
was noticed in an article in the North American Review, then the chief American periodical, and also in the Rzevue Encyyclopedique, the
leading literary periodical of,urope.  The
following is a brief outline of that volume
with additional particulars.
My first attempt was to secure, as far as
possible, the division of labor and responsibility Peculiar to our college system.   To each
teacher was given the charge of only two or
three branches, and with her were associated
the brightest and best scholars in her classes
as assistant pupils.   I trained the teachers,
they repeating the same drill to the assistant
pupils, who thus were prepared to become
teachers. For I deemed it as important to
learn how to communicate as to acquire
knowledge.
This method enabled me to have small
classes, and to put together, in one class, only
those equal in abilities and acquirements; so
that none were hurried forward and none retarded for the sake of others, as is the common fault of large classes. Thus, in Arithmetic, there were at one time, say, three classes
in diverse degrees of advancement in three 
HARTFORD SEMINARY.
adjacent recitation-rooms, the walls of which
were lined with blackboards. In these, from
six to ten pupils were simultaneously performing exercises under the care of an "assistant
pupil," while the teacher responsible for these
branches was passing from one room to
another, either superintending or teaching.
Another feature was the generalization of
the leading principles of each study, and the
avoidance of details. Thus in Arithmetic, instead of the usual long and multitudinous
examples under each of "the ground rules,"
the pupils were trained to do, at one time, a
simple problem in Common Addition, Compound Addition, Addition of Vulgar and of
Decimal Fractions, and then to point out
wherein these methods were alike, and where.
they differed. The same was required in
Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division. It
was found that, when this was thoroughly
mastered, but very few of the many  other
processes which fill our school Arithmetics
were needful, or they could easily be acquired
at any time in after-life, when cube-roots, tare
and tret, and other practical exercises were
needed, as they rarely are, by a woman in her
domestic affairs.
35 
36   EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
So in geography, Woodbridge & Willard's
Geography was the text-book in which very
short lessons were given to commit to memory, and each recitation-hour was chiefly occupied, by the teacher, with interesting connected
details of history or accounts of travelers.
The plan of that Geography, with this method
of recitation, saved an immense amount of
time and labor required by most of our geographies. For example, after the isothermal
lines were thoroughly understood, and the
productions and animals of the globe classified according to these lines, a pupil could tell
the chief productions of any country in the
world without further study. But most geographies now require an account of the productions of each separate country, unaided by
such generczlization, thus greatly increasing the
demand on time and labor. The same method
was adopted in many other cases by generalizations not found in geographies that have
supplanted this one so much more philosophical.
Another method was associating kindred
and connected branches. Thus the lessons
of geography and history would be connected
with simultaneous periods in polite literature 
HARTFORD SEMINARY.
and the history of civilization, and the exercises in composition would  sometimes  be
arranged with the same general object.
Another method attempted was to excite an
interest for discovering new or other methods
than those of the text-book.  For example,
the classes in Geometry were told that there
was more than one method for demonstrating the 47th Prop. of Euclid, and all were
excited to discover another, and it was most
interesting to witness the intellectual activity
and the enthusiasm of success in so large a
proportion of the pupils.
In teaching Reading, we had remarkable
advantages and success. Near that time, first
appeared Dr. Rush's philosophical work on
the Cultivation of the Human  Voice, and
Dr. Barber, a Professor of Elocution from
one of the English Universities, who adopted
methods suggested by Dr. Rush, came to this
country.   After he had  taught  classes at
Harvard with great approval, I engaged his
services for my classes. At that time, Miss
Caroline Munger was one of my teachers, who
had a remarkably charming voice, and, with
Dr. Barber to aid, became the finest and most
agreeable reader I ever heard. She was also
37 
38        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
enthusiastic in her efforts in training her
classes and remedying defects, and her success was remarkable.
Our method of correcting bad spelling was
new at that time, and very successful, but
need not here be detailed.  In teaching Grammar on the blackboard, I have seen the youngest pupils gain, in two or three weeks, all that
was of any use until they came to practice
our exercises in composition. These methods
secured in a few months what often in our
common schools is the uninteresting labor ot
years, as alternately learned vaguely and then
forgotten, then learned again, and again forgotten.
The art of composition has seldom been
made the subject of instruction in schools, and
the success of classes under the care of my
sister, Mrs. Stowe, was so remarkable that
the methods pursued are worthy of notice.
The first exercise was to provide a stock of
words, by reading a short, classical story, explaining the meaning of every new or difficult
word, and then requiring the pupils to use
these words as they wrote the story on a slate,
we having already explained and illustrated
on the blackboard the use of capitals, punc 
HARTFORD SEMINARY.
tuation, and paragraphing. Then these slates
were corrected by the teacher and assistant
pupils, and, next day, the composition was
neatly copied, folded properly, and brought
to the teacher.  These exercises were to be
constantly varied as to the authors and subjects selected, and all but copying was to be
done in the Composition Room.
Next, an extract from some classic writer
was read over twice, and then the pupils
wrote the principal words in this passage,
their meaning being first explained. Then
the passage was read a third time, and the
pupils were required to write on their slates
the same passages as nearly as remembered,
introducing all the words given them. This
also was criticised and corrected by the teacher
and assistant pupils, to be neatly copied and
returned next day. The teacher would daily
select passages from a variety of standard
classic writers, point out the peculiarity of
style in each; while the pupils, by thus imitating various authors, gradually acquired
both a large stock of words and facility in
varied modes of expression and style of writ
ing.
Next was taught methodical arrangement.
39 
40        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
This the teacher first explained and illustrat ed by a general outline of an article, followed
by the reading of it, thus analyzed. Then
the pupils copied on slates, from dictation,
this skeleton or analysis, and were required
to fill it out and bring it next day, having
heard the piece read the second and perhaps
the third time in the class-room.
Next, the teacher selected a subject and pro posed questions to excite inquiry and discus sion. Then, she gave her own views on the
subject, and the way she would prepare her
outline or skeleton. Then the pupils were re quired each to prepare a skeleton, which was
duly criticised, and next day it was to be filled
out by the class and presented for correction
and criticism. This last exercise was often
repeated.
Next was taught the use of poetic language, by
first instructing in the use of poetic feet and
rhymes, and then requiring a short piece of
poetry to be turned to prose, and then, with out committing to memory, to change the
prose back to poetry.
To mature and advanced pupils, unity and
method were taught, by giving some essay with
several chapters (for example, one of Macau 
HARTFORD SEMINARY.
lay's essays), and then requiring a written
statement of the plan of the whole; then, an
analysis of each chapter; then, of each paragraph, and its connexion with the whole.
When this was all completed, the pupil was
supposed to be prepared to write a composition
This method was so interesting that the
composition hour was looked forward to as
the pleasantest part of school duty; and the
results were such as, on any other plan, would
seem incredible in pupils of such immaturity,
were the method pursued unknown. Of
course, in this, as in all other branches, success depends to a large extent on the qualifications of the teacher, and the power of
exciting interest in the pupils.
Another important particular was the exact
and thorough knowledge gained by repetitions
of lessons and general examinations. When
any kind of knowledge is gained with little
interest and in an indistinct way, it soon
fades from the memory, and thus many pupils
lose nearly as fast as they gain. Our method
was a weekly review, with the'anticipation of
a fortnight public examination before visitors
at the close of each term. And if laggards
41 
42         EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
were found in any class, they were liable to
be detained after school and drilled till the
neglected lesson was perfect. Our aim was
to have all so perfect in daily lessons that the
weeks of examination would not be periods
of unusual exertion except to the dull or the
negligent, who were then special objects of
attention from the chief teachers. Indeed, it
was the rule to give most care and labor to
the weaker lambs of the fold, whatever were
the causes of their deficiencies. It is too
often the case that, for the credit of the school
or the pleasure of teaching the brightest and
best, this rule is reversed.
Another method, and one that excited the
most notice, both in this country and abroad,
was-the attempt to remedy defects of mind,
body, and habits, and the conviction, strongly
expressed, that this is practicable, and should
be the prominent aim of all educators. This
important principle was so successfully illustrated, even in so short a time and with such
limited advantages, that some details to illustrate will be given.
The attempt to remedy' physical defects
came about in this manner: An English lady
of fine person and manner came to us as a 
HARTFORD SEMINARY.
teacher of what then had no name, but now
would be called Calisthenics.  She gave a large
number of the. exercises that are in my work
on Physiology and Calisthenics, published by
the Harpers, and narrated how she had cured
deformities in others by her methods. What
interested us most was her assurance that,
until maturity she had a curvature of the
spine that was a sad deformity, being what
was called a humpback, and yet there she
was, a model of fine proportion and gracefulness. The whole school took lessons of her,
and I added others; and though the results
were not conspicuous, they convinced me
that far more might be done in this direction
than was ever imagined or would be credited
without  ocular  demonstration.   From  this
came the system of Calisthenics which I invented, which spread all over the country,
and which Dio Lewis, courteously giving me
due credit, modified and made additions to,
some of which I deem not improvements but
objectionable, for reasons stated elsewhere.
Still more interesting were some of our attempts in remedying intellectual defects. For
example, our best mathematical teacher came
with the case of a bright pupil who could not
43 
44        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
be made to understand the reasoning process
in demonstrating a proposition in Euclid.
She had a quick memory, would learn the
letters and the demonstration as a mere
memoriter exercise, and when, in the diagram,
the teacher substituted figures or letters, in a
few minutes she would commit to memory
the change so as to repeat the exercise as a
mere effort of memory. I took the case myself, and( at first was convinced of an entire
lacking of some mental power. But perseverance conquered, and, as soon as she understood the process, she was delighted with her
lessons, and eventually became one of my
best teachers in mathematics.
In another case, a pupil, who was not remarkably bright in any direction, seemed entirely destitute of the faculties that appreciate
poetry and fine writing. Mrs. Stowe having
her in her class of composition, we experimented as to what could be done to remedy
this deficiency. The result was she not only
acquired a taste for poetry and imaginative
writing, but composed a piece of poetry
which was read at our public examination as
one of the best selections of composition.
These examples, among many others, were 
HARTFORD SEMINARY.
proof of the possibility of remedying, to a
certain extent, any intellectual defect, and of
the practicability of thus securing, by educational training, a well-balanced mind.
Another feature of the school, which at that
time was unusual, was the mode of government pursued. One of the teachers, whose
character was suited to such duties, was appointed Governess. Her duties included the
care of the building and apparatus, and the
enforcing of rules of order and neatness.  She
presided in the study hall, assembled and dismissed  school, attended to the sending and
return of classes, saw that each class had its
teacher, received daily reports of lessons and
behavior, and kept a record and school journal. Excuses, permissions, and acknowledgements of violated rules were made to the
Governess, and, while presiding in the hall, she
attended to classes in penmanship. This released the teachers from all these responsibilities.
At first, the principles of competition and
emulation were freely employed, but experience taught a safer and better way; for a
school of one hundred and fifty was more
perfectly governed without these principles
45 
46        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
than by their aid. No prizes were given, no
rewards were offered for any degree of conmparative merit, but the following were the
chief methods employed:
The pupils from abroad, numbering I20 to
i6o, were distributed into such private fami-i
lies as would co-operate in promoting a
healthful moral influence, and, in most cases,
with a teacher in the same family. Multitudes all over the land will remember with
gratitude Mrs. Dr. Cogswell, Mrs. Maj. Caldwell, Mrs. Dr. Strong, Mrs. Henry L. Ellsworth, Mrs. William Watson, and other ladies
of high position, culture, and religious principle, who were happy to aid in this good work
by receiving a teacher, and from four to ten
scholars as boarders, and who proved invaluable helpers in all efforts for the good of the
school.
Next and chief was the harmonious personal influence of the teachers. It was expected
that they would mingle with the scholars as
companions, to aid in their studies and share
their amusements, and thus gain a knowledge
of their habits and peculiarities. The sympathy and co-operation of the ten or twelve
assistant pupils was equal to that of the prinn 
HARTFORD SEMINARY.
cipal teachers, and, in some cases, was superior, owing to their more intimate access to
their companions.
At the frequent meeting of my teachers and
assistant pupils, the names of all the pupils
were called over, and suggestions sought as to
what each one needed, and then those requiring most attention were committed to the
special love and care of the one best qualified
to aid. Every morning it was my duty to
read the Bible and conduct the religious worship, the teachers all being present, and prepared to co-operate in all that I proposed for
moral and religious culture. In all the duties
urged, I always found authority and support in
the Divine Word. I endeavored to present
God as a loving Father, and to make it plain
that his "glory," like that of earthly parents,
consisted in the virtue and true happiness of
all his children. I showed them that there
are right ways and wrong ways of making
ourselves and others happy; that Jesus Christ
came to teach the only right way; and that
those only can be truly and forever happy
who make it their chief aim to follow his
example and teachings. I showed them that
our Heavenly Parent is chiefly glorious as the
47 
48         EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
Gieat Hatppiness Mfaker, and that the first sermon of our Lord teaches that it is by making
true happiness that we become children of
God.*
By such public instructions, and by private
meetings for prayer and conversation with
both teachers and scholars, a silent religious
influence pervaded the school. Each teacher
and assistant pupil, and all the scholars who
had commenced a religious life, were requested to select at least one member of the school
who was not thus committed, and suggestions
were made as to the best way to exert an influence either by conversation or notes. At
these private meetings, results were reported
and further counsel obtained. Thus for several years, every term witnessed what would
be called a "revival of religion," though like
the kingdom of Heayen which "cometh without observation," it was quiet and gentle as
the falling of the dew.
Many were, thus, not only led to commence
a religious life, but were taught the duty and
*" Blessed are the happiness-makers, for they are the
children of God" is the most correct translation from
the Syriac Greek, which was the language of Jesus
Christ.
I 
HARTFORD SEMINARY.
best methods of influencing others. Such
success imparted the conviction that, should
moral and religious influence have its proper
place in the methods of any school, few
pupils would ever leave it destitute of a true
and cheerful piety.
But, in order to such success, it would be
requisite that at least one properly qualified
teacher should have it her special department
thus to guide other teachers as her helpers, to
watch over the habits, correct the faults and
form the principles of all the pupils. In the
celebrated institution of Fellenberg, at Hofwyll, there was one class of educators in distinction from those teachers whose chief labor
was the communication of knowledge and the
developing of intellect. Education in this
country will never reach its highest end, till
the care of the physical, social, and moral interests shall take precedence of mere intellectual development and acquirements.
In this account, reference is had chiefly to
the last years of my care of the school, after
the teachers had more or less learned to share
my responsibilities.
All espionage by which the misconduct
of companions was reported, involving dis
49 
50        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
grace or penalties, was discouraged. But it is
rarely the case that any pupils will object to
having their companions speak freely of their
faults, when a teacher with the best of motives
seeks to know deficiencies thati1they may be
remedied. It can easily be found who are willing, and those who are not should receive
increased care and watchfulness from the
teachers.
Few, except those who have followed a
similar course, are aware how practicable it
is to cure almost every defect of person,
habits, manners, temper, and principles. The
indolent can be made industrious, the volatile be made regular, the ill-natured, amiable,
the selfish, regardful of the feelings and rights
of others, the obstinate and impracticable,
yielding and docile. But to do all this requires a rare degree of self-denial, patience,
perseverance, and ingenuity in the teacher, together with experience and instruction from those
who have had experience. It was this part of
my report that excited special attention at
home and abroad, as manifested in the appended extract from the Revue ~ncyclopdciqize, at
that time the leading periodical of Europe.*
*See Appendix on page 59. 
CHAP TER V.
HARTFORD SEMINARY-MENTAL PHILOSOPHY.
HE most remarkable case ofthe culture
of undeveloped or deficient intellectual faculties, in the Hartford Seminary, was
my own. In Mental Philosophy I had neither
taste nor acquirements, and so I gave my
first class in that study to a teacher who
claimed to be much interested in it. She was
my room-mate, and an entire novice in abstrzict reasoning. She had a very intelligent
class, who plied her with questions, so that
she was constantly appealing to me for aid.
Eventually, I took the class myself.  Soon I
became deeply interested in this study; for I
had been led to- my profession by most profound and agitating fears of dangers in the
life to come, not only for myself, but for a
dear friend who, according to the views in
which I had been trained, had died unprepared.  "What must we do to be saved?"
became the agonizing inquiry for myself and
all I loved most.
While I was simultaneously teaching Men 
52        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
tal Philosophy and the Bible, I gradually
learned that the interpretation of the Bible
and the true mode of training mind to
safety in both this and the future life
were based on the nature of mind and the
proper modes  of control as developed  in
philosophical writings. Thus excited by the
.practical bearing of the study, I sought and
read Locke, Reid, Stewart, Brown, and other
works in English, and also went to those who
read Greek  and  German  for the views of
Aristotle and Kant. In this course, I not
only gained great relief as to religious views,
but much to aid in the culture of mind.
Then  I  began to give  lectures to  the
school, and, finally, I had them printed as a
text-book for my classes. Ere long, alarm
began to spread in the city at views supposed
to be contrary to the established orthodoxy,
and this led me to submit the book anonymously to the leaders of thought in both the
literary and religious world. By the aid of
friends, bound to secrecy as to authorship,
the work was sent with a request for full
criticism. All the copies then distributed
were returned to me, some with letters,
others with penciled criticisms on the margin 
STUDY OF MENTAL PHILOSOPHY.
of the pages;-all the writers supposing the
author to be a gentleman. The following from
Prof. Ware of Harvard University is a specimen of what I received from the more liberal
of my critics.  What came from the orthodox
will be noticed elsewhere:
"The author is certainly entitled to no small praise
for courage and independence in expressing opinions
and also for presenting them in a more distinct and intelligible form than usual. This, I trust, will lead many
persons to re-examine the grounds of their faith, and
with a better understanding of the evidences on which
it is founded.
"I beg the Author to accept my thanks for the opportunity to peruse an unpublished book in which I have
found so much to admire and approve, together with
some doctrines which are far from my own views of
religious truth. Yet I should be glad to see them published to the world, believing that free and unreserved
discussion, and the full expression of opinions of honest
minds, have the best tendency to the discovery and establishment of truth.
Respectfully,        HENRY WARE.
These criticisms I received just as I was
departing  to  Cincinnati,  carrying  with  me
some fifty copies of the book, from which I
deemed it prudent to cut out the heretical
pages.    There  I  became  acquainted  with
Professor McGuffey of Miami University,
Ohio, afterward Professor of Mental Philoso
i: 
54        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
phy in the University of Virginia. After
reading the book, he introduced it as the textbook of his college class, and at the close of
that term wrote to me thus:
"We however have not discharged our obligations to
you when the book is paid for.  For my part, I have
rarely derived more pleasure or advantage from the
same number of pages. Your book possesses, in no
ordinary degree, that best of all qualities in a text book,
incentives to investigation. In many things I esteem it
fearlessly original, as well as felicitously correct. I
should rejoice to see a new edition supplying the cancelled pages, and perhaps the causes that induced this
suppression do not now exist in equal force."
A professor in another institution wrote to
a friend of mine thus:
"We have sent for Abercrombie's work on Mental
Science, but I doubt whether it will be of much use to
us. I think the plan of Miss Beecher's work would
suit better in this country than any other I have met.
Coudyou procure some copies from her for us? "
These evidences of success from such competent judges were sent to a woman who, at
the age of twenty-seven, had never read a
work on Mental Science, owing to, want of
interest in the subject, and who completed
the book in about four years from the time
she first gave any attention to metaphysical
investigations. 
STUDY OF MENTAL PHILOSOPHY.
In my own case, it is certain that I had no
natural tendency to metaphysical pursuits,
and yet it is in this direction that my mind
has developed more than in any other; while
artistic  pursuits  or works  of imagination
would seem to have been what my natural
tastes would have sought.
So in other cases of our family history;-the
two authors most prominent before the public
are those who had remarkable culture in the
direction that secures success.  It has been
shown that when only ten and eleven years of
age Mrs. Stgwe was so much interested in the
teachings of Mr. Brace, that ihey led her, even
before she had acquired a legible handwriting, to write compositions with great interest.
Then, at thirteen, she was trained by myself
in the same direction, and continued for years
as a teacher of composition by methods which
cultivate scope of language and variety of
both ideas and style of expression.
The result of culture, in the case of my
brother, Henry Ward, was still more evident, for he had  that organization which
often, in early childhood, passes for dullness.
He also had great deficiency in verbal
memory, a deficiency affecting him through
55 
56        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
life. His utterance was thick and indistinct,
partly from bashfulness, and partly from an
enlargement of the tonsils of the throat, so
that in speaking and reading he was with
difficulty understood.  His good Aunt Esther
said, "When Henry is sent with a message, I
always have to make him say it over three
times before I am sure I understand aright."
His progress in book learning was slow, but,
as Mrs. Stowe remarks in her biography of
this brother, it was the opinion of those controlling him, that, though a poor scholar and
an inveterate joker, he had much talent lying
loosely in him if he could only be made to
apply himself.
When set to studying Latin in the then uninteresting modes of the Boston public schools,
under a strict regimen he became desperate,
and planned to run away and become a
sailor, with the career of Lord Nelson as the
ideal of his ambition.   His father wisely
adopted this enthusiastic aim as a motive power
and urged him to studying to prepare himself
for such a career. So he sent him to a school
where his teacher was not only accurate and
thorough, but one that gained his enthusiastic
attachment. Thus, love and hope conquered. 
STUDY OF MENTAL PHILOSOPHY.
He often remarked of this and his college
course, "by Latin and mathematics I gained
the power to study." But the Latin and Greek
classics did not attract him, because cold, unexciting, and having no practical bearing;,
especially after he commenced his life-work
of winning souls to virtue and piety. So he
gave no more attention to them than would
secure a respectable but not a prominent position as a scholar.
After he chose the ministry for his profession, he studied with great enthusiasm the
language which was to be his chief instrument
in his life-work. He especially made himself
familiar with'the clear and vigorous writers of
the early English classics,-Massinger, Ford,
Webster, and other writers little noticed in
this day. He studied also, with deep interest,
the philosophy of mind, as to mold and guide
it was to be his profession. Beside the standard works on this subject, he was deeply interested in the teachings of Gall and Spurzheim, and  the science of phrenology, and
also physiology as connected with his practical duties. Oratory and rhetoric he regarded as his appointed weapons, and, here again,
he was favored with a remarkably persevering
57 
58         EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
and thorough teacher, who drilled him till he
overcame his constitutional disabilities, and
trained him to gestures and bodily movement
as faithfully as the West Point drill, though
by diverse methods.'
These additional particulars of family history still further illustrate the unappreciated
yet fundamental principles of education, namely, that woman's domestic duties eminently
tend to develop and train the intellect; that
some interesting practical end is indispensable
to the development of mind; and that what
often passes for great genius and superior
talent is frequently the result of wise and appropriate culture. 
CHA P TER VI.
WOM4N'S INFLUENCE-AN EPISODE.
HE  painful termination of my connection
with the Hartford Seminary, after such
successful effort, is connected with circumstances which should be deeply pondered by
those who are founding or controlling institutions for women. 
In order to this it is important that there
should be more correct ideas of what constitutes the true feature of a college in distinction
from a high school or academy; for when that
,is determined it will be seen that there never
yet has existed a college for women, though
many schools for young girls have assumed
this ambitious name.
The distinctive feature of a college is endowments, which secures a faculty of co-equal
teachers, and such a division. of labor, that, as
the aim and general rule, each professor is re sponsible for instructing only one or two
classes only one or two hours a day in only 
60         EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
one or two departments. For this he secures
a home, a salary to support a family, and an
honorable profession for life. In every college thus endowed, the whole responsibility of
government rests, not on an individual, but
equally upon the whqle faculty, who decide
every thing by a majority vote. Then the
corporation take certain responsibilities, the
finances are managed by a treasurer, and the
boarding is provided by clubs or private families-so, that the faculty are relieved from all
these cares.
Thus each member of the faculty is enabled
to secure time for self-improvernent and for
the advancement of his special department,
and is entirely independent of control from
any individual. In consequence of these advantages, the highest class of instructors are
secured; while all their pupils have a chance
to prepare themselves for some one of the departments to which taste and talent would
lead, and which would secure a home, a
salary, and an honorable profession. At the
same time libraries, apparatus, and other
facilities for improvement are provided by
public or private benefactions.
The preceding history of the Hartford 
WOMAN'S INFLUENCE-AN EPISODE.
Seminary shows a painful contrast to the advantages provided in colleges for young men.
I began teaching and employing teachers
without the previous preparation given to
boys in preparatory schools, for no such had
ever been offered to girls; and so I was
obliged to train most of my teachers, as well
as myself. Then no library or apparatus was
provided, nor could the limited income from
my'tuition fees secure them.   Then I was
obliged to take the expenses and cares of
housekeeping for several years, while all the
instruction and government of the institution
and finances rested on me alone. The selection and control of teachers and the course of
study and the text-books rested solely with
me. Thus I had all the responsibilities which
in colleges are divided among the faculty,
treasurer and boardinghouse-keeper, and at
the same time taught four and five hours a
day. All this on one woman, ignorant of her
peculiar organization and of the danger of
overworking brain and nerves.
True, I took eight hours for sleep, dressed
healthfully, exercised an hour or two in open
air, and gave each day an hour or two to
social  relaxation.   But  for twelve waking
61 
62        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
hours I was under constant pressure of labor
and responsibility. A few extracts of letters
from my sister, Mrs. Stowe, then only eighteen,
will show the consequent results of such varied responsibilities in connection with the
following episode, which also iliustrates the
moral power in the hands of the highest class
of American women, a power which it is
hoped will ere long be organized to secure
more liberal educational advantages.
In the year i828 the attempt was made by
the State of Georgia to drive out the Cherokee
Indians by cruel and unjust methods. While
I was spending a vacation at Boston, Mr.
Jeremiah Evarts gave to me a most interesting
narrative of the success of the Board of Missions,- of which he was chief secretary, among
these Indians, and of the distressing and disastrous consequences that would result from
the cruel measures undertaken. He said that
American women might save these poor, oppressed natives, and asked me to devise some
method of securing such intervention. I was
greatly excited, and on my return wrote a circular " To Benevolent WVomen of the United
States." I then sought the aid and council of
some of the most judicious and influential 
WOMAN'S INFLUENCEF-AN EPISODE.
ladies of Hartford; such, for example, as Mrs.
Daniel Wadsworth,  Mrs.  Thomas  Chester,
Mrs. Sigourney, and others of similar character and position. A meeting was convened,
and after the circular was read, these measures were adopted:
The circular was to be printed anonymously
by a printer enjoined to secrecy, and all the
ladies pledged themselves to similar secrecy.
Then each lady gave the name of lady friends
in some of the principal cities of the Northern,
Middle and Western States; and it was remarkable how large a number were thus collected.   Then a printed letter was sent to
these ladies with a large number of the circulars, requesting each lady to whom these were
directed to send them through the Post-Office
to "the most influenfitial and benevolent ladies
of her acquaintance. The measures proposed
in the circular, were to secure public meetings
in behalf of the Cherokees and then to circulate petitions and gain as many signatures as
possible, to be sent to Congress, praying for
the intervention of the National Government
to protect the Indians. The'result exceeded
our most sanguine expectations.  A simultaneous movement occurred, public meetings
63 
64   EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
were held in all the cities to which our circulars went, and many other towns and cities
followed the example. Then there followed a
wide-spread inquiry as to who wrote the circular. At our occasional meetings we were
greatly amused at what each received from
friends of the different cities, and no less at
our narrow escapes from falsehood in efforts
to preserve our secret.
A lady wrote from New Haven how greatly
they were excited there, and their wonder as to
who wrote the circular and how the plan was
so well managed. I was asked one day by
an outsider who I supposed wrote that circular,
and I replied that it was attributed by many to
Mrs. Sigourney, but it was not at all in her
style, and much more like that of a gentleman
I mentioned. I added that I never read anything that interested me so much, and so I
escaped betraying our secret without an untruth.
At a Teacher's Meeting one of them report ed that Prof. Silliman said that the circular
was "worthy the pen of the elder Pitt;"
whereupon I was dubbed old Mrs. Pitt by
my sister and those who were aiding in the
labor of preparing and sending the circulars. 
WOMAN'S INFLUENCE-AN EPISODE.
None of these circulars were mailed in Hartford but we contrived to have them all sent
the Sme day from four cities, and we received
copies ourselves from New York and Philadelphia.
Not at all aware of the consequences of this
additional excitement, I suddenly found myself utterly prostrated and unable to perform
any school duty without extreme pain and
such confusion of thought as seemed like
approaching  insanity.   My  sister and  my
teachers urged immediate relinquishment of
all my cares; so I went to visit some friends,
and in this interval received the following letters from my sister (Mrs. Stowe). In them it
will be seen that I had projected an effort to
obtain an endowment that would secure Miss
Z. P. Grant as an Associate to divide with me
the responsibilities I was no longer able to
bear alone. I was led to this effort by a simultaneous demand on the citizens of Hartford
to endow a college for young men, although at
that time Yale College was only thirty miles
off, and offered all and more advantages than
a new college could supply. But the new
college must come, and my seminary must
wait till a better day, when women will seek
65 
66        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
and secure equal advantages with their brothers-a day which as yet is only at its dawn.
Before my departure I arranged with my
teachers that during my absence the school
should be resolved into a sort of republic, and
attempt self-government at least for a short
experiment.
All were anxious about my  health, and
teachers and scholars cheerfully agreed to all
I proposed. So I divided the scholars into
circles, with a teacher at the head of each, and
to each circle was committed one department
of my responsibilities. Thus there were the
Circles of Order, of Neatness, of Lessons, of
Punctuality, and of Benevolence, and in the
last I put some of the most reckless and troublesome girls with some of the most consci entious. The names of other circles I have
forgotten.
Dec. i o, 1829.
DEAR SISTER-As you have requested, I
write as to the state of affairs in your forsaken
dominion. This evening I met my circle, and
the conversation gave me rr.uch pleasure. I
told them of your difficulties, and that the
teachers pledged themselves that they and the
young ladies would do all intheir power to'pre 
WOMAN'S INFLUENCE-AN EPISODE.
serve the character of the school in your absence. They all seemed engaged and anxious
to aid. Poor children! they seemed to feel as
if the weight of the nation were on them. Mary
Ely's laughing visage was drawn into an expression  of  judgmatical  gravity,  Clarissa
looked seriously concerned, and Ann Terry
talked feelingly of their heavy responsibilities. They proposed several plans which they
thought would conduce to the regularity of
the school.
There are some in the Circle of Benevolence that are the only exception. They wish
tohave fun, and that is all for which they seem
to care. But this will do no harm, for the
other circles are all anxious to have the plan
succeed, and the current of public sentiment
is so strong against irregularity and disorder
that they will soon yield to it.
On the whole, dear sister, I think this plan
will be productive of great good. If nothing
else, it will form a habit in the school of acting with the teachers and sharing some of
their trials.
This evening I convened "the Senate of the
Skies," and we concluded on several measures, and one was that I should explain the
67 
68        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
plan more fully to the whole school. Then I
sent for Mary Lyman, Frances Strong, and
Mrs. Gammage, having a private'interview
with each alone, and have laid plans with
them that will make all go smoothly tomorrow.
Dec. I I.
This morning all the teachers met their
circles, exciting them to interest in their several duties, and the girls seemed much interested. Then all assembled in the Hall,
and  I  read  and  explained  our  plan.   I
found my confidence growing so fast that I
actually stood and looked in the eyes of all
and "speechified" nearly half an hour, and
you may ask Mrs. Gammage if I did not do
well, considering who it was, while the school
looked  unutterable  things in response.   I
told them to so manage as to keep you away
another week.
Now, dear sister, to use an expression of
our good Dr. Hawes, "I wish just to drop
this thought into your mind:" the girls are
so earnest to give you more time to rest, that
if you come back so soon they will think I
sent a false report. You never had a company of more efficient, popular and judicious 
WOMAN'S INFLUENCE-AN EPISODE.
teachers, and your absence enables them to
go forward with a confidence they would not
feel in your presence. The union of feeling
and action among teachers and scholars in
this emergency will produce great good. We
are fast becoming acquainted with all, and I
think we shall do wonders. Do not think I
give too favorable an account because of your
anxiety.  -Ieip from above will be given to us
while you are away. Your affectionate
H. E. B.
P. S.-Last night we teachers all sat up till
eleven o'clock finishing our Cherokee letters.
We sent some to the principal ladies of New
Haven by Martha Sherman, to put in the
Post-office there. Margaret Brown says the
circular is making a great excitement in New
York.   The  Hartford ladies have received
theirs from several cities, we among the rest.
There is great wonderment as to who composed the circular. The girls come and tell
us such marvelous stories about a circular for
the Cherokees around in Hartford. They say
public meetings and petitions are getting up
in New York and other places, and here they
are moving for the same. The excitement, I
69 
70        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
hope, is but just begun. So "great effects
come from little causes."
Dec. I2, i829.
DEAR SISTER-I suppose you have my yesterday's letter. Yesterday evening the Circle
of Regularity and all the teachersmet at Miss
Munger's, and we spent a very pleasant evening. Mrs. Gammage told stories, "mirabile
dictu," and the girls were astonished to find
she can laugh and talk. She is getting into
the good graces of the Burr Street girls, as I
am  glad to see.   There were other social
gatherings among the girls, and affection and
good feeling seem to increase. Your absence
is doing me good, for I never before felt such
confidence to go forward and act, and the
other'teachers feel the same. Miss Brigham
has the younger ones entirely under her control. Fanny Strong has the entire control of
her circle, and I have of mine.   Fanny's
piety, amiability, and uncommon knowledge
of human nature are invaluable qualities to
you.
Even if Miss Grant should not be secured
by an endowment from the citizens here, I
think we can find means elsewhere. I feel
willing to devote my whole life to this institu 
WOMAN'S INFLUENCE-AN EPISODE.
tion, as I never did before, and the increase
of piety and devotedness in Fanny Strong has
much encouraged me.
I shall speak in the Hall again Monday. I
now feel as if I could do anything, even to
standing up with a good face for an hour's
lecture, but if you come home I fear, to speak
classically, thiat I shall "draw in my horns."
Mondary, D)ec. I4.
I read your letter to the school this morning, with remarks of my own. I shall become
quite an orator if you do not come home too
soon. The school has never been more orderly than it is now, and I think all the young
ladies, though some slowly, are realizing more
than'ever before that they must not "live
unto themselves."
As to our family, I have taken this course.
I have interested Miss Griswold in one entry
and Miss Southmayd in another, to meet their
room-mates at nine in the evening, to read
the Bible and for prayer. Miss Brigham will
do the same with those in her entry, and thus
most of the family will be'engaged at that
hour. This influence will be felt in the family
and extend to the school. I also have ar
71 
72        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
ranged to recommence the prayer-meeting of
the members of the church, which was held
last term. There are in our family four who
wish to make a public profession of religion.
Surely God has put great means of influence
into our hands.
The girls are all anxious to have you stay
as long as you can. Sarah Watkinson has
requested me to write her a note, as I have to
some others. I love Sarah very much. With
more efficiency of character than some of her
companions she has less of that foolish pride.
Oh that the Divine Teacher would rescue
that class of minds from prejudice and false
principle, and make them all that they might
become that is noble and good! We must, in
order -to influence them successfully, cherish
constant kindness and hide our eyes from
their faults.
What a blessed world this would be were
the principles of our religion fully carried out
in practice! I sometimes am weary of the
selfishness and false principles prevailing, and
long for the better country. But I am willing
to live on, for what are a few years to eternity!
This life will soon be over, and you, dear
sister, I trust will rest mi, d those we love, and 
WOMAN'S INFLUENCE-AN EPISODE.
go on in endless activity without anxiety or
weariness.
Postscript by one of the teachers.
DEAR Miss BEECHER-I wish to say one word as to
the prosperity of our Republic-I have not time or
space for more. Since I have been in school I have
never seen the young ladies so exactly what they should
be as to-day.
Witness the hand of yours affectionately,
C. MUNGER.
Dec. i 6.
DEAR SISTER-This morning I delivered a
long speech on "modes of exerting moral influence;" showing the ways in which an evil
influence is unknowingly exerted and the
ways-in which each and all can exert a good
one. The right spirit is daily "increasing."
Miss Brigham says all her classes seem so
anxious to do right and are so interested in
their studies that she loves them better and
better every day. The other teachers also
say they never saw the classes form in more
perfect order and go and return with so little
noise. I feel as if we are holding the helm,
and can turn the vessel the right way. The
force of mora influence seems equal to that of
73 
74         EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
authority, and even stronger. When the girls
wish what is against my opinion they say,
"Do, Miss Beecher, allow just this."  "l,4low
you?" I say.  "I have not the power; you
can do so if you think best." Now, they cannot ask me to give up my opinion and belief
of right and wrong, and they are unwilling to
act against it.
Ere long they will find that under the dominion of conscience and a correct public
sentiment they have rulers they cannot sway
like teachers of flesh and blood.
I think hereafter I can diminish your labor
of speaking in the hall. I am now so well acquainted with the young ladies that I feel safe.
I can say, as did St. Paul, "I have confidence
in you all." I am planning to have the leading scholars take a more active part, so as to
relieve us still more. If only the resources
you already have are employed, you need not
give up for want of Miss Grant. I am fitting
some in my composition classes to teach, so
that in a few weeks I can give up the larger
part of my duties and help you elsewhere.
A. T. improves rapidly, and will be another
proof of our doctrine that the cultivation of
imagination when it seems wanting is entirely 
WOMAN'S INFLUENCE-AN EPISODE.
practicable. Miss Lathrop, of our "Faculty,"
being interrogated on the subject, has decided
to send her love, and Miss Hooper likewise.
Miss Brigham chooses to do the same, witness
the below.
P.S.-DEAR MISS BEECHER-YOU little know how
happy we are, and we are so selfish we do not want
you to return to share our happiness. However, we
will permit you to come Friday.
Ever your affectionate
SUSAN BRIGHAM.
The result of this republican organization
was very favorable in greatly lessening my
cares after my return. But my strength continued to fail, and I foresaw that my career
there was coming to a close, and that this
method could not be made permanent, being
only fitted to that special emergency.
The amount of intellectual activity and
enthusiasm that was wittnessed the two last
years of my administration, both in teachers
and pupils, exceeded anything I ever heard
of; and in after life Mrs. Stowe wrote to me,
"There never was such a school as that! We
did not half know how good it was; what a
pity we had to give it up!"
75 
76         EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
To more fully appreciate what was accomplished and then lost, the character and subsequent history of the ladies of 6our "faculty"
should be taken into account. Of these, Miss
Mary Dutton, who previously had aided her
father in fitting boys for college,'was the first
well-qualified teacher that I gained to superintend in Latin and Mathematics. Mrs.
Stowe, who was devoted to the seminary,
departed when I did, and with Miss Dutton
and two of my first assistant teachers established at Cincinnati the Western Female Institute. Afterwards Miss Dutton for several
years was principal of the popular "Grove
Seminary" in New Haven. Miss Frances
Strong, who, with three of my assistant teachers, established in Alabama the Huntsville
Female Seminary, after some six years was
called to better places-first in New Orleans,
then in Philadelphia, and finally became principal of the Hartford Seminary, where, as I
did, she lost her health; but, worse than
that, she also lost her life, a martyr to unhealthful and cruel exactions.
Miss Julia Hawks (Mrs. Gardell) was called
-to be principal of the seminary in Springfield,
Mass., built expressly for her, and afterwards 
WOMAN'S INFLUENCE-AN EPISODE.
conducted the most popular seminary for
young ladies in Philadelphia, where she lost her
health, went abroad and died on her travels.
Miss Lucy Ann  Reed  (Mrs. William C.
Woodbridge) I made my associate principal,
_    but she departed to private life, as did Miss
Clarissa Brown (Mrs. Judge Parsons), my
unequalled teacher in geography, and Miss
C. Memger (Mrs. Washburn), my accom  plished teacher of elocution. These ladies,
and others less publicly known, were not so
much my subordinate teachers as my wise
counselors and sympathizing friends, to whose
invention, discretion, and co-operation I
greatly owed my success.
To these should be added the remarkable
circle -of ladies who aided in the care of my
pupils from abroad by receiving them as
boarders, and who were nearly as valuable as
teachers in many particulars. Of these, Mrs.
Henry L. Ellsworth, daughter-in-law of our
Chief-Justice and sister of Professor Good  rich of Yale College, took charge of ten of my
scholars. Mrs. Dr. Cogswell, widow of the
leading physician of the city and State, re  ceived another portion. Mrs. Major Caldwell,
wife of a gentleman of reduced fortune, once
77
I 
78   EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
one of the wealthiest shipping merchants of
New England, gave me and several pupils a
home for some years, and her daughters were
among my most reliable teachers. Mrs. William Watson was a lady of equal position and
character, and two of her daughters were my
teachers, while several pupils boarded with
them. Several other ladies of excellent character received to their families and care my
pupils from abroad.
And here it is important to notice that the
whole management of this institution was in
the hands Cf ladies whose education was
gained chiefly in the domestic circle and in
the common school. There were, with perhaps one exception, none of them whose
attainments in ancient languages and mathematics equaled what are to-day demanded
of College freshmen. The trustees of the
seminary were all among the highest business
and professional men, but they left everything to the charge of the ladies except
providing funds for the building and directing as to their management. This is important as a striking contrast to my afterexperiences. For it has ever been housekeepers, mothers, and school-teachers whp 
WOMAN'S INFLUENCE-AN EPISODE.
aided in planning and executing, while inexperienced business and professional men, acting on committees or as trustees, have been
the chief obstacles to success. Not that they
fail in earnest and self-denying efforts; but
because it is women who are trained to educate children and the teachers of children,
while men have a training chiefly for their
own professions.
The decline of the Hartford Seminary after
I left it was the necessary result of want of
endowment. My successor, though an able
teacher, was a man who had a family to support, and could not use all the school income,
as I had done, to retain the highest class of
teachers, to whom the experience and high
reputation they had gained with me brought
the offer of superior situations. Had this
seminary been endowed with only half the
funds bestowed on our poorest colleges for
young men, and the college plan of divided
responsibilities thus been made permanent,
most of my best teachers would have been retained, or, if removed at diverse intervals,
their places would have been supplied by the
highest class of teachers, as are college professorships.
79 
80         EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
Before I relinquished this school, Hon.
James Birney (afterward the Abolition candidate for President of the United States) came
to me to select a Principal for the Huntsville
Female Seminary, Alabama, and, then I first
proposed the trial of a faculty of co-equal
teachers, instead of a Principal with subordinates. This was adopted, and four of my
teachers made the experiment for six years,
with perfect success.   But  no endowments
secured the needful permanency, and so one
teacher left from ill health, and the others
were called to more favorable positions.
Since the failure of my attempt to perpetuate the Hartford Seminary on the college
plan of endowed departments, a college for
young men, in that same city, has gained
means to support eight resident professors,
while its endowments in buildings, land and
other property, are valued at over half a million, and now they are seeking as much more.
In the same city is a Congregational Theological Seminary, never numbering over thirty
scholars, yet, having large and fine buildings
in the most expensive quarter, with endowments to support five professors, a large part
given by women. Only thirty miles from this, 
WOMAN'S INFLUENCE-AN EPISODE.
in New Haven, is another Congregational
Theological Seminary, with endowments to
support five professors, and the only claim
for the existence of two of the same denomination in the same State is that they differ in
a theological theory as to Adam's fall, and its
effect.
Then, only fifteen miles from Hartford may
be found another Theological Seminary and
a College, both well endowed, though only
fifteen miles further south is Yale College,
richly endowed.
81 
CHAPTER VII.
WESTERN FEMALE INSTITUTE.
HEN   I removed  to  Cincinnati my
health was such that it was hazardous for me to attempt any enterprise demanding continuous labor or responsibility. But
I was immediately solicited to establish a
school there of a higher order than any then
existing.
I finally consented to provide superior
teachers for a school, and to do myself all I
safely could to sustain it. I asked for $50o
to buy furniture and apparatus, and it was
readily furnished. I secured four of my former teachers and pupils, and organized the
school on the college plan of co-equal teachers. Soon there were more scholars than our
rooms would accommodate. I then rented a
fine building, central, retired, elevated, and
surrounded with trees, and it was offered for
sale on very low terms. Just at this time my
friend, the Rev. Mr. Gallaudet, visited us, and 
WESTERN FEMALE INSTITUTE.
consented to bring before the citizens the
plan of purchasing this building for a permanent institution for educating the daughters
of the city. A committee was formed to
raise funds to buy the place. But there was
no man to take the lead, and the committee
wvere absorbed in their own affairs. Meantime, the question was asked, "Suppose the
funds are secured, have you health and
strength to take charge of the financial management." I could only answer in the negative. When asked, Who will do it? I could
point to no one qualified who could be obtained. I tried to engage Mr. Gallaudet, but
there were no funds for his support, and
neither he or any other man competent for
the enterprise would relinquish a fine position at such a hazard. The means could not
be furnished without the proper man, and the
proper man could not be obtained without
the means.
When I had secured Mrs. Stowe, Miss Mary
Dutton, and two others of my best teachers, to
conduct the school on the college plan, they
gave general satisfaction. I then attempted
to secure an endowment from a large fund
given by a Mr. Hughes for general education.
83 
84        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
The Trustees agreed to bestow it on condition that the citizens would provide a suitable building. I then started a subscription,
headed by two gentlemen with a thousand dollars each, and several other ger,tlemen promised five hundred dollars each"  But I had
not;trength to complete the subscription; the
financial crash of i837 came, the fine building
we rented was sold to the Catholics for a
nunnery, no other suitable one could be had,
and so another of the finest schools I ever
knew came to an end for want of endowments,
such as then abounded on every side for
young men.
At this institution in Cincinnati I invented
a course of calisthenic exercises, accompanied
by music, which was an improvement on the
one I adopted at Hartford. The aim was to
secure all the advantages supposed to be
gained in dancing-schools, with additional
advantages for securing graceful movements
to the sound of music. These exercises were
extensively adopted in schools, both East and
West, but finally passed away. One reason
was that they demanded a piano or some other
instrument, and a large room without furni ture; another was the want of appreciation of 
WESTERN FEMALE INSTITUTE.
physical exercise, and of the importance of
training young girls to simple gracefulness of
movement and person. To meet the first difficulty I arranged a system of exercises which
could be used in a school-room without Jemoving desks and benches, either to be performed with or without music, and this method
is found in my work on Physiology and Calisthenics, published by the Harpers, which has
been extensively adopted.
Dr. Dio Lewis' system of gymnastics includes many of my methods, with additions which seem objectionable in these respects: they are so vigorous and ungraceful
as to be more suitable for boys than for young
ladies. They also demand a large room, an
instrument, and a dress for the purpose. They
also demand an attention to the state of health
which has sometimes been so affeceed by them
that not unfrequently they have done more
harm than good, and thus become unpopular
with parents.
When physical education takes the proper
place in our schools, young girls will be trained
in the class-rooms to move head, hands and
arms gracefully; to sit, to stand, and to walk
properly, and to pursue calisthenic exercises
85 
86         EDITCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
for physical development as a regular school
duty as much as their studies. And these
exercises, set to music, will be sought as the
most agreeable of school duties.
During the five years in which the Western
Female Institute was sustained by my former
teachers, I employed my pen in preparing my
works on Domestic Lconomy, one as a textbook for schools for young women, and the
other as a Receipt Book for all kinds of cooking and other family matters. The one to be
used as a text-book was adopted as a part of
the Massachusetts School Library. It also
was introduced into various schools, both at
the East and the West. Mr. George B. Emerson, the most popular and successful teacher
of young ladies in Boston, used it in his
classes, and advocated its general adoption
in other schools. It was part of my plan
to make the extensive sale of this work a
source of income for my  educational plan,
and in some measure this was accomplished,
as will appear in the following pages.  Mr.
Emerson wrote thus:
"It may be objected that such things cannot be
taught by books. Why not? Why may not the structure of the human body, and the laws of health deduced 
WESTERN FEMALE INSTITUTE.
therefrom, be as well taught as the laws of natural
philosophy? Why are not the application of these laws
to the management of infants and young children as
important to a woman as the application of the rules of
arithmetic to the extraction of the cube root? Why
may not the properties of the atmosphere be explained,
in reference to the proper ventilation of rooms, or exercise in the open air, as properly as to the burning
of steel or sodium?  Why is not the human skeleton
as curious and interesting as the air-pump; and the
action of the brain, as the action of a steam-engine?
Why may not the healthiness of different kinds of food
and drink, the proper modes of cooking, and the rules
in reference to the modes and times of taking them, be
discussed as properly as rales of grammar, or facts in
history? Are not the principles that should regulate
clothing, the rules of cleanliness, the advantages of
early rising and domestic exercise, as readily communicated as the principles of mineralogy, or rules of syntax? Are not the rules of Jesus Christ, applied to
refine domestic manners and preserve a good eminper, as
important as the abstract principles of ethics, as taught
by Paley, Wayland, or Jouffroy? May not the advantages of neatness, system, and order, be as well illustrated in showing how they contribute to the happiness
of a family, as by showing how they add beauty to a
copy-book, or a portfolio of drawings? Would not a
teacher be as well employed in teaching the rules of
economy, in regard to time and expenses, or in regard
to dispensing charity, as in teaching double or single
entry in book-keeping? Are not the6 principles that
should guide in constructing a house, and in warming
and ventilating it properly, as important to young girls
87
I I 
88         EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
as the principles of the Athenian Commonwealth, or
the rules of Roman tactics? Is it not as important
that children should be taught the dangers to the mental
faculties when over-excited, on the one hand, or left
unoccupied on the other, as to teach them the conflicting theories of political economy, or the speculations
of metaphysicians?   For ourselves,:'we have always
found children, especially girls, peculiarly ready to
listen to what they saw would prepare them for future
duties.  The truth that education would be a prepara
tion for actual, real life has the greatest force with
children.   The  constantly-recurring inquiry,' What
will be the use of this study?' is always satisfied by
showing that it will prepare for any duty, relation, or
office which, in the natural course of things, will be
likely to come.
"We think this book extremely well suited to be
used as text-book in schools for young ladies, and many
chapters are well adapted for a reading book for children of both sexes."
To this the writer would add the testimony
of a lady who has used this work with several
classes of young girls and young ladies. She
remarked that she had never known a schoolbook that awakened more interest, and that
some young girls would learn a lesson in this
when they would study nothing else. She
remarked, also, that when reciting the chapter
on the construction of houses, they became
greatly interested in inventing plans of their 
WESTERN FEMALE INSTITUTE.
own, which gave an opportunity to the teacher
to point out difficulties and defects. Had
this part of domestic economy been taught in
schools, our land would not be so defaced
with awkward, mishapen, inconvenient, and,
at the same time, needlessly expensive houses.
Nor would there be such waste of health and
money in the selection of poor cook-stoves
and furnaces, or the mismanagement of good
ones.
Although the writer was trained to the care
of children, and to perform all branches of
domestic duty, by somie of the best of housekeepers, much in those pages was offered, not
only as the result of her own experience, but
as what had obtained the approbation of some
of the most judicious mothers and housekeepers in the nation. The articles on Physiology and Hygiene, and those on Horticulture,
were derived from standard works on these
subjects, and are sanctioned by the highest
authorities.
89 
CHAPTER VIII.
MISS GRANT AND Miss LYON.
URING  several  years  that  followed
removal to Cincinnati, my health was
chiefly sustained by traveling; so that I made
yearly visits to New England, and also visited
friends and former pupils in the Western
States.
Being extensively known at the West as an
educator, I was constantly consulted for a
supply of teachers. I was again and again
told -of extensive sections demanding many
teachers.   For example:  a Committee  of
the Synod of Indiana wrote me that they
would find schools  for more than twenty
women teachers if I would provide suitable
ones. A reliable gentleman told me he would
be responsible for good schools and good salaries for at least fifteen teachers, if I would
select the proper persons.'
At the same time I was constantly receiving
letters from teachers in New England, asking 
MISS GRANT AND MISS LYON.
help in finding schools.  I had projected
some agency that would bring teachers to
Cincinnati, where they could be trained for
their difficult duties, so that those seeking teachers would come to this establishment, and the parties thus negotiate face to
face. I had this as one part of my plan in
establishing the Western Female Institute,
but having no adequate helper, and being
unable to conduct the effort alone, it was sorrowfully relinquished.
During this period I made a tour in New
England, and at the conclusion met a number
of gentlemen of Boston to whom I submitted
these and other facts; and I especially commended to their notice the character and labors of Miss Grant and Miss Lyon, who were
at that time commencing efforts to endow a
seminary for women.
These ladies were pupils of Rev. Joseph
Emmerson, who instilled the highest ideal of
woman's position and ministry. He maintained that, as the chief educator of our race,
the world's education is to be achieved mainly
by the instrumentality of highly cultivated
women animated by the self-sacrificing spirit
of Jesus Christ.
91 
92         EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
Thus influenced by their teacher, these two
ladies in after years commenced the effort
which resulted in the establishment of the
Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. At this
time neither in Europe or this country had
there been any provision madel~or the higher
intellectual training of women of the medium
working-classes. It was either the wealthy
or the degraded poor who engaged all educational efforts.
But it was believed by these ladies that the
highest welfare of society could never be attained until women of the medium classes
were highly educated, both intellectually and
spiritually. With this object in view, Miss Lyon
relinquished to Miss Grant the sole charge of
the Ipswich Seminary, which they had shared
together, and devoted herself to raising funds
for an institution on a novel plan, which
should be made permanent by endowments.
Miss Grant succeeded in raising the first
thousand dollars for this enterprise among the
ladies of Ipswich and her pupils, and thus,
like myself, these pioneers were upheld and
encouraged in their first attempt by the approval and contributions of sensible, practical
and benevolent women. 
MISS GRANT AND MISS LYON.
The leading features of this plan were to
gain perpetuity by endowments for an institution
which should secure as high intellectual training for the daughters as for the sons of a
family, and, in addition to that, secure the high
Christian culture which would equally fit them
for noble wives and mothers among the laboring classes, or for teachers and missionaries
in neglected lands. It was claimed that the
church of Christ was bound as a solemn duty
to provide such institutions for its daughters.
The next and most peculiar feature was,
conducting the family work without servants,
as a method which would draw pupils, not
from the wealthy class, but from the classes
in which domestic labor had well developed
both body and mind.  Miss Lyon ever maintained that this measure was not intended to
teach housekeeping and other domestic duties, but to honor labor, to secure family unity,
kindliness and energy.   She  playfully remarked that this feature served as a sieve to
exclude the indolent, fastidious and delicate,
and retain the finest wheat.
Another feature aimed at by her was such
economy in expenditures as would enable
energetic women with limited means to gain
98 
94         EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
a liberal education at small expense.   In
order to do this she never would receive more
than two hundred a year for her salary, and
of this a large part was devoted to the institution she founded.
In her first efforts she was regarded like
myself, as "visionary and impractical." Even
sensible men and women opposed, some ridiculed, and few sympathized.
It was in the most trying',and discouraging
part of this enterprise that' I made a tour,
during which I obtained these particulars:
- At Concord, N. I-I., Mr. Stone, principal of
a school there, told me that there were many
intelligent, pious women in that vicinity anxious for education to become teachers, but restricted by limited means, and, after giving
all he could, he took their hard-earned pittance almost with tears. Yet if fitted to be
teachers, he knew not how they could get
schools.
Miss Hesseltine, principal of a large school
at New Hampton, N. H., told me she had to
repress the enthusiasm of her pupils in seeking useful employment away from home, for
it was not right for them to start off alone to
seek it; and yet, if there was any way to pro 
MISS GRANT AND MISS LYON.
vide schools, she could every year furnish from
fifty to one hundred enterprising, pious, and
well-educated teachers.
President Lord, of Dartmouth College,
N. H., told me that he felt very strongly the
importance of such an organization as I was
seeking, and was confident that many excellent women in that vicinity who were unemployed  would  thankfully  engage  in  such
service.
At Burlington, Vt., the college faculty and
the principal of the female seminary expressed
the same opinion.
At Middlebury, Vt., the faculty of the college and the principal of the female seminary
furnished me very interesting facts to illustrate the same opinion.
At Castleton, Vt., Mr. Clark, principal of
the female academy told me he had long
felt the need of some agency to employ female talent and piety, and had offered to
undertake finding places for teachers at the
West if only the needful funds were provided.
Miss Fiske, of Keene, N. H., for thirty-five
years a teacher, who had trained more than
three thousand pupils, enthusiastically coincided with my views as the only mode of sav
95 
EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
ing our country from ignorance and consequent ruin.
At Northampton, Mass., Rev. Mr. Todd
expressed the same views. He was then engaged with Miss Lyon in efforts,to raise funds
for Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary, which
aimed to educate women teachers and missionaries, and said that in two years Northampton alone could furnish fifty pious and
well-educated women if means were afforded.
He lamented that the effort to raise funds for
Mt. Holyoke Seminary languished, because
all engaged in it were too much interested in
business or so disqualified that he feared an
entire failure.
At Amherst, Mass., President Humphrey
expressed the same views as to the need of
such efforts, and his fears that the Mt. Holyoke plan would fail for want of a man having
the ability and willingness to carry it forward.
He lamented that while there were plenty of
men earnest in creating or sustaining institutions for men, even more than are needed,
Miss. Lyon, that noble, self-denying, and indefatigable woman, was in danger of losing
health and usefulness for want of deserved
sympathy and aid.
96 
MISS GRANT AND MISS LYON.
In this extensive tour I obtained the names
and high recommendation of over one hundred women who would gladly become missionary teachers. At the same time I found a
rising interest to furnish means to educate
and employ women teachers.  Or-" clergyman's
wife told me that several societies of young
ladies were formed for this purpose, and their
funds were lying idle for want of suitable opportunity to use them.
When I made the vain effort to have teachers to come from the East to Cincinnati, to be
trained there, as the place for supplying those
at the West who were seeking teachers, I
wrote to Miss Lyon, who at that time had
succeeded in establishing the Mt. Holyoke
Seminary.  The following was her reply:
"MY DEAR FRIEND:
"I have not forgotten you or your cause. I have
received your circular, and now, with little time at
command, I send in a few inquiries and suggestions.
"This object is a very great one and I hope it will
accomplish for our country even more than any one
could expect. Of the need of such an effort no one
can doubt, and there are a great many women who have
the heart to go and labor and suffer in the cause and
receive but little earthly reward.   But it is something
to find them, and when found, still more to complete
all needed negotiations.
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98         EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
"But my hope is not in women considerably advanced in age, who expect to remain unmarried; it is
in young ladies scarcely out of their teens, whose souls
are burning for some channel into which they can pour
their benevolence, and who will teach two, three, or
four years and then marry and become firm pillars to
hold up their successors.  If we could find teachers
who, unmarried, would devote twenty or thirty years to
this work, we would not gain as much as by such a
circulating system.
"As to the other sex, I regard them in a different
light. They need not (like women teachers) leave
their vocation when they marry, in order'to guide the
house' and nurture their children. And so God has
given them less versatility and less power to enter successfully and all at once into what they undertake as
their life work.
In this view of the case there is a difficulty as to
my immediate success in furnishing teachers for your
enterprize. For young ladles must not only be willng to go, but must also gain the approbation of
father, mother, or, perhaps, brother or sister, or sister's
husband.
"As the enterprise now is, it will be difficult to satisfy very careful friends. Just write to me of a particular place by name and that a teacher can have proper
assurance of her paying expenses and a salary of say
only $IOO, and I have little doubt that I can send you
a good teacher with full consent of friends as soon as I
can find a safe escort.
"But if I can only say I wish to send a teacher to
Miss Beecher to spend a few weeks at Cincinnati in
preparing for an unknown field with an unknown sal 
MISS GRANT AND MISS LYON.
ary, and to be under obligation to an unknown donor,
the case is different.
"You will not understand that I disapprove your
mode of commencing your work. After your enterprise
has made farther advance I hope to do more than I can
do now. You will excuse me if my suggestion are
borrowed from my own experience the last ten years.
Having had many obstacles thrown in my own way, I
anticipate them for others, and having been blessed
with more success than I ever hoped, I am prepared to
expect success for others as I do for you."
These views of Miss Lyon are rendered
specially interesting and valuable in reference
to the narrative which follows.
99
.....              e X   ~.,, 
CHAPTER IX.
GOVERNOR SLADE.
URING  the period embraced in the pre   ceding narrative, I was invited to furnish an article to be read at the Annual
Meeting of the National Lyceum. I accordingly sent an address in which I plead the
causes of the two million children of our
country without teachers, anid of the multitudes of educated Christian women vainly
seeking for schools. The President of the
Lyceum wrote me that the reading of it drew
tears from many eyes, and that it was read
again to a meeting of New York ladies invited
for the purpose, who requested its publication.
But no other results appealed to follow.
I then began an attempt to organize women
of all religious denominations, to prosecute the
preparations and employment of educated
Christian women, and their transfer from the
East to act as teachers in the destitute sections of the West and South. 
GOVERNOR SLADE.
At this time the agitation about woman's
rights and wrongs was exciting public notice,
and while I deeply sympathized in the effort
to remedy the many disabilities and sufferings
of my sex, it seemed to me the most speedy
and effective remedy would be to train woman
for her true profession as educator and chief
minister of the family state, and to secure to
her the honor and pecuniary reward which
men gain in their professions.
To organize women for this end would escape much of the prejudice and opposition
awakened by those who were attempting to
introduce women into men's professions, and
would be approved by the most conservative
and fastidious, if conducted with discretion
and propriety. From the commencement of
my-educational efforts, it was my practice always to seek the counsel of intelligent housekeepers, mothers and school-tea }ers, and I
never have adopted any important plans or
measures till I had secured the approval of
women of high culture who had gained practical wisdom in performing such duties.
Therefore my first measure was to consult
ladies of influence and good sense in the
chief Protestant sects both at the East and
101 
102        FDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
West, and after gaining a unanimous approval
of what I was attempting, I organized a committee of ladies in Cincinnati to co-operate.
Then I addressed letters of inquiry to gentlemen of influence and highs position in our
more destitute States, asking their counsel as
to measures. At the same time, at my request, Professor Stowe, my brother-in-law,
organized a committee of gentlemen from
several religious denominations in Cincinnati
to co-operate with the ladies, and the follow,
ing are extracts from several replies to my
letters:
From HON. THOS. BURROWS, former Secretary of
Stale in Pennsylvania.
"The necessities, the crying necessities for the cause
you plead are far before temperance reform, or colleges,
or foreign missions. A man who, being fit, should de.
vote himself to it, would confer a greater benefit on
human nature than he could by any other use of his
time. If my gifts'and domestic relations permitted, I
would devote myself to a mission for raising up teacher'
Seminaries.  Until this preliminary is accomplished,
money, effort, and legislation will be, as hitherto they
have been, merely thrown away. This State (Pennsyl vania) has expended five million for common schools,
and at the end of ten years, I -see but little improve ment.   If funds could be obtained to establish  a
superior teachers' institution as a model, it 4ould set
the matter ahead in a few years.  Beyond a doubt the 
GOVERNOR SLADE.
plan ought to include the preparation of female
teachers."
From DR. STURTEVANT, President of Illinois College.
"Some organization to secure popular education
would do great good in this State, by collecting statistics and calling attention to our wants, and by supporting, at least in part, model schools to show by example
what good schools are, and by influencing our legislature
in reference to our school fund. If something is not
done this fund of nearly two millions will practically
be lost."
From REV. HENRY WARD BEECHER of Indianapols,
Indiana.
"Much could be done for Indiana and much ought
to be done speedily, for it is more densely populated
than Ohio or Illinois; it has been grievously neglected
and our school fund of nearly two million is in such
neglect as threatens its entire loss. An agent should
be supported to lecture in every country town to protect our school fund from depredations."
From HON. DR. CORNETT, member of the Senate of
Indiana.
"In Indiana we are in deplorable want of good 
teachers for common schools. If our people could be
educated by the right sort of teachers there would be
little need of temperance lectures and similar temporary efforts, for our children would enter life fortifiedt
against vice. I have been on the Senate's Committee
on Education and have had great difficulty in sustaining the integrity of our school fund."
103
f  
104        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
From JUDGE LANE, of Ohio.
"I believe our legislature, if left to itself, would let
the common schools perish. I believe an association to
influence it to necessary measures is indispensable, and
also an agent to give intensity to such an association.
A man for this work would require a rare combination
of qualities." 
From a Lawyer of Cincinnati.
"Our State would furnish work for a dozen laborers
for this cause instead of one. A man devoted to this
cause would be welcomed as an angel of light by all
classes and sects. I should hail the commencement of
such an effort as you are attempting, as the dawning of
a new light upon the West."
The views thus expressed were confirmed
by all I consulted, and nothing seemed wanting but to find the right sort of man and
engage his services. But here was an embarrassing dilemma. In order to obtain such a
man a salary must be provided for his support, and in order to raise the salary the right
man must be secured. Which horn of the
dilemma was to be chosen it was difficult to
decide, and so I concluded to take both;
that is to find the right man who would engage to start without any funds pledged for
his support, and at the same time to raise
funds to support an agent, before a suitable
one had been engaged.
t 
GOVERNOR SLADE.
My efforts to obtain the right person, when
no salary could be secured, were continued
for more than a year.  I traveled, wrote,
talked, argued, and persuaded, in various
directions, and when foiled in a sixth application, and was commencing the seventh, I
bethought me that worse than the distress of
Israel's maidens had befallen me, for it was
written, "In that day seven women shall take
hold of one man" for help, but, now, one
woman was obliged to pursue seven!
At this period I prepared a volume entitled
"American  Women,  Will You Save  Your
Country? " It came out anonymously, that it
might not appear as from a mere individual.
It was extensively circulated by the Harpers,
who published it, and was sent, with a circular
from the committee of ladies and gentlemen I
had secured, to various influential ladies of
the chief Protestant denominations, East and
West. Soon contributions began to come to
me. By this means, also, was formed the
Boston Ladies' Society for Promoting Education at the West, which by sending excellent
teachers did a noble work for several years.
It soon was apparent that no gentleman
possessing the requisite character could be
105 
106        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
obtained until a proper salary was pledged.
To gain this I made a tour to many of our
large cities with my young brother Thomas,
who visited clergymen of the chief denominations, and by their aid secured large meetings
of ladies, to whom he delivered the address I
had prepared. As the result, such assurances
were given as seemed to insure a proper
salary to a suitable agent as soon as he could
be found.
Meantime, a copy of my book and circular
reached Governor Slade of Vermont, and he,
through a friend, expressed a wish to aid in
some way in such an enterprise. I immediately sent the following letter, and, at my
request, both my father and Professor Stowe
addressed him letters.
WALNUT HILLS, _VOV. I4, 1845.
To His EXCELLENCY Gov. SLADE:
ANy Dear Sir,-Prof. Stowe has learned from gentlemen in Vermont that you may perhaps be induced to
take the direction of the enterprise commenced by
American women to promote popular education. My
father will address you on the subject, and I beg leave
also to present some views of the objects sought by the
leaders who are most interested in,the enterprise.
In its most comprehensive form this is an effort to
place American Women in that true position designed
by God, and relieve them from the miseries consequent 
GOVERNOR SLADE.
on their present false position. Our Creator designed
woman to be the chief educator of our race and the
prime minister of our family state, and our aim is to
train her for this holy calling and give her every possible advantage for the performance of its many and
difficult duties.
But, while this is our leading view, it includes several
distinct departments, several of which are more readily
comprehended than the more general object, and so we
take one at a t'nie, selecting such as the popular mind
can most readily be led to appreciate. Our first measure presented to the public is the promotion of popular
education as the only mode of saving our nation from
ruin. This interests all patriots, and philanthropists of
every class. To those who regard all enterprises in the
religious aspect, it is offered as a missionary effort to
save not only from temporal evils but from perils of
the future life. To those who are laboring to secure
woman's rights and remedy her wrongs, it is offered as
the shortest, surest, and safest method.
There are several considerations that may encourage
you in an attempt to take the lead in this important
movement. The first is that it originated and so far
has been conducted by women of more than ordinary
claims to respect.  The prime movers are not women
who are ambitious of notoriety or easily excited by
visionary schemes, nor women  of unbalanced mind
easily attracted to trifling pursuits, nor ambitious women
stimulated by the desire of power and influence. On
the contrary, they are women of culture, reflection, and
comprehensive views. Some are women of talent for
authorship, who will employ the pen for this cause.
Some are women of wealth, ready to spend time and
107
I 
EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
money for this cause. Some are women of high position, whose character and connections give them access
to the fountains of power. Finally, they are selected
from all sects and all sections of our nation. Such are
the women who quietly are organizing to promote an
enterprise that commends itself to all parties and sections and to all good men of every name.*
I would next indicate reasons for encouragement in
the measures to be employed by those ladies most active in this cause. One most prominent is the wide
circulation of two volumes-one, entitled "American
Women, will you serve your Country?" which aims to
interest all philanthropists and christians in promoting
popular education. The other is a work embracing all
departments of Domestic Economy, written for the express purpose of exciting a healthful esprit de corps
among women, and promoting a respect for woman's
distinctive duties. It aims to train young ladies, at
school, with right views of their future domestic duties
and to aid in preparing them to discharge them wisely
and faithfully. At the same time it is hoped that an
extensive sale of these works will secure funds to support agents and measures for accomplishing the great
enterprize in hand.
. We have attempted to form affiliated associations to
carry out the various details that may be devised, and
in this effort we have aimed to interest women of
wealth and influence in different religious denominations, that it may become fashionable to engage in this
cause, and so, also, that sectarian antagonisms shall not
interfere. Already three ladies of wealth and position,
one in the Baptist and two in the Congregationalist
denomination, have expressed to me their willingness
108 
GOVERNOR SLADE.
to devote their time and property to this as their leading object of benevolence. I know of several others
who are ready, in other religious denominations. to
take the same course.
All that is now wanting is a competent leader. For
such a position we seek a civilian rather than a clergyman, in order to escape sectarian jealousy, a man also
of liberal views, with energy, enterprize and perseverance.
Such, we are told, is the gentleman I am addressing,
and with devout thankfulness to the Author of all wise
counsels, we learn that he has inclined your heart to
engage in this work, which time will show to be of unsurpassed magnitude.
Therefore, in behalf of the noble ladies who are
united with me, in behalf of thousands of our suffering
sex, and behalf of millions of neglected children in
whose cause we are engaged, we ask you to grant us
the strength of your name, station and character, and
the success that will attend your counsels, influence and
labors.
Permit us to say that should you comply with our
request, in addition to all other benefactions, it will be
equal in money value to a check for the sum needful
for your future salary.
Very respectfully your friend,
CATHARINE E. BEECHER,
From PROF. STOWE.
WALNUT HILLS, Dec. r5, I846.
To Gov. SLADE:
Dear Sir,-Miss Beecher's correspondence has presented some of our objects and plans. We are engaged
109 
110        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
in the chimerical, always unrewarded, never appreciated,
and forever unsuccessful work of trying to get a few
useful ideas on education into people's heads, so that
they may treat themselves decently and make their
children good for something, This is a work which requires talent, devotedness, patience, and a vast amount
of head-work, all for the good of others and without
any prospect of reward except in the Kingdom of Heaven. Now as this Kingdom of Heaven has no cotton or
sugar plantations to offer, and does not speculate in pork
or flour, this kind of stock is considered a bad investment; so that Texas scrip and government bonds are
greatly preferred to it.
But there are at least a few minds not money-blind
who have glimpses of the truly good and great, and
who are willing to labor for the elevation of their fellow
men without expectation of honor or wealth, simply
because their heavenly sympathies lead that way. To
such the educational wants of our country present a
most interesting field. But the kind of work needed
cannot be done by an ordinary, common-place man.
He who undertakes it should be capable of succeeding
in any business and worthy of any office in the gift of
the people, and one also who will have to sacrifice a
great deal for a good cause.  No other man can do the
work needed. Horace Mann has set a noble example~
and will not fail to have his reward. But if he in the
one State of Massachusetts earned the reward of one
city, the man who toils successfully for the great and
growing West will have the " ten talents," and be rewarded with "ten cities."
As to the precise duties you would be called to perform, we are unable to give definite information. 
GOVERNOR SLADE.
Among the most patriotic and intelligent of our country there is a deep and increasing sense of danger and
of our duty as to general education and an earnest wish
that something should be done speedily. This interest
existing in multitudes of minds all over the nation only
awaits the formation of some nucleus around which to
gather and develop, and we propose that as our official
organ you present that nucleus.
We have commenced our efforts by aiding the movement now commencing to aid benevolent women in obtaining schools in the more destitute portions of our
nation, and this will constitute not the least important
and interesting department of your labor. As to pecuniary support, you can be assured of a decent living and
nothing more. But Jesus Christ says "a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of that which he possesseth."
Should you, after suitable time for consultation, decide to comply with our wishes, we pledge you our
counsels, our influence, our sympathy, and our prayers.
In behalf of the Central Committee for promoting
National Education,
CALVIN E. STOWE.
In the reply to these letters, Gov. Slade at
first declined the proposal, but in such a way
as not to discourage. A few months after, he
wrote to me accepting the agency.   From
these two letters I extract the following:
"If I know my own heart, I want to do good and be
directed into the largest field of usefulness which I am
capable of occupying; but in all seriousness I doubt
ill 
112        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
my fitness for the agency in question. My want of experience in matters of this sort is the leading; though
not the only, defect. There are other difficulties of
whieh I cannot now write, which prevent my giving an
affirmative answer, and whether these can be removed
time will determine.  As matters now stand, you must
make no dependence on me for this agency."
In the second letter, a few months after the
above, he wrote as follows:
"MY DEAR MISS BEECHER-I suppose my letter to
Prof. Stowe, indicating my acceptance of the agency
has reached you. I am deeply impressed with the
conviction that I shall disappoint the expectations of
the friends of this enterprize.
"It is a great misfortune for a man to be overrated in
advance of an undertaking. But I have put my hand
to the plough and shall not look back. My motto
shall be'onward and upward,' and my dependence the
strength of Him who' giveth power to the faint.'
"Very respectfully and truly yours,
"WILLIAM SLADE."
Thus, after so much time and effort, the
desired organization of cultivated and practical women in the chief protestant denominations was effected; committees of influential
gentlemen were secured to co-operate; and an
agent of high character and' position obtained.
But it was at the expense of great nervous
prostration on my own part, which was in 
GOVERNOR SLADE.
some measure remedied by several months'
residence at the first water-cure established
in this country, under Dr. Wefselhoeft, a
highly educated German physician
113
or 
C,HAPTER X..
BOARD OF NATIONAL POPULAR EDUCATION.
T the close of Gov. Slade's term of office
in Vermont, we met at Hartford, where
he delivered his first address to a large
audience.   This awakened  a great interest
in the cause he was to conduct. On consulting with him, I found he was willing to attempt nothing, but to transfer teachers already
prepared, and so I did not urge a prominent
feature of my plan, which was to raise up
schools of a high order in the newer States,
which should train teachers in those States
when the supply from abroad had ceased.
Knowing more than most of those consulted by Gov. Slade of the difficulties to be
encountered, I proposed that before the teach
ers were sent out they should meet in some
place for a month to hear lectures, and visit
classes in some normal school. To all I
proposed he gave a most kind and courteous
assent, and during all of our personal inter 
BOARD OF NATIONAL POPULAR EDUCATION.  115
course and correspondence nothing but kind
attention to my views and wishes was manifested; and whenever he differed from me as
to the expediency of any matter, I did not
urge it.
The points whereon we agreed were, that
the teachers should spend a month under my
care; that he should travel and lecture in the
chief cities of the West, and organize voluntary committees to aid in providing schools
for our teachers; that there should be no denominational differences, and that as far as
practicable teachers should be drawn from
all denominations called Evangelical. I endeavored to induce the Boston Ladies' Society to join with us, but they had decided
not to collect and prepare their teachers, but
trust to correspondence alone, and to confine
their society and teachers to the Congregational order. After some time they were convinced that our method was both more economical and more successful, and then they
united their organization with Gov. Slade's.
The points where Gov. Slade dissented
from my views and wishes were these: I knew
that every man and woman of benevolence at
the West had twice as much demanded of them 
116        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
as was possible to accomplish; that voluntary committees could not do all that was
needful in finding schools and taking care
of teachers; and that a paid agent was needed to take care of the teachers on their
journey, as they all went in one common company, and also to attend to their location and
incidental exigencies. I also held that there
ought to be funds ready for their relief in
cases of accidents or illness.  But when I
found that Gov. Slade was sure that his voluntary committees would do all that was
needed in these respects, I did not urge my
wishes nor dispute his judgment. Especially
I did not urge the main features of what I
was seeking, as the completion of the plan,
i. e. the establishment of institutions for the
higher education of women in central points at
the West, sustained by endowments; and the
college method of organization, which I
deemed so necessary to save the health of the
highest class of teachers, and which I had by
trial found so successful.
During my residence at Brattleboro, I issued circulars to clergymen of the larger
Protestant denominations, seeking their aid
in obtaining women of culture, good sense, 
BOARD OF NATIONAL POPULAR EDUCATION. 117
and piety, to act as educators in a missionary field.  By this meth6d I obtained  the
names of over three hundred ladies highly
recommended.
The first measure of Gov. Slade was to accompany me to visit the cities where my
brother and myself had interested ladies in
our effort, and by whose influence a large part
of his necessary salary was secured-thus
solving the second of my two main difficulties.
Then he went to the Western cities to lecture
and form committees to aid in finding schools
and taking care of our teachers. Encouraged
by the interest manifested, he desired me to
select at least one hundred teachers from the
three hundred candidates.
But when I found he had ceased his connection with the committee organized by Prof.
Stowe at Cincinnati, and had organized at
Cleveland the Board of  _Vational Popular
Educatioin, with a constitution which did not
provide for an agent to assist teachers, nor
funds for their distressing emergencies, fearing lest the provision of places and pecuniary resource might not suffice, I selected
only thirty-five, and by the aid of Rev. Mr.
James, in Albany, obtained for them gratuitous 
1i8        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
board for a month, and access to the normal
school with lectures, and other advantages, in
addition to my instructions. This class was
sent on without any agent to take care of
them on their journey, owing to the fact that
in several cases the families who"had received
teachers for a month only were in circumstances to require their departure, while Gov.
Slade had misunderstood the time when he
was to escort them. But our good friend, Mr.
James, borrowed the money needed, and the
class departed without an escort.
A second class was collected, and trained
under my supervision at Hartford, where the
ladies of that city provided gratuitous board,
and then, according to my desire, undertook
the labor and care for all the succeeding
classes, which I relinquished, hoping my responsibilities were thus ended.
But the evils I had foreseen came to pass.
The committee had not found places enough
for the first class nor the second, and those in
trouble all wrote for help to me.
The narrative which follows is designed to
illustrate these particulars  That  practical
housekeepers, mothers, and school-teachers
are better qualified to devise and conduct 
BOARD OF NATIONAL POPULAR EDUCATION.  119
methods of education than men of business
and professional men, who usually are employed for this service; that there is great
want of economy in past methods for the highest education of both men and women; that
the greatest impediments to improvement in
education are sectarian divisions, preventing
union in newer settlements, and multiplying
needless colleges and professional schools for
men; and, finally, that the most available
remedy is for American women to organize,
without respect to religious or political divisions, to secure the proper education of the
women and children of this nation, as the
chief ground of hope for its prosperity and
safety.
As one method of illustrating these principles some extracts are inserted from the
letters which were addressed to me by the
teachers I had aided to -prepare and locate.
But, as only a small selection can be given,
I will state that soon after the d &parture
of the first class, numbering thirty-three, I
learned that one of the teachers had lost
her trunk by the carelessness of others;
another was detained on the road among
strangers by protracted illness.; another was 
120        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
taken so severely ill, soon after her arrival,
as to be obliged to give up teaching; another wrote that the people were too ignorant and poor to support her school; another
that she was so destitute of the comforts of
life as to endanger health, and another that
sectarian feuds had raised an opposition
school which cut off much of her humble income.
Soon after the location of the second class,
numbering thirty-four, one wrote to me that
her promised schools were not to be found;
another that a teacher of another religious
sect had supplanted her; another that she
had broken a leg, involving confinement for
months; another that her school was nearly
broken up by a contest about admitting colored children; another that she was so destitute of ordinary comforts that it affected her
health, and,  lastly,  another wrote  that  a
*teacher who could teach more branches for a
less price was preferred only on account of
cheapness.
At this time Gov. Slade had formed a new
organization at Cleveland, Ohio, named the
Board of National Popular Education, its
managers being men of business or profeso 
BOARD OCF NATIONAL POPULAR EDUCATION. 121
sional men, and the Constitution adopted by
them did not allow any funds to aid teachers
after location. At the same time he was on
an extensive tour through the East and West
to raise funds and promote interest in popular
education, and, in these respects, he was very
successful. But the whole responsibility of
aiding those sufferers whom I had brought
into such painful circumstances rested on
me. I immediately took the following letters
and others similar to them, and read them to
meetings of ladies in several cities, who
promptly gave me the needful funds, to be
used by me at my own discretion.
The first is from a young lady of the Episcopal Church:
"I arrived here the 17th of January, and opened
school in a small log house. I now have forty-five
pupils, one-half of whom are boys, and some of them
grown up. They all seem anxious to please me, and I
find no difficulty in-governing them.
"The inhabitants here are chiefly from North Carolina, Tennessee, and Germany. All are farmers, and
their chief object is to make money. They seem desirous to have their children educated, but they differed
so much about almost everything, that they could not
build a school-house. I was told, also, when I came
that they would not pay a teacher for more than three
months in a year. At first they were very suspicious, 
122        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
and watched me narrowly; but, through the blessing
of my Heavenly Father, I have gained their good
will and confidence, so that they have built me a
good frame school-house, with writing-desks and a
black-board, and promise to support me all the year
round.
"I commence school every day with reading the
Bible and prayer; this was new to them, but they
made no objections. The people here spend Sunday
in hunting, fishing, and visiting. I have commenced a
Sabbath-school and invited the parents to come with
their children. They seem much pleased, and many
come three and four miles. They never heard of a
Sunday-school before. Last Sunday there were fifty
present, and I proposed that we should have a Bibleclass for the men, and that Mr. -, a professor of religion near this place, should take charge of it, while I
attended to the women and children. There being no
church nearer than seven miles, the people think it too
much trouble to go to it. I have persuaded them to
invite the nearest clergyman to preach in my schoolhouse next Sunday.
"My greatest trials here are the want of religious
privileges, the difficulty of sending to the distant postoffice, the entire want of social sympathy, and the
manner in which I am obliged to live. I board where
there are eight children and the parents, and only two
rooms in the house. I must do as the family do about
washing, as there is but one basin and no place to go
to wash but out the door.  I have not enjoyed the
luxury of either lamp or candle, their only light being a
cup of grease with a rag for a wick. Evening is my
only time to write, but this kind of light makes such a 
BOARD OF NATIONAL POPULAR EDUCATION.  1223
disagreeable smoke and smell I cannot bear it, and do
without light except the fire. I occupy a room with
three of the children and a niece who boards here.
The other room serves as a kitchen, parlor, and bedroom for the rest of the family.
"I have read your -)omestic Economy through to the
family, one chapter a day. They like it, and have
adopted some of your suggestions in regard both to
order and to health. They used to drink coffee three
times a day. Now they use it only once a day. Their
bread used to be heavy and half-baked, but I made
yeast by the receiptin your book, and thus made some
good bread. They were much pleased with it, and I
have made such ever since.
"The people here are very ignorant; very few of
them can either read or write, but they wish to have
their children taught. They spend Sunday in visiting
and idleness, and the fact that I kept Sunday-school
for them without pay convinced them that my real
object was to do good. The people in the settlements
around are anxious to have mere of the teachers come
out. They have sent for Miss H., who came out with
me, but she was engaged. I was sorry, as it would
have been a comfort to have had one friend within
reaching distance.
"When I came here I intended to stay only one
term; but the people urged me so much to remain, and
have done so much in building me a school-house, that
I concluded to stay longer. I did not leave my home
to seek pleasure, wealth, or fame, and I do believe my
Heavenly Father will bless my labors here, even if I
never see the fruit. The people seem to like me, say
their children never behaved so well before, were pres 
124       EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
ent at my examination, and like the Eastern way of
keeping schooL"
Extract of another Letter from the Same.
"Your kind letter was received last Thursday, and
would have been immediately answered, but I was sent
for to visit a sick child. The parents;"being Catholic,
were much alarmed lest it should die unbaptized. I
explained as well as I could the nature and object of
baptism, succeeded in quieting their fears, and, as they
urged it, I staid all night in the cabin, with only one
room, holding nine grown persons besides two children
and the sick infant. There was no window, and they
kept both doors shut till I persuaded them to leave a
small opening to one door. In the morning I walked
through the wet prairie and thus took a heavy cold,
and for three weeks have been unable to use my eyes.
"As soon as I could I took the draft you sent me to
the nearest large town and purchased the articles you
directed. Ever since I have enjoyed the luxury of
bathing and candlelight, and, with my screen, I can be
alone at least in a corner. I can never sufficiently
thank you for your kindness in thus adding to my comfort and usefulness in a strange land.   I am much
pleased at the prospect of the books you have sent to
me, and the children are highly delighted. Many of
my scholars are now sick, and my own health is not so
good as it was, as I have watched a good deal with my
scholars who were sick of the scarlet and winter fevers.
There is a broad field of usefulness here, large enough
for all who wish to come. I have never regretted that
I came, and if I am made the instrument of bringing
only one to the knowledge of the truth, I shall be amply 
BOARD OF NATIONAL POPULAR EDUCATION.  12~
repaid for the sacrifices I have made in this noble
cause."
Extract from her last Letter.
"I am sorry to inform you that on account of illhealth I was obliged to give up my school at.
While watching with my scholars I was seized with
chills and fever. When better I accepted an invitation
to this place, which is more healthy. There are over
eighty children here without schools," etc.
The following is from a lady belonging to
the Baptist denomination, located near the Indian tribes at the upper part of the Mississippi
River in the then new territory of Minne
sota:
"I have been invited to St. Croix, and, on many accounts, speaking after the manner of men, it would be
vastly more pleasant. I have also been invited to the
Falls of St. Anthony, near me. But I feel that this is
the spot that heaven designed for me, nor would I
change situations with any person living. The refinements of society, the wealth or honor of earth, cannot
attract me from this isolated spot so long as God has
work for me here.   I have never had the first regret
at having come; on the contrary, it is a theme of constant thankfulness that I was enabled to forsake the
dear delights of home and refined society for my
Saviour and the good of this dear people.
"Perhaps my present circumstances may to you
seem dark, but to me there is no cloud, for I trust the
promise,'all things work together for good to those
who love God.' I have now been confined by illness 
126        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
about two months -a fever, with a relapse which
brought me still lower. I am still very weak, and today walked in the yard for the first time since I was
taken sick. My work has, of course, been interrupted.
The Sunday-school has been kept up at my request by
two young men, but without prayer. To my knowledge there is not a professor of religion in town except
myself. In some way, yet unknown to me, I expect
greater good will come from this than if I had remained
well. I have received every possible attention and
sympathy, and four physicians have come to offer their
gratuitous services.
"The expense of living here is very great, as much
so as in cities, and the people here will only be able to
furnish me board and a school-room. This is decidedly missionary ground, and I wish to be enabled to act
accordingly.  I am needing aid immediately.
"My success here has beyond measure surpassed my
highest anticipations; to God be the praise. I have
heard but one sermon since I have been here, but my
Sabbaths have been most happy."'
The following letter is from a lady of the
Congregational denomination, one of the
most mature and judicious of the wholl
number.  Her letter was in reply to inquiri~
made as to the modes in which her usefulnel
could be increased, and her comfort promoted
by money. She also is stationed in what is
properly called the missionary field. And it
is in this field that the larger portion of chil 
BOARD OF NATIONAL POPULAR EDUCATION. 127
dren are to be found who may be considered
as utterly destitute and neglected:
" DEAR MISS B.: I address you with many pleasant
and grateful recollections of the intercourse it was my
privilege to enjoy with yourself and the other dear
ladies associated with you at Hartford, a privilege that
every day makes more precious.
* We arrived safely, after a pleasant journey, and I
am now located in this place, which is the county town
of a newly organized county. The only church built
here is a Catholic, but the Presbyterians, Campbellites,
Baptists, and Methodists are the chief denominations.
The last are trying to build a church and have preaching once a fortnight. The Sabbath is little regarded,
and is more a day for diversion than devotion.
"I board with a physician, and the house has only
two rooms. One serves as kitchen, eating, and sittingroom; the other, where I lodge, serves also as the
doctor's office, and there is no time, night or day, when
I am not liable to interruption.
"My school embraces both sexes, and all ages from
five to seventeen, and not one can read intelligibly.
They have no idea of the proprieties of the school-room
or of study, and I am often at a loss to know what to
do for them. Could you see them, your sympathies
would be awakened, for there are few but what are
ragged and dirty in the extreme. Though it is winter,
some are without stockings, and one delicate little girl
came with stockings and no shoes.   The first day I
felt like having a thorough ablution of both the room
and the occupants, they were so filthy.
"I had to wait two weeks before I could get three 
128        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
broken panes mended and a few poor benches brought
in. My furniture consists now of these benches, a single board put up against the side of the room for a
writing-desk, a few bricks for andirons, and a stick of
wood for shovel and tongs. I have been promised a
blackboard, but I find that promises are little to be
relied on.  The first week I took a severe cold by being
obliged to keep both doors open to let out the smoke.
The weather is much colder than I expected, and the
houses are so poor we feel the cold much more.
"I am told they are abundantly able to support a
minister and pay a teacher, but could you see them
grouped together on Sunday you would think they
could do neither. I learn that the place is considered
not a healthy one, still I do not wish to leave on this
account, if it is judged best for me to remain. I came
expecting to make sacrifices and suffer privations.
When Sunday evening comes I feel more than ever
the want of some place for retirement, where I can
join in concert with those who at this hour unite in
prayer- for this noble cause. - Those seasons of social
communion and prayer at Hartford I shall never forget; they come like balm to the spirit when oppressed
with care. There is so much to do, and, where all are
so ignorant, so much instruction to give, one cannot
but feel anxious to know what will be most profitable.
I long and I hope to see things wear a more cheerful
aspect, and for this would labor untiringly.' Hope on
and hope ever' I would take as my motto."
Extract of another Letter from the same Teacher.
"Many thanks for your letter; it came when I much
needed something to cheer and encourage, and it did 
BOARD OF NATIONAL POPULAR EDUCATION. 129
both. In reply to your questions, I would say that
books might be loaned here to some extent with advantage.  I have lent your Domestic Economy around, and
have received applications for six copies from those
who will pay.
"I have a married woman and two of her children
now attending my school as pupils. She is anxious to
have me form a reading-circle, to meet once a week;
but there are so many bickerings and so much gossip,
I fear I shall not succeed, but I shall make the attempt.
"I think some money would much promote my usefulness here in purchasing suitable books to read in
such a circle and to loan, also to furnish school-books to
some of my poor children who can get none. Maps are
needed much, and some simple apparatus would greatly
add to the attractions of the school and the usefulness
of the teacher. I have four from one family and another of seventeen is coming, and none of them ever
were in a school before. Something to interest and
aid such would help me much. I need slates, pencils,
and paper, and sometimes I would buy a pair of shoes
for a poor child who has none.
"There is work enough for two teachers here if all
who ought to come to school could be drawn in, and I
think two together would accomplish more than three
when located each alone. A small frame house, plastered, with a chimney, would cost about one hundred
and twenty dollars, and if one could be put up, and
two teachers keep house and teach in it, it would be
an excellent plan. A teacher may chance sometimes
to be left without any place to abide in, a situation in
which I have just been placed. The physician where 
EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
I boarded left town, and I could engage no other place
and was about to leave.   But some were so anxious to
have me remain that I concluded to hire a room and a
little furniture and keep house by myself. I like it
much, but it takes up too much of my time.
"The people promised if I would stay they would
build me a school-house, but since I iw,ve consented to
remain I hear nothing said about it. There is a great
deal to be done here, and I cannot but hope I may be
the instrument of good to this people; and if it is but
little, I shall not regret the privations or sacrifices I
may suffer."
The following is from a teacher of the
Methodist Church:
"I was a little disappointed at first with my location,
for I had hoped to establish a High School for young
ladies. But since I have found what extensive influence I can exert here, I feel willing to follow His example who came to' the poor of this world.' This
term r have had over three hundred children, and four
fths are Catholics.  I have only one assistant, and
my school averages over two hundred daily. It is a
public school and I have charge of the primary department. The school-house is one of the best in the
city. I have an excellent home with the pastor of the
Bethel church, and am a teacher of the Sunday-school
connected with it. The Lord has blessed this effort
and the school has flourished.   I also have a tract dis
trict, embracing sixty-three families that send to my
school. These I visit every month. They are all
Catholics except a few families.   Last month  only
three refused to receive tracts.  I never worked harder 
BOARD OF NATIONAL POPULAR EDUCATION.  131
never enjoyed better health, and never was happier in
my life.  I rejoice that I came, and trust I shall never
cause you to regret having sent me. Three of our
teachers came into this city this week to see me. They
were well and in excellent spirits."
The next letter is from a Presbyterian
teacher in a flourishing town of some three
thousand inhabitants, where I had succeeded in interesting some gentlemen to act
as a committee to aid in building up a school.
They had invited me to send two teachers,
but I sent only one, and the following gives
the history of her experience:
"I am sorry to trouble you with another letter so
soon, but I feel you will excuse me when I tell'you my
present circumstances.   I began  my  school in the
building selected, but when the cold weather came it
was so uncomfortable that my scholars kept leaving,
and the'committee thought it best for me to remove.
The basement of the church had been promised me by
Mr., and I directed my pupils to assemble there,
when, the night before, he came and told me I could
not have it. I sent for the only member of the committee who does anything, as I had just had'a chill'
in consequence of staying in the school-room.   He
concluded something must be done, but that I had
better not begin school till another room could be
secured, which is almost an impossibility.
"If I have not had discouragements here, I know not
what the word means.   Beginning at first in the wrong
place, in an uncomfortable room, in the cold season, 
132        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
surrounded by divisions and jealousies of all sorts,
obliged to stop in the middle of the first term, obliged
to hunt up a room and begin all over again, fighting' the
chills' all the time-this is hard work.  Then my land
lord is anxious about pay, and this is humiliating.
Shall I be assisted in paying my expenses? for the
school will not support me."'
The above is a fair illustration of what
many teachers must meet in attempting to
raise schools in our newer settlements.
After raising needful funds, I made a tour
through Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri,
Iowa and Wisconsin, where those needing help
were located. Thus I learned their character, their wants, and the peculiar fields of
labor in which they were stationed. And the
record of zeal, discretion, self-denying labors
and success, amid innumerable trials and difficulties of these two classes and of the succeeding ones, is worthy  the brightest pages
of the primitive church. And their example,
I trust, will win many others to the same
heroic labors.
Such noble Christian women still abound
unemployed, and such dark places are to be
found all over our nation, not alone in our
newer settlements, but often in the richest and
oldest States. 
BOARD OF NATIONAL POPULAR EDUCATION,'~o3
And it is very important that there should
be clear ideas on the diverse character and
wants of our destitute sections.   In large
portions of the newer States where society is
most advanced, a good teacher is well received, well supported,  and enrcounters no
more trials or privations than she would meet
in the older States. For such places nothing
is needed but to secure good teachers and to
transfer them to their field of labor. But a
very small portion of the demands have been
from places of this character.   Ordinarily
teachers crowd to such positions, so that there
are more teachers of one sort and another,
than there are places of this kind to offer.
But there are two other kinds of places in
our newer States, which are the chief and
most important fields for the efforts of energetic and self-denying women, who enter this
service mainly from the desire of doing good.
In the first place, there are those large
towns and villages in the newer States, which,
as it respects-size and wealth, are abundantly
able to support good teachers, and where also
the people sufficiently appreciate education
to be willing to pay liberally for it.  But all
attempts to raise up permanent schools are 
134  EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
met by the embarrassments incident to a newv
and forming state of society. These difficulties arise chiefly from a want of unionz among
a population made up of individuals from
almost every State, section, seyt, and nation,
that can be named. To this add the increased stringency of sectarian jealousies,
where every church in the place is just struggling into a precarious and doubtful existence. To these add the difficulty of obtaining
competent teachers on the ground, or from
abroad; and the constant influx of incompetent
teachers making high pretensions, whose frequent failures generate suspicion and distrust
towards the good teachers who may follow.
Add to all these, the impulsive, generous, and
enterprising character of Western society,
leading to the hasty adoption of schemes for
public benefit, till frequent disappointments
breed distrust of all schemes and their originators. No person can conceive, but one who
has mingled in such communities, the endless
difficulties that meet the few intelligent and
enterprising friends of education, that attempt
to bring about such a degree of union and
harmony, as alone can secure permanent and
prosperous schools. 
BOARD OF NATIONAL POPULAR EDUICATION. ][15
I will mention a few illustrations that came
to my knowledge in that tour. In oLie case I
visited a flourishing town of four hundred inhabitants. But in this community were individuals belonging to gt least tze,e'Cle different
denominations, and of the most numerous
portions, each jealous lest the other should
start first and draw in the rest. The consequence was, no church, or even Sundayschool, of any sect could be sustained, nor
could they unite on any plan. As the teacher
whom I placed there was supported by the
leading men of one political party, the other
party set up an opposition school, and the
result was, neither teacher could be supported, and both had to leave the place for
want of' support.
In another large place of some two or three
thousand inhabitants, the two most influential
men were leaders of opposing factions, so that
a school patronized by one was neglected or
opposed by the other. In consequence, the
teacher sent there could not be sustained.
In another still larger place, the divisions
of society and the influx of poor teachers, in
the short space of six months, had presented
twenty different teachers commencing and 
136        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
ending their schools, leaving the inhabitants
utterly discouraged and disgusted with new
and vain enterprises.
In another large and beautiful place, a Female Seminary, having for trustees some of the
most influential men in the town, was opposed by a faction who were personally inimical to the trustees.  A  rival school was
started by them, and the teacher, after
laboring there for more than a year, was so
involved in the contest and difficulties engendered, that it seriously impaired her
health.
The last class of places to which our teachers were sent, were towns and villages where
the state of society and modes of living involved great privations, and in a measure risk
the health; and where also the jealousies and
feuds of a new society greatly embarrass every
attempt that demands union. This is pre eminently the field of missions, demanding the
most self-denying labor to which male or
female missionaries are ever called. The for eign field, in most cases, has nothing that
compares to it.
It was midwinter when such letters as have
been given as specimens seemed to demand 
BOARD OF NATIONAL POPULAR EDUCATION.  137
almost any risk on my part, and so with funds
furnished by the ladies of Brooklyn, New
York, and Philadelphia, and a lady of enterprise and benevolence as traveling companion, I went to Burlington,  Iowa, hired
a house-spent three hundred dollars of my
own  in furniture-went  to  housekeepingsent for ten of our teachers located on the
Mississippi, or its branches, who were either
ill or out of employment, and took care of
them till I found new and suitable situations
for all of them.
On  this tour, or soon after, I visited Indianapolis, Davenport, Rock Island, Galena,
Jacksonville, Quincy, and Milwaukee, to consult with their leading citizens in regard to
the plan I had attempted, and in which Governor Slade and the Executive Committee of
the Board of National Popular Education at
Cleveland declined to take any part-except
that of transferring teachers from the Eastern
States, without providing for their protection
and emergencies after location.
The plan as I presented it to the most influential ladies as well as gentlemen in those
Western cities, was briefly this: To establish
high schools at central points on the college 
138        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
plan of a faculty of co-equal teachers, instead
of having a princifpal with subordinates;  to
have the trustees of the institutions represent
the chief religious denominations, and also the
faculty of instructors so far ~s it could be
done without sacrificing the requisites of superior experience and culture in the teachers
selected, thus avoiding the great obstacles
of sectarianism; to have a Normal Department in each, including every advantage obtained in Eastern Normal Schools, and one
which would be far more economical than the
Eastern method; to have a boarding-house for
this Normal Department, so endowed as to
serve as a home for teachers in all emergencies;
to have committees of ladies from the larger
denominations, both East and West, to aid in
the selecting, training and care of teachers,
both from abroad and the State where the
institutions were located; to have these institutions in large towns or cities, where pupils
abound and can live at home, thus avoiding
large outlays for buildings and expenses for
board; and finally to employ women as agents,
with proper salaries, as men employ agents of
their own sex, to raise up and endow their
colleges and professional schools. 
BOARD OF NATIONAL POPULAR EDUCATION.  139
This plan met universal and unanimous
approval wherever I presented it. At Jacksonville, Pres. Sturtevant, of Illinois College,
organized a committee of gentlemen from
five different denominations to cooperate.  At
that place I found some of the managers of an
association of ladies of Illinois, who for seventeenyears had been raising funds in different
parts of the State to educate women for
teachers, the daughters of Home Missionaries,
and orphan girls being special objects of attention, and the success of this quiet association was most remarkable and encouraging.
The following extract from a Western clergyman expresses views that were urged on
my attention wherever I went:
"' This point is a very important one for the establishment of one of your Model High Schools. Three
or four teachers could accomplish a great work here,
and now is the time I The whole region here needs
what it has never had-a specimen of thorough, successful, modern teaching.  Our position at the corner
of three great states is very important, as well as the
moral and commercial position of our city.
"There is a considerable number of young ladies
and girls in this city who might be collected into a
Female Seminary here if sufficient inducements were
held out and the enterprise commenced with sufficient
strength. And there is a large number of young wo 
140        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
men in the country around, from five to fifty miles, that
could be drawn into a strong Seminary who could
never be attracted by one teacher, however highly
qualified.
"The Catholic Institute of the Sisters of Mercy, just
started here, is filling up rapidly, having already sixty
or seventy pupils, a portion of them being Protestants.
An equal number (to say the least), and those who are
more advanced in education, could be obtained could
we start a vigorously conducted Protestant Seminary of
a high order. But it must be of a high order, and appear so. We must be able to advertise that our teachers are able to instruct in a large variety of branches,
and among them the accomplishments such as music,
drawing, plain and fine needlework, etc. It is the
teaching of these by the Sisters of Mercy that is made
the reason why Protestant children are sent to them.
"The new Board of Trustees to our Female Seminary (of which the writer is President) has just been
organized. We have decided to suspend our male department and appropriate the whole of one building to
the Female Seminary. Our female department has
never had the benefit of improved methods of teaching,
and this would give the teachers you might send very
decided advantages. Here, too, we have none of the
prejudices against Eastern teachers that exist in some
places.
"The whole success of this enterprise depends upon
the character of the teachers you may send. On this
account we are anxious to obtain some of those who
have recently visited our city.  They have  made  a
very favorable impression on all who have had the
pleasure of seeing them. It is of great importance to 
BOARD OF NATIONAL POPULAR EDUCATION. 141
secure them, both on account of their personal character and also on account of past difficulties that have
embarrassed our institution. The young ladies whom
it is most impor-ant to draw into such a school have
always been sent to the more fashionable schools, and
the teachers of our schools have been wanting in certain graces highly valued by a large portion of our
community. Indeed, a certain rank in society, and a
certain agreeableness of manner usually connected
with it, have been wanting in our teachers, and in these
respects those we wish to obtain:by your aid surpass
any teachers who have visited us. WVe are certain that
such as these can make such an enterprise go, and without such it 7oill not succeed.
"I am often enquired of for your teachers; will you
write what teachers are coming to this quarter this session?"
Another letter was received from a committee of gentlemen in another large town,
requesting that an institution of the kind proposed may be located in that place, and offering a good building for a Seminary, free of
expense for two years, and also to provide
a suitable boarding-house near by. The
citizens had also formed a company, with
shares of twenty dollars each, for the purpose of purchasing this building and erecting additional accommodations. Their Committee also pledged from seventy to ninety
pupils from the place and its vicinity, and 
142        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
represented that there was to institution of
the kind in the surrounding country, so that
pupils would come in from the country around.
This had all resulted from the prospect held
out by my agent employed far this object.
The  agent  I  employed  was  supported
by selling my works on Domestic Economy, which the Harpers gave to me at
cost. He made an extensive tour and writes
thus: "I cannot close without remarking that
this part of the enterprise meets with a decided preference in the minds of the people
of this State. If we can succeed in establishing two or three such schools, so as to secure
their permanency, it will do more for the cause
of education than the Board of National Popular -Education could effect on its present
limited mode of operation in ten years."
The following extract of a letter from Pres.
Sturtevant, of Illinois College, gives his views
on this subject:
"ILLINOIS COLLEGE, 4April 23, 1849.
"MIss C. E. BEECHER: I am thoroughly convinced
of the soundness and practicablility of your genzeral
views in reference to the necessity of aiding and fostering institutions in the newer States, which shall be of
an elevated eharacter and serve to qualify youth at the
West to be good teachers. 
BOARD OF NATIONAL POPULAR EDUCATION.
"Some of the outlines of your peculiar plan I highly
approve. The organization of the higher schools for
women with faculties of co-equal teachers I am sure is
correct, and is as applicable to female seminaries as to
colleges, being absolutely essential to the greatest usefulness of both.
"As to the details, I think there is room for a difference of opinion; but any Board of teachers, consisting
of intelligent ladies thoroughly qualified for their work,
would accomonodate themselves to the peculiar circumstances of their position in such an institution, and I
should therefore be willing to trust the matter of details
to them.
"As to the amount of aid which it will be needful to
grant, I differ from you. I believe a much larger endowment will be necessary to make a female seminary
of the highest order what it should be.   I agree with
you in regard to the undesirableness of investing funds
given to promote education in extensive buildings. I
desire no buildings for such institutions to be reared by
such benefactions except what may be needed simply
for the purpose of instruction. But such institutions,
to-be what we need, must have, at public expense, a
good collection of philosophical and chemical apparatus, a good library, and funds for the support of instructors. And were I to give you my personal advice
in this matter, it would be that at first you attempt but
one institution-that you nurse it sedulously-that you
do for it all that it needs.
"I wish to add to these suggestions that we feel
much interest in your efforts at the West because you
are sustaining an Agent who has done much for the
cause of popular education, and, if continued in the
143 
144       EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
field, will-do much more. He is a man of strong mind,
sound judgment, enlarged and generous interest in the
cause, and of a truly effective popular eloquence. If
nothing is accomplished but to keep him in the field,
it will be much, and will compensate for much toil and
care.             Yours very truly,.4
"J. M. STURTEVANT."
The following are some of the advantages
that were anticipated from the establishment
of such institutions.
In the first place they would do for female
education what colleges do for the other sex.
They would be permanent centers of influence;
they would train up teachers for all the vicinity around; they would raise the standard of
female education; they would be conspicuous
objects of interest and observation to other
high schools of the State, quickening them to
attain as high a standard, and to introduce
all the improved methods there displayed. All
the vicinity around would learn of the advantages of such schools, and would be drawn in
to seek for teachers for their own districts,
educated on these improved methods,
These institutions also would be the homes
of the teachers of the board in all emergencies, and the ladies conducting them would
naturally become their friends and advisers. 
BOARD OF NATIONAL POPULAR EDUCATION.  145
And thus would be devised the wisest and
most efficacious measures for providing for
the class of hard-working missionary teachers.
Thus also the Committee and agents would
be enabled to decide when it was needful to
send out two teachers together; when it was
best to remove one teacher who might be
wearing down, and to send a fresh recruit to
her place; when and where it might be expedient for teachers to attempt to keep house
on the plan suggested in one of the letters of
the teachers. And finally, they could aid the
committee and agent in deciding as to the
application of whatever might be furnished to
promote the personal comfort and health of
missionary teachers, and to add to their means
of instruction and usefulness.
Again, these institutions would  naturally
become the points to which all applications
for teachers in the vicinity would flow, thus
enabling them first to provide for all properly
qualified teachers around them, and when
these failed, to send to the East exact accounts
of what sort of teachers are needed, and what
sort of places are offered. It is very certain,
as I found by experiment, in Iowa, that many
villages would send to a neighboring town for 
146        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
teachers, whose prejudices would prevent their
serding to New England for one. And the
fact that the persons looking for a teacher
could go and see her and converse with her,
and could make inquiries of those who are
acquainted with her, would have a great
effect. Multitudes of places would secure
teachers on this plan, when they would not
take the risk and responsibility of getting a
teacher by corresponding with a committee
and a teacher a thousand miles off.
Again, the methods here proposed would
tend to secure, not only permanency to female
institutions at the West, but thoroughness to
female education there, so that all women, as
a general rule, would be fitted to become
teachers, either to their own children or in
regular schools.   They would tend also to
preserve the health of teachers coming from
the East, by rendering their labors and cares
less onerous, and their exposures less severe.,
And while they would raise up teachers on
the soil, they would tend as effectively to draw
the best class of teachers from the East. But
few of this class can be induced to enter a
service like this, till such provisions are made
for their health and success as never yet have 
BOARD OF NATIONAL POPULAR EDUCATION. 147
been proposed. The wants of our newer
States are altogether beyond any supply that
the East and West together can now furnish,
at least of good teachers. And whenever permanent agents are put into the moxe destitute
fields, as they may be, to lecture and raise up
schools, there will be a demand which will
altogether exceed any supply which is now in
existence.
Again, such institutions would remedy the
principal cause of objection to this enterprise,
felt by many of the best friends of education
at the West. It had been urged by such that
while good teachers from the East were needed
and should be cheerfully welcomed, there was
danger that this mode of operation would interfere with the interests of residents on the soil,
who would make just as good teachers, if the
same amount of efforts and funds were applied as were employed in preparing and sending out Eastern teachers.
It was urged by them that in every important vicinity there are many young women
who by a short period of training could be
fitted for efficient and useful teachers. And
still more it was urged that such teachers
would accommodate to the habits and cus 
148        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
toms of the people with less sacrifice, while
they would encounter less prejudice and suspicion.
Nothing could be more efficacious in meeting these reasonable apprehensions and requirements than institutions expressly designed
to aid Western women in their efforts to obtain
such an education as would fit them to be
teachers. And in every place where such high
schools were established there would always
be found intelligent and deserving young
women, who might be trained gratuitously, if
need be, to become teachers, and that without any increase of expense to the institution.
Of these, a most important and most interesting class was the Daughters of our Tome
fMissionaries. Many of these were entirely
deprived of all advantages of education, while
their toiling and self-sacrificing parents were
urging to their own hearts, no less than to
their fellow Christians who dwell in ease and
plenty, "Why are the duties of self-denial so
unequally divided? Must we sacrifice our
children as well as ourselves?" 
CHAPTER XI.
MILWAIJKEE FEMALE COLLEGE.
HILE  I was at Burlington, Iowa, and
at Quincy, Ill., the citizens were so
anxious to secure such an institution, and
made such liberal offers, that in both places I
selected teachers and organized large and
popular schools on the college plan. But the
effort to sustain them was too great for my
strength. A severe illness prostrated me for
months, and the two institutions, after temporary prosperity, gave up the college mode of
organization and fared as do most institutions
for women where one principal has to bear the
whole responsibility.
On the recovery of my health I was invited
to come to Milwaukee, by Mrs. Rev. William
L. Parsons, who was conducting a popular
school. She offered to merge her school in
such an institution and become one of its coequal teachers if I would attempt to carry out
such a plan in that city. Thus invited, I vis 
150        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
ited the place and was favorably impressed
with the advantages it offered. With funds
of my own in addition to those given me by
Eastern ladies, I offered to provide teachers,
organize an institution on the college plan of
co-equal teachers, and provide Iibrary and apparatus to the value of one thousand dollars,
on condition that the citizens elected trustees
from the several denominations, provided
suitable temporary accommodations, and warranted a certain amount of tuition fees.
Although these terms were not fully met, the
library and apparatus were furnished and the
school organized, which soon numbered over
one hundred.
It was then proposed  that  the citizens
should provide land and a suitable building.
This they attempted to do, but were unable
to raise enough even to pay for the land
needed.  I then requested Rev. Mr. Parsons
to join me at the East, and we raised enough,
in addition to that subscribed by the citizens,
to secure the purchase of the land. But a
suitable building could not be provided by
the citizens.  For at that time. this young city
was only twenty years old and contained only
twenty thousand inhabitants, a large portion 
MILWAUKEE FEMALE COLLEGE.
being foreigners. During that short time they
had to build their houses, stores, churches,
school houses, grade and pave their streets,
and accomplish most of what in older States
is done by a former generation. These extracts from a letter of one of the trustees
show the difficulties to be met, and the gen
erous character of the people:
"Our city within a short time has expended thirtytwo thousand five hundred dollars for public schools,
having erected one large building in each ward, and
the schools being entirely free.
"Fifty thousand dollars have been spent in Protestant churches, and more than this has been spent by the
Catholics. The city has spent over two-hundred thousand dollars for grading alone, besides all the other improvements for which the city has been roundly taxed.
Our taxes, as near as I can find out, must be five per
cent. orr the valuation of property, which valuation,
however, is considerably below the real value. [An
Eastern gentleman, residing there, told the author that
if any Eastern city were taxed as were the inhabitants
of Milwaukee, there would be a rebellion, and the
taxes could never be collected.]
"The Common Council, tired of waiting for Congress o aid them-, have just voted what will involve an
expenditure of some twenty thousand dollars for the
improvement of our harbor.
Our capitalists are now straining every nerve to
finish the'Mississippi Railroad' and several plankroads. These are absorbing interests to business men,
151 
152        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
and, to them, vastly more important than female semi
naries.
"For the past two years, wheat, the grand staple of
Wisconsin, has failed, and the city and country around
are sorely embarrassed by it. Many of our merchants
are discouraged and almost ready to give up. They
cannot pay their debts, and have'the glues' the worst
way. The impression now is that we are to have another short crop, as much of the wheat is undoubtedly
winter-killed.  This discourages the farmers and makes
them inefficient.
"In this state of things, you can perhaps imagine
what we should have to meet in attempting to raise
funds for such a building as we need. One of our
trustees, and a wealthy man, told me he knew not how
to get money to pay his taxes, and that many would
not be able to pay them. I think it is now out of the
question if a building depends on money to be raised
here. And unless we have a good crop this fall, it will
be still more difficult next year. The Congregationalists have just built themselves a new church, and the
Presbyterians are to build next year. The Episcopalians are aiming to have a school of their own, managed exclusively by themselves.  Recent measures also
are tending to influence the Presbyterians to independent sectarian action in establishing schools.
"The institution you have established now has the
profound confidence of the community. We know it
to be so, and the attendance and interest shown at our
public examinations prove it. We need nothing to establish it permanently and securely but a suitable building
for its accommodation, and the continuance of such
teachers as now constitute our faculty. 
MILWAUKEE FEMALE COLLEGE.
"It is the school of Milwaukee, and destined to exert
an amazing influence here if we can be supplied with
the requisite accommodations.   And success here is
vastly important to the whole West, and I dread to
have a failure.
"The plan for the building which you have sent us
is greatly admired.  Everybody wants to have it erected. Our editors have talked well for us. But the
money is not here. We have started a subscription,
drawn up by one of our lawyers, who subscribed two
hundred dollars, and we are going to try hard and see
what we can do."
In this position of affairs, at my suggestion,
Prof. Stowe and Pres. Sturtevant, who had
organized committees to aid this part of our
work, consulted the Managers of the Board
of National Popular Education, to ascertain
whether it was advisable to unite the two organizations so as to have only one, as the
leading ladies wished to do. It was decided
by those Managers that such a union was inexpedient. In this emergency, after extensive consultation both East and West, it was
decided that another organization should be
formed in New York city, of which weomen
should be the controlling managers.
Accordingly, on May 8 and' I5, 1852, two
meetings of ladies selected from eight denominations in that city and elsewhere were con
153 
154        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
vened.   These ladies embraced women of
large experience as housekeepers, mothers,
and practical school-teachers, and to them
were added several business and professional
men of high position and character, from different religious denominations.'"  This body
was incorporated as the American Woman's
Education Association, and Rev. Wm. L. Parsons was appointed General Agent, and Mrs.
Parsons and Miss Mary Mortimer were the
chief educational agents, while I relinquished
all responsibility except as one of the Managers. Mr. Parsons immediately succeeded
in raising funds which, added to those raised
by the citizens, secured the erection of the
building needed, and, though with some mistakesf on the plan I had drawn, which was
so much admired and approved by the citizens of Milwaukee. This Association, until
recently, has met annually in New York to
receive reports from their agents and direct
future operations.
The object of the Association, as set forth
in its constitution, is briefly this: "To aid in
securing to American women'a liberal education, honorable position, and remunerative
employment in their appropriate profession, by 
MILWAUkEE FEMALE COLLEGE.
means of endowed institutions, on the college
plan of organization; these institutions to include all that is gained by normal schools,
and also to train women to be healthful, intelligent, and successful wiyes, mottiers, and
housekeepers."
The measure of success of this Association
will appear in the following, abridged from
their first and second Annual Report: "At
first the offer was made of a library and apparatus to the value of one thousand dollars,
on condition that the citizens of Milwaukee
should furnish suitable temporary accommodations and guarantee the support of
four superior teachers by tuition fees. This
being done, the institution was organized
on the college plan, and soon numbered
one hundred and forty pupils. Then it
was proposed that the citizens should erect
a suitable building, on condition that the Association should attempt to raise $20,000 for
an endowment. By the aid of Eastern friends
this was done, and a gentleman in New York
became responsible for that sum, and for a
time paid the interest on it, intending soon to
advance the principal."
In the second annual report we find these
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156        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
details: "But two years have elapsed since
this Association was formed, and we have secured the establishment of two institutions,
one at Milwaukee, Wis., and the other at Dubuque, Iowa, with noble faculties, training
from two to three hundred pupils. At Milwaukee the pupils have numbered one hundred and sixty; twenty-five have gone out as
teachers; seven have become honored graduates, and many young ladies are enthusiastically pursuing their studies, so that increasingly
large classes will graduate each coming year.
Our institution at Dubuque has commenced
with  most  favorable  auspices.   The city,
though numbering only 9,ooo, has done nobly,
expending some $I7,000 on grounds and a
building like that at Milwaukee. All the
leading gentlemen of the city, of every political party and religious denomination, are of
one accord in sustaining the school. We are
also encouraged by two gentlemen to expect
the amount needed to endow these two insti tutions. The citizens of Kalamazoo, Mich.,
are deeply interested in our plan, and a com mittee of prominent gentlemen have urged us
to make that place the point for our next institution." 
MILWAUKEE FEMALE COLLEGE.
The economy of this method of establishing
institutions for the higher education of women
is deserving of special notice. For by one
operation at Milwaukee, and with so small an
outlay, were secured a permanent high-school
for girls, and a Normal School as valuable as
those of Massachusetts and New York, which
have demanded large outlays for buildings,
and some of them an income of $IO,OOO a
year from the State. By placing the institution in the city instead of a small place, the
necessity of large buildings for board and
lodging and the evils of boarding-school life
are avoided.
The portion of our plan which was not
completed was thelndowment and organization of the Health  and  Domestic Departments; each to have a Principal and Associate
Principal. According to this plan the Principal of the Health Department would maintain a system of physical training in which
both teachers and pupils would take part, the
aim being to develop perfectly every bodily
organ, to remedy personal habits and defects,
to teach a lady-like carriage of the body, the
easy and proper mode of walking and sitting,
graceful movement of the hand, arms and
157 
158'       EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
body; to sustain a graceful as well as healthful and pleasing system of Calisthenic exercise
as a part of school duty; to enforce all tlhe
laws of health; to lecture on the distinctive
duties of wife and mother to the graduating
classes; to teach the classes in Physiology; to
superintend the teachers of Writing and
Drawing, and, finally, to supervise the whole
establishment as it respects warming and
ventilation.
The  Principals of the Domestic  Department would have the charge of all relating to
the esthetic, social and domestic, and teach
both the science and practice.of Domestic
Economy. They would by lectures and books
instruct in the fine arts, and  superintend,
classes in needle-work, and the cutting and
fitting, cleansing and mending of clothing.
The supervision of the school and family
building would belong to this department,.
Each of these departments would be provided with model dwelling-houses, illustrating
proper and tasteful modes of construction,
furniture, ornamentation, warming and ventilation. The family in each dwelling would
consist of the Principal and Associate Principal, and ten of the pupils of the school, and 
MILWAUKEE FEMALI,E COLLEGE.
they would do all the family work, except
some items of heavy labor. A circulating
system would employ every member of the
family one or two hours, and in such rotation
that in a given time each one will have been
instructed in and will perform every operation included in family life. When each pupil
is thus trained she would give place to another of the scholars, and each would remain
a longer or shorter time according to proficiency acquired at school or at home. One of
these buildings, or another erected for the
purpose, would be a homne for teachers sent
out by the Association, in cases of illness or
other emergencies.
. The farther history of the institutions established by the Association will appear in another chapter.
159 
CHAPTER XI4
COUNSELORS AND CO-LABORERS.
HE  object of this chapter is to show
what has been accomplished in the last
half century by Christian women in educating their own sex without the aid which has
been so abundantly bestowed for educating
young men. And it is done with the hope
of promoting more liberal views and measures in time to come.
MISS MARY HILLHOUSE.
How much I owed to the mother and aunt
who trained to usefulness the numerous family of my father, and formed my own character and habits, and to my associate teachers
at Hartford, has been only imperfectly exhibited. Next to them in grateful memory
should be placed a lady who, in all my educational efforts, was my sympathizing friend and
counselor. Her father was James Hillhouse,
of New Haven, for sixteen years Senator of 
COUNSELORS AND CO-LABORERS.
the United States, and afterwards the wise
and energetic Treasurer of Yale College, and
'Commissioner of the Connecticut School
Fund.
When about eleven years old she was present at the close of Washington's term of
office, and was invited with her parents by
Mrs. Washington to tea, where the President
took her by the hand and talked with her in
the kindest manner. She also heard Washington's farewell address, and writes thus to
her mother: "President Washington is the
handsomest man I ever saw. He was drest
in black velvet with clean cambric ruffles,
which I liked much better than the yellow
lace of the ambassadors, who, with all their
finery, were far surpassed by the plain neatness of the President." Of her mother the
daughter writes thus: "Our mother was distinguished for mental superiority, purity, and
delicacy.   She was educated in retirement,
and almost self-taught, and yet I have heard
my brother say, after long experience in the
highest circles, that she possessed the most
elegant mind he had ever metf." After the
death of this mother her daughter devoted
her life to the aid and comfort of her father,
161 
162        EDUCATIONAL ]REMINISCENCES.
with a de-otion unsurpassed. She aided in
his manifold educational efforts, and conducted a large part of his correspondence.
President Dwight was her beloved and honored friend, and was interested in her studies
and pursuits, as appears in this sentence of
her mother's letter: "Mary began French on
Tuesday. I deferred till then for the sake of
having Dr. Dwight introduce her, which he
was good enough to do."
- She was an extensive reader of history, and
of political subjects, and her character combined with great intellectual activity persistent
enthusiasm for any useful end, and wise sagacity in devising methods. From the commencement of my efforts to prepare woman
for her distinctive profession, Miss Hillhouse
was my sympathizing counselor, and one of
the earliest who sent me $IOO.OO for the first
operation, desiring me to use it for my own
expenses as the unpaid agent of the cause;
and several other personal friends of my
own sex did the same.
In New Haven, for many years, she made
unavailing efforts to have young girls taught
to sew in the public schools, and from her I
gained the method described in my Hotse 
COUNSELORS AND CO-LABORERS.
keeper's aanzual, which removes many difficulties that have been generally experienced
in making this a part of public school instruction.
After vainly interceding with school committees she resolved that there should be at
least one school where girls of the workingclasses should be taught to sew properly, and
to make and mend family clothing. For this
end she established a school for colored girls
under the care of an intelligent colored
woman, where sewing was taught with the
common school branches. Afterwards she
planned, and in a great measure built with
her own funds, the Lincoln school-house, for
the instruction of colored girls.  She also
contributed largely to the endowment of Yale
College; and the methods for its pecuniary
benefit, which she planned and aided her
father to accomplish, as Treasurer of that
institution,  were  eminently  generous  and
sagacious.
She lived to the age of eighty-five in the
full possession of all her mental powers.  On
one day she was bright and buoyant as ever,
on the next she began to fail, and on the
third she peacefully passed from the earth
161 
164        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
she had blest so long to her everlasting reward.
MRS. EMMA WILLARD.
One of the earliest and most distinguished
pioneers in the effort to secure,.higher education for woman,  was  Mrs.  Emma Willard.
Like all other women teachers of that period,
she was obliged first to educate herself, and
then to train her teachers. Assisted by her
husband, Dr. Willard, her sister, Mrs. Lincoln
Phelps, her son and her daughter-in-law, she
made a record that does honor to her sex and
country.
The institution she established has educated 13,500oo pupils since it commenced, and
of these, 8,216 were trained under the care
of her son and daughter-in-law after she resigned. 956 of these pupils went forth as
teachers, Ioo having received gratuitous board
and tuition, and the remainder paid only a
portion of their expenses. They boarded in
the Seminary, and in many cases received
books, stationery, and music without charge.
The daughters of all the city clergy received
gratuitous tuition, and those from other
places had large deductions made from their
bills. 
COUNSELORS AND CO-LABORERS.
Superior teachers sent from this institution
established schools of a high order at Patapsco, Md., Philadelphia, Pa., Columbia, S.
C., Charleston, S. C., Washington, Pa., New
York City, Brooklyn, N.Y., and Montreal, Ca.;
and a school established by Bishop Elliot, in
Georgia, was conducted by a teacher from
Troy Seminary.
During the sixty years in which this Seminary was extending its blessings to so many
women, vain attempts were made by Mrs.
Willard to obtain endowments such as were and
are constantly bestowed on institutions for the
other sex. She made application to the Legislature in vain. The city of Troy erected the
Seminary building, but Mrs. Willard paid an
annual-rent equal to the interest of the money
invested.
The building is now decayed, the apparatus
and library, furnished by Mrs. Willard, need
to be replenished and increased, but nothing
could be done to raise the funds needed for
these advantages or for endowments, unless the
city authorities of Troy would transfer the
property to the Trustees; and such is the
political power of the Romanists in the city
that this transfer has been denied.
165 
166        EDUCATIONAL REMIINISCENCES.
This Seminary has received no private benefactions, and no other aid from the State than
what is given to all its academies; and what
was- thus received was spent not for private
use but for the benefit of the pupils.
Mrs. Willard took the lead in efforts to elevate the standard of woman's education, but it
was with the high ideal of preparing women
for their distinctive duties as chief ministers
of the family state, which she deemed so difficult and so important as to demand advantages for both scientific and practical training
equal to those bestowed on the other sex.
And it was a part of her plan to have all her
pupils devote a portion of every week to practical instruction in these duties. Her efforts
to obtain endowments to perpetuate her enfarged views failed in the New York Legislature, though advocated by De Witt Clinton and
other statesmen of ability and influence.
TEACHERS OF IPSWICH AND MT. HOLYOKE
SEMINARIES.
In a former chapter I have given some account of my valued friends'and counselors,
Miss Z. P. Grant (Mrs. Banister) and Mary
Lyon, and here will add a brief account of 
COUNSELORS AND CO-LABORERS.
the result of their labors. In i835 there had,
while under their joint care, been sent out
from the Ipswich Seminary in Massachusetts
during only the preceding five years four
hundred female teachers, thirteen of them
missionaries to the heathen, and fifty were
teaching in destitute sections of the West
and South. The Ipswich Seminary under
Miss Grant and her successors, who were her
pupils, has ever since that year maintained
equal usefulness.
To Miss Lyon belongs the chief agency in
devising and sustaining Mt. Holyoke Seminary. The following account of that institution is abridged from a report of a committee of the Senate of Massachusetts recommending the grant of an endowment to
that seminary, which was not granted.   At
the time this report was made (I867) the
Mt. Holyoke Seminary had been in operation
thirty years,  every attempt for its endowment had failed, and its noble founder, worn
out with unexampled labor, had gone to her
rest. During that thirty years four thousand
pupils had been trained there, and three thousand had gone forth as missionaries or teachers, one hundred of them under the care
167 
168        REDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
of the American Board of Missions. In
addition to this should be reckoned the
institutions that followed this examplenamely, the Oxford Seminary in Southern
Ohio, the Painesville Seminary in Northern
Ohio, the Wellesley College in Massachusetts,
the Mt. Milton Seminary in England, the
seminary near Cape Town in Africa, and the
seminary at Oroomia in Asia. Most of these
were conducted by women teachers, either
trained at Mt. HIolyoke or aiming to copy it.
The leading features of the Mt. Holyoke
Seminary have been imperfectly comprehended. Its main object was to provide for the
daughters of families of the medium classes
an education equal to that gained in our
colleges by young men,  and  one  diverse
from that of fashionable boarding schools.
The peculiar feature of domestic labor was
introduced not to teach its details, but to
hono, labor and to secure that class of women
whose energies and intellect had been developed in household duties. Miss Lyon on
thi, point playfully remarked that this feature
operated as a sieve to exclude the indolent
and frivolous, and to retain the finest wheat.
The pupils entered not before sixteen, after 
COUNSELORS AND CO-LABORERS.
their mothers had trained them in domestic
labors; and so by one or two hours a'day of
such home-trained workers the economy of the
plan so reduced expenses that it has ranged
from only $6o to $i50 per annum, according
to the rising expenses of food.
As to literary success, Professor Tyler of
Amherst College, after an anniversary examination in mathematics, history, and moral science, wrote thus: "The whole class appeared
better than I ever saw a whole class appear in
Amherst College in the same branches. The
compositions also would do no discredit to
young gentlemen at college either in composition or delivery. And it is a burning shame
that year after year these young ladies should
plead in vain for a pittance of facilities so
amply provided for their brothers."
The same time the above-mentioned Report was written the following grants had
recently been bestowed by the State of
Massachusetts on institutions for young men
while Mt. Holyoke was denied: $5o,ooo
to Tuft's College, $25,000 to Williams College, $25,000 to Amherst  College, $IO,OOO
to Cambridge, to add to its millions, and $Io,ooo to the Massachusetts Agricultural Col
169 
170        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
lege, besides large private benefactions. And
yet this petition for the first attempt to endow
a woman's institution in Massachusetts in i 864
was rejected. The humble amount of $6o,ooo had been begged in small sums by Miss
Lyon and invested in a building, with a little
provision for furniture and apparatus, and
she died before she saw anything done by the
State for its daughters, while millions had been
bestowed on its sons. The State of Massachusetts in i864 had never given one dollar
to any female seminary.
MARIETTE AND EMILY INGUAM.
For the first settlement of New England
the Lady Fenwick left her rich ancestral
home for Christ's sake, and, after many sacrifices, she was laid to rest on the shore of the
Connecticut. Near where her dust reposes a
Christian mother gave birth to seven sons and
seven daughters, all of whom, under her care
and example, became Christian men and
women. At the birth of twin daughters, not
expecting to live, she gave one to her eldest
and one to her second daughter to rear and
educate.  Ere long the eldest sister, by her
skill, industry, and good management, accu 
COUNSELORS AND CO-LABORERS.
mulated five thousand dollars, and with this
educated her child-sister, and then came with
her to Central New York, built a house, and
established a school, which soon became so
popular that they were invited to Leroy on
favorable terms.  During forty years they
have gone on with wise economy and persevering labor till this is the brief record of
results:
Their leading aim, like Miss Lyon's, has
been to give a liberal education to the medium classes of young women; and their catalogue now shows five thousand thus provided
with a superior education at very moderate
expense. Of these not less than 460 have
gone forth as teachers, while the value of
$30,ooo has been bestowed as gratuitous board
and instruction. Three hundred and fifty
have been graduated as completing the full
and liberal course, such as is not surpassed in
any institution for women.
Meantime, five large buildings have been
erected, and three taken down after they became old and useless. All this, and the purchase of twelve acres of land, has been.accomplished by the economical use of school
income, with no other contributed outside aid
171 
172        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
than $io,ooo to furnish one building and
$4,00ooo for needed additional land. And now
the property thus earned is appraised to the
Regents of New York University at $125,000.
All this property is held at this time, not
for private ends, but for the benefit of women,
and of that class who most need such advantages of education.   For many  years  the
founders of this institution have been seeking
that stability and permanence secured to nearly
five kundredl colleges and professional schools
for young men, all endowed by State or
private benefactions at the rate of from half a
million to two and three millioneach. In order
to do this the'two sisters several years ago
transferred their large property to a Presbyterian'Synod, on condition that they would raise
anl endowment not so large as one-tenth of
what is given to most of our colleges. They
gave up their control to the Synod and to Dr.
Cox as the head, hoping thus to secure in fluence and endowment. But in a short time
it was found that no endowment came; the
new management failed, and the sisters took
back the institution and restored its pros perity and usefulness. Since that time hun dreds of thousands have been bestowed on 
COUNSELORS AND CO-LABORERS.
several colleges in the near vicinity, while
this noble seminary still is seeking for even a
pitiful endowment.
IVhile writing this article, in a New York
newspaper I see it stated that Auburn Theological Seminary, not far from this Seminary at
Leroy, and under Presbyterianl care, is about
to receive $ioo,ooo, and yet there is a wellendowed Presbyterian Theological Seminary
at Princeton, near New York, another in New
York city, and some twelve to fifteen others
in other States. Then the Congregationalists,
who d;.ffer in no important doctrine from the
Presbyterians, have Seven well endowed theological  seminaries,  supporting  thirty-five
professors and their families, and sixteen lecturers, while only eighty-three ministers are
the annual result of these liberal benefactions.
In the Reports of the Congregational Society for Promoting College and Theological
Education for I87i and'72, I find $6I,ooo
raised in one year chiefly by contributions in
Congregational churches, and of this $3,500
is for the expenses of a collecting agent, $I,O00oo
for other annual expenses, and $7,ooo for the
permanent fund. In these reports it appears
that the aim of this Society is to increase the
173 
174        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
number of Congregational colleges till there
shall be at least one in every one of the newer
States. The other large denominations are
aiming at similar efforts, as is thus stated in
one of these Reports: 
"In every State in which our Society plants a college, there are almost sure to be a Baptist, Methodist,
and Presbyterian college, if not an Episcopal or Lutheran. And yet all these agents and societies lament
the evil of multiplying so many colleges."
It seems from these Reports that Amherst College in Massachusetts cost over a
million, Williams nearly as much. Tufts is
largely endowed, Cambridge counts endowments by millions, and all in one State. In addition to these are the Congregational, Baptist,
Universalist, Methodist and Episcopalian theological seminaries, all well endowed, in the
same State; and the Boston New University
is starting with liberal endowments.
And now it may surprise many, who do not
know what the distinctive feature of an
American college is, to learn that there
is not a single woman's college in the United
States. There is not even one yet organized
on the college plan of a faculty of co-equal
teachers with ezdownmelts to support women 
COUNSELORS AND/ CO-LABORERS.
as independent heads of departments like the
professors of colleges.
Vassar has not a single endowment for
either male or female professor. It is simply
a large boarding-school, those called professors being annually appointed and supported
by boarding and tuition fees. Of the seven
teachers called professors, five are men and
two women; for the Lady Principal is not a
teacher in any college studies.
It is true that the word "college " is used
for "any collection of men engaged in a common pursuit,"  and for  "any  incorporated
society of scholars for study and instruction,"
and for "a building thus used." But the
American college as is generally understood,
at least in former days, is "an institution of
learning made permanent by endowments to
support the highest class of instructors;" and
the term "professor," though now assumed
by dancing-masters, music-teachers, and other
teachers of almost every art, was formerly
confined to the teachers of endowed colleges.
And were the endowments that support our
colleges taken away, most of themn would come
to an end by the loss of the superior teachers
retained by these endowments. It is in this
175 
176        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
sense that it is said that, so far as I know,
there is not a woman's college in existence.
Among my most valued " counselors and
co-laborers" should be placed Dr. and Mrs.
Parsons and Miss Mary Mortiner, who for
twenty years, with faith and patience, have
labored with me to bring into existence at
least one college for women, with endowments
to support women professors. Why our success has been so long delayed will appear in
another chapter. 
CHAPTER XHI.
TRUSTEES, SCHOOL COMMITTEES AND SUPERIN                TENDENTS.
HE  difficulties that have retarded the
success of the American Woman's Educational Association have been no greater
than those involved in all new and untried
methods of benevolence. Some of the more
prominent will be briefly noticed. A leading
one has been presented in the Report of the
Commissioner of National Education for
I872-3, in which is the following from Prof.
Agassiz, who was educated in the best institutions of Germany, and since has resided in
Massachusetts:
"I am telling my friends in Massachusetts a very
bitter thing, and I have become bolder and bolder in
saying that I am under the impression that the whole
system of popular education is superannuated; that
what is taught is no longer the food which the rising
generation really wants most, and that the knowledge
taught is not the best; so that I would change both the
substance and the methods of our common schools." 
178        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
Horace Greeley presents a similar view
more in detail, as follows:
"I go into one of our public schools, and before me
are boys who are to work in shops or mills or till the
soil all their lives, and there are girls who are to be
wives and mothers of farmers and mechanics; to cook,
sew, darn, wash, starch, and make butter and cheese;
and when I see them studying Algebra and Trigonometry and Logarithms, and making astronomical calculations, I ask, not whether such studies are not useful
for some purposes and persons, but whether this does
not preclude or take the place of what would be more
useful, what they will urgently need to know, and what
would perhaps equally tend to mental discipline and
growth. If they were studying Sanscrit or Russian I
should not say such knowledge is not desirable, but I
should say they gain this by neglecting what would be
far more useful in after life.
"Let me illustrate: there are thousands in this city
of virtuous amiable women who can earn only a pauper's
livelihood by long protracted labor, and often in unhealthful circumstances. Some of them have invalid
parents or sisters or little children to support, or wish
to educate a dependent young brother or sister. But
they have been trained to no particular business, while
every place that pays will find enough who are trained.
I profoundly pity the noble and helpless thousands
whose life is without joy and whose future is without
hope, and I protest against the false training all over
our land that is rearing thousands more to push them
into untimely graves. But how is this to be remedied?
I reply, by so transforming our current education that
every woman shall be trained to do well one or more use 
TRUSTEES, SCHOOL COMMITTEES, ETC.    179
ful things which will be always in demand, and also by
striving to educate the popular mind to consider all
useful work honorable.
"This very day there are thousands of refined and
expensively educated women vainly seeking employment. Yet every one of them could find employment
and high wages had she been trained to be a skillful
and scientific cook. Our cooking now is done chiefly
by the ignorant, and the results are simply abominable.
Our city spends yearly fifty million for food, and at
least ten million is squandered in bad and wasteful
cooking, beside the waste of health and comfort.
"Paris is better fed than New York on three-fourths
the amount of raw food, because the art of cooking is
almost a liberal profession, receiving high salaries;
while even men of rank and literary culture devise and
compound food that is economical, appetizing and
healthful.
"But it is said'cookery with us is vulgar and repulsive.' True, the labor of ignorant boors and slaves
has made it so; but if refined and energetic women
would determine to raise this employment to the dignity of an art and science, millions would be saved,
and thousands of fine women find an honorable and
remunerative profession.
"The same might be said of many other employments suitable for women that are degraded by ignorance and vulgarity which if taught scientifically in cur
public schools would command honor and wealth to
thousands of women now pining. or perishing in
poverty."
Not long since a gentleman of Boston stated
that when trying to find work for several 
180        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
well educated ladies (educated by books,
chiefly, not for any practical business), he
found every school commissioner was overwhelmed with applications from teachers seeking schools who must be refused,  He applied
to a Senator at Washington who replied that
three hundred women were vainly seeking employment in one Department, that over seventy
supernumeraries were turned out of another,
and that surely there must be better chances
in Boston.  The gentleman then went to the
Industrial School, where he heard there was a
vacancy, and found around the wearied agent
nearly fifty women seeking this one place.
While writing these pages, sitting near me
is a pupil from the Albany Normal School,
where for five school hours she takes notes of
lectures that demand four hours out of school
to write out for inspection. Then to earn her
board four hours must be given to the wearying care of young children, this being thirteen
hours in the whole. I gave her Dr. Clark's
work on Sex in Education, and then learned
that she had periodic attacks of severe headache at times, when need of rest was imperative and yet was not given.
No remonstrances availed, for she must 
TRUSTEES, SCHOOL COMMITTEES, ETC.    181
complete another year of such taxation in order to graduate, and thus gain a chance to
obtain a school. At the same time a young
girl in the family with me was attending the
City High School, studying logarithms, algebra, and astronomy, while out of school she
must earn her living by house-work and care
of a young child, in addition to her school
studies. At the same table, as a visitor, sat a
fair and delicate young girl who was pursuing
the same studies, while her moderate means
demanded several hours of care of children,
and such home labors as are healthful in suitable circumstances, but exhausting to overtaxed nerves.   All  these young girls are
risking health and life in the hope of gaining
a place as school-teachers, in a State where
there are twenty applicants or more for every
school. And if they fail, their logarithms,
algebra and astronomy have fitted them for
no available mode of earning a livelihood. And
whenever I examine the influence of our public schools, it is to overtax the ambitious
mothers that their daughters may "have all
their time for study and school."
The preceding illustrates one of the causes
of delayed success in the efforts of the A. W. 
182        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
E. Association. It is the want of regard to
practical usefulness in those who supervise and
conduct our systems of education.
Another cause is again set forth by the illustrious and eminently practical as well as
learned Agassiz, in the same  keport of the
National  Commission  of  Education.    He
says:
"The fact that there is no university in the Unitede
States the intellectual interests of which are managed by
the professors, but always by a corporation outside, shows
that we do not understand what a university is. The
men who are in it must know better what are the
wants of an institution than outsiders. Every college
is got up by outsiders and has their curriculum and the
professors have to teach that."
The disadvantage of this fact, however injurious to our colleges, is a still greater difficulty in reference to the education of women.
If the men who instruct in colleges are better judges of "the wants of an institution"
than "outsiders," much more are women better
judges of the proper education of their sex,
than are the business and professional men
who  usually have  the  supervision both  of
common  schools and the higher female seminarles.
In preceding pages it was shown that in the 
TRTTSTEES, SCHIOOL COMMITTEES, ETC.     183
case of the Hartford Seminary it was women
who had the sole control of education, the Trustees serving only in financial affairs. The Mt.
Holyoke Seminary was originated and managed solely by women, as were the Ingham
University, Mrs. Willard's Institution at Troy,
and the Ipswich Seminary.   Surely these,
and many other successful institutions conducted by women, are proofs of the good
judgment, skill, and success to be expected
from women in managing and supervising the
higher institutions as well as common schools.
And yet I know of not one woman's institution
where women have equal control with men as
trustees or as incumbents of endowed pro
fessorships.
As Vassar is now the most conspicuous of
the so-called colleges for women, it is well to
notice the character of its Trustees and some
of the results of their management. The
board of Trustees includes the President of
Rochester University, a bishop of the Episcopal Church, nine other clergymen, one
author and twelve business men, who are
brewers, or manufacturers, or merchants, or
bankers.
In organizing the faculty, the one selected 
184       EDUCATIONAL iEMINISCENCES.
for President is a gentleman of ability and
culture who had good success in a boys'
school, but no experience as an educator of
girls. The "professors " are six gentlemen
and but two ladies, and only one of them all
had had any experience in teaching or governing young girls, or a school of any kind.
Then as to the "curriculum," or course
of study adopted, it is very nearly the same
as that of Yale and Cambridge, and nothing
withdrawn or added with reference to the
preparations of woman for her distinctive
profession as housekeeper, mother, nurse,
and chief educator of infancy and childhood.
Nor is there any recognition of the additional
demands on a young woman from which the
young man is free.
In the single item of dressing the hair, which
a man performs in five minutes, what care,
contrivance and time do the varieties of fashion demand of a young woman! Then a
young woman's wardrobe, with its multiplied
varieties, trimmings and adornments, demand
time and thought to prepare and keep in order, which is never required.of a man. Then
the accomplishments that demand time, practice and mental exertion are not a part of the 
TRUSTEES, SCHOOL COMMITTEES, ETC.    i 5
college course for young men. And yet in four
years at Vassar all these are expected of a
young girl, in addition to the full college
course for men, while the young girl is more
delicately organized than her brother, and
custom forbids the invigorating out-door exercise gained by -boys. Then there are the musical and literary societies, the newspaper,
the concerts, parties and excitements so frequent at Vassar. To this add the strain and
excitement of boarding-school life in a family
of three or four hundred young girls, which
the teachers all allow is wearing and exciting.
As to the economical management of educational benefactions, the munificent donor of
Vassar furnished over $700oo,ooo000 worth of
property, and yet there is not a single dollar
invested to support professors. All is spent
for a vast building and the appliances for
boarding a great family, with only a small
proportion for educational purposes.
Had this great property been entrusted to
the cultivated and practical lady managers
of the A. W. E. Association, it is only fair to
sketch what they probably would have planned
and accomplished guided by their past measures. Instead of such great expenditures to 
186        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
secure a boarding-school, would be only a
building for educational purposes in some
airy portion of the city of Poughkeepsie, with
sufficient outlay for apparatus and library,
and for these, two hundred thQusand dollars
would be a liberal calculation. This would
leave half a million to invest as endowmrents
to support teachers of the highest order, so
that every young woman of every rank, in the
city and adjacent towns, could secure a liberal
education free of expense, and without forsaking her simple and quiet home, its duties
and blessings.  It is probable that Vassar
combines an unusual number of requisites for
a healthful boarding-school, although unfortunately a building properly warmed and ventilated is not one of them. A highly educated
lady physician directs in all matters pertaining
to health; abundant, healthful and well cooked
food is provided; all are required to retire
and rise at proper hours; only three lessons
are required in addition to one of the pursuits
of art and accomplishments; out-door sports
in boating, floriculture, and rambles in beautiful surroundings  are  provided;  a  lady
principal devotes her whole time to the care
of the manners, habits and conduct of the 
TRUSTEES, SCII)OL COMMITTEES, ETC.
pupils; and there is no doubt that many
young girls, taken from the excitements and
unhealthful pursuits of our wealthy classes,
are improved in health by a period more or
less continued in this institution.
But during its eight years ofexistence, I
have met the pupils or their parents in almost
every section of the nation, and find the impression widely prevalent that great risk is incurred by the long continued excitements of
such an institution. It is my impression that
a circular, sent -to all who have placed daughters there, would reveal the fact that a large
portion were removed on account of failing
health. During only one year I met three of
the pupils who had left, one with paralysis
and two with such prostrated nervous systems as would probably sadden a whole life.
During the last year I have been intimately
acquainted with several instructors and pupils
of this institution, and have observed that
all allow that there is excess of excitement
and the natural effects, but usually they
attribute it not to study, but to the combination of this with many other excitements.
Very recently I was in a circle of the pupils
and their family friends, when one of the
187 
188        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
young girls fainted from a slight blow. Then
I heard her friends remonstrate with her for
studying so many hours, and insisting that her
attenuated form and pale face were owing to
this excess. Then one of the ci,cle remarked
that her sister, who was also a pupil of the
institution, was equally reduced in health and
strength from the same cause. Then at the
public examination, the figures and countenances of over eighty pupils in the two most
advanced classes, with but few exceptions,
exhibited, not the fullness of form and ruddy
glow of health, but the attenuation and complexion of overtaxed students. And whenever I remarked this to the teachers and
friends of the institution, the fact was always
conceded that there was too much excitement
of various kinds which tended to nervous exhaustion; but that the amount of study required was not excessive.   As I examined
the persons and manners of the pupils, also
their walk, their manners of sitting, the
movements and positions of head and arms,
I was more than ever convinced that Dio
Lewis's gymnastics did not ctultivate grace of
person and manners, although the lady princi-.
pal was a model of both.  Aid it has bce. a 
TRUSTEES, SCHOOL COMMITTEES, ETC.
marvel to me that when gracefulness of person
and movement is so charming in a woman, in
no educational curriculum has it any attention.
Only a few months ago I met a former pu pil of Vassar, who was married after a three
years' course at Vassar. At its close she be came a wife and housekeeper, and in less than
three years was the mother of two infants,
each needing a nurse in addition to a cook,
a chambermaid, and a laundress. And yet
this delicate girl had never- been trained to
perform the many and varied duties thus imposed, and in a short time was obliged to go
to board,and serve as another sad warning to
young men to beware of the perils of matrimony.  And yet all that is included in the
science-and practice of woman's profession
could be made a part of her education as
readily as men can be trained to agriculture
or any of their practical callings, and women
need professional training as much as men.
And I urge this not as individual opinion.
For during the thirty years that I have been
striving to secure at least a small share of liberal training for woman's sacred ministry, I
have always been guided and upheld by intelligent and experienced housekeepers, motheTs
189 
190        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
and school-teachers, both as to plans and
measures. And the ministers of religion have
always met me with approving words, but
nothing more has been given. True, access
has been offered to men's colleges, just as if
men were the best educators of women, and
the college curriculum the best mode of training woman for her profession.
It is said that it is mothers who must train
daughters at home. But if the mothers have
not been prepared for these duties how can
they do it? If it were as in former days
when mother and daughters did the family
work in the simple style then common to all,
it would be a reasonable requisition.   But
wealth and the varied demands of increased
wealth and civilization require a style of living where a woman has more than she can do
to train and govern servants and manage a
complicated household.
The preceding results have been exhibited
in an institution for women, where the Board
of Trustees includes not one woman, and in a
faculty of eight so-called professors of which
only two were women, one being the physician
and the other the professor of astronomy.
The lady principal has no classes. 
TRUSTEES, SCHOOL COMMITTEES, ETC.    191
The experiences of these and other trustees
who have had charge of other institutions for
women may perhaps eventually lead to the
conviction that the college plan of co-equal
instructors, with boards of trustees and teachers to include women of culture and experience in at least egualnumbers to the gentlemen,
should be adopted.
In the case of the Hartford Seminary, I
left it with one hundred and fifty pupils, with
a corps of well-trained teachers. The institution then passed to a gentleman who in one
year left for a less laborious post. A second
gentleman took it and it ran down in his
hands. Then a. lady took it and in a year
was married. Another lady took it and in
two years was married. Then another lady
held it awhile, and it passed to a gentleman,
under whom it ran down. Then I took it for
a few months, and when its prosperity had
returned resigned it to the present lady principal. In these many changes it was under
the care of women that it prospered, while it
declined whenever a man conducted it. Once
at Ingham University, and once at Milwaukee
Female College, the experiment failed, when,
for a short time, the Trustees gave the chief 
192        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
control to a man, and prosperity returned
with the return of a woman as responsible
head.
In another case, the mother of one of my
pupils, being wealthy, sought tQ establish an
institution like the Hartford Seminary. She
and her family friends gave $30,000 for a
building, furniture and apparatus. The trustees were only gentlemen, and their first selected principal left in a short time, being
unequal to the duties required. The next
lady principal married in about a year. Next
came a lady who in two years lost her health.
Then came a lady who in less than two years
was married. Next came a gentleman who
in about a year left it for an easier post.
This is the history of the first years of
its existence, and the succeeding history is
very similar. Disappointed and irritated by
these experiences, one of the trustees, who had
given $io,ooo to the Institution, remarked
that he wished the whole concern at the bottom of the sea.
In another Western city the citizens erected
a fine building for school and boarders, and
the same discouraging change of principals
ensued, and when I visited the place the 
TRUSTEES, SCHOOL COMMITTEES. ETC.      193
school was ended, and the building used for
other purposes. I could detail more than ten
similar cases that came to my knowledge at
the East or West.
The evils consequent on such instability
and changes in the higher institutions for
women are fatal to any plan for training
teachers properly.   Most  schools in small
towns of the newer States will be taught by
persons educated in their immediate vicinity.
For though Normal Schools may multiply,
they will not supply a tenth part of schools,
especially in the poorer districts. So it must
be our higher female seminaries all over the
nation that will furnish most of the women
teachers. The evils that have been set forth
extend to all the ramifications of society.
This is one reason why students in our colleges often cannot spell correctly or write a
decent letter.  This is one reason also why
so many teachers of High Schools are so imperfectly qualified to teach the primary as
well as the higher branches. And this is the
reason why the education of the daughters
even of the wealthy is so desultory, imperfect, and unsatisfactory. The only remedy
for all this is that permanency, superior in 
194        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
structors, and division of labor secured by
endowments in our colleges, which as yet has
never been bestowed on institutions for
women.
As one of the managers of the A. W. E.
Association, which founded the Milwaukee
Female College, I had many occasions to re
gret that in the first Board of Trustees of that
institution there were no practical women to
supervise. This board consisted of men of
business and professional men who were
selected on account of their wealth, influence,
and benevolence, as well as their intelligence
and success in men's professions. But they
were gentlemen who had no training or experience to guide them in the many and varied
responsibilities they had accepted, and that,
too, without any hope of reward for time and
care bestowed except the good to be achieved.
And so when a building was to be erected, I
received a drawing of the plan they adopted
so devoid of architectural beauty that I devised another, aided by artists of culture and
experience. I sent on a drawing of the front
elevation and ground-plan, offering to pay
any additional expense should the plan I sent
be adopted, which was done. Not supposing 
TRUSTEES, SCHIOOL COMMITTEES, ETC.    195
it necessary, I had devised no details as to
the roof or interior finish. It seems the funds
were wanting to secure a roof appropriate to
the style of architecture, and so a flat and
cheaper one was devised, involying leakage
and future expenses to remedy it. Another
story and large room were lost for want of an
elevated roof, and an addition was required
not long after for a calisthenic hall that should
have been gained by a Mansard or French roof.
Then again when our Association furnished
funds to erect a building for the Health and
Domestic departments, I sent on a plan devised by the aid of scientific artists, with the
special aim of securing healthful ventilation.
When the building was completed, I went on
hoping-to organize the Health and Domestic
departments. But the failure of all I had devised for this important purpose ended, on my
part, all hope of carrying out the chief object
of our Association in that city so long as
practical women were excluded from the Board
of Trustees. Should there ever be a time
when such ladies have a controlling influence
in that institution as trustees and faculty, my
hope of its success would revive.
The following extracts are from the lady 
196        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
who, as chief educational agent of the A. W.
E. Association, for nearly twenty years has
borne the crushing burdens which all women
suffer who act as Principals of an institution for the higher education of woman, and
indicates the present status of'the Milwaukee
Female College and its prospects:
"MY DEAR Miss BEECHER: I see you keep on in
faith and hope. I wish mine were equal to the struggle;
but I am more worn in spirit than I hoped ever to be,
and must give it up. I have tried faithfully to maintain the college plan of divided responsibilities, but
with poor success.   The best teacher we have had
would not share responsibilities with me, and left last
Spring with broken health. I hope her successor with
some worthy associate will relieve me entirely of the
care of the institution, for I am suffering of late the
former trouble in my head. We have several good
teachers but they think they can do better elsewhere.
I see nothing better for the college than to lease it to
some suitable gentleman, if any can be found willing to
take the burden. The property so largely owing to the
patronage of our Association is valued now at $50,000,
and if proper endowments could be raised I should be
willing to take the duties of one department or professorship.
"I hope yet to do something for the cause that has
interested us so long, but I must confess the conflict of
life depresses me. How little we accomplish! How
dark the world continues to be with ignorance and misery! I long, as of old, to help lift the cloud, and yet 
TRUSTEES, SCHOOL COMMITTEES, ETC.    197
yearn to retire from the conflict. Alas, what is to come
of it all?'God so loved the world as to give his dear
son to save it,' and yet it is not saved. You will tell
me how impatient I am, and, were we together, perhaps you would again read to me those soothing words,
'Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God,"'
&c.
This is the repetition of my own experience at Hartford, the best class of teachers
ever losing health or leaving for better places,
and all for want of what alone can secure
permanence and the highest class of instructors. It seems that the gentlemen who designed to bestow endowments at Milwaukee and
Dubuque, on account of financial losses,
failed to do so. Owing to this, the institution
at Dubuque was relinquished, and our Agents,
Dr. and Mrs. Parsons, resigned at Milwaukee
to help sustain the Ingham University, founded
by two sisters as previously narrated, which
at this writing has no endowments to support
instructors. But, during twenty years, the
Milwaukee College has been a fountain of
good, sending out its educated mothers and
teachers, and if this my disheartened colaborer could view the brighter side as I do,
and see the future results of her labors in this
life and in the world to come, she would re 
198        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
new her hope and faith. Certainly it is true
that no institution, either at the East or West,
has exceeded the one she has so wisely nurtured, both in its intellectual and moral advantages. Perhaps a day will cpme when the
fathers and husbands that have received so
much aid in their early history will accomplish
what was attempted by their friends at the
East, and still remains incomplete.
These details of past educational experiences are commended to the notice of those
gentlemen Trustees who are holding funds
for establishing institutions for women. The
large fund of Miss Smith to be employed for
a woman's college at Northampton, Mass., is
now controlled by gentlemen only; some of
them- professors of a young men's college,
others civilians, theological professors, clergymen and business men. A Professor in Amherst College is appointed President, who will
have the same duties to perform in organizing a Faculty as were given to the President
of Vassar College, and, although our country
abounds with women of culture and wisdom
who have had great experience in organizing
female institutions, as yet not one has been
invited to become a member of the Board of 
TRUSTEES, SCHOOL COMMITTEES, ETC.    199
Trustees, or one of the future Faculty, to
supervise the use of the large funds bestowed
by a woman for the education of her own sex!
Is not the time at hand when women of
culture and experience will be, allowed at
least equat control of contributions for the
higher education of their own sex?
Here it is proper to state that, in repeated
instances where I have met ladies best qualified to take the position in  a "Faculty"
given to Presidents of our colleges, as presiding officer among equals, they have, without
exception, joined in expressing their preference of a gentleman rather than one of their
own sex. And many lady teachers do not
favor the admission of women as supervisors
of conmmon schools. The reason is obvious
and natural. For in our country gentlemen
of culture and benevolence accord a deferential courtesy toward our sex, which women
are not trained to feel or manifest toward
each other. Moreover that class of ladies
who have borne the heavy responsibilities of
the head of an institution, are often glad to
relinquish the honor, in order to secure release from the burden and cares of such a
position. 
CHA P TERR XI V.
THE AMERICAN WOMAN'S EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIA                  TION.
LTHOUGH   the previous narrative is
Chiefly a record of many failures as to
permanent results, there are substantial reasons
for anticipating ultimate success in the main
features of what has been attempted by the
above association.
For there now is existing a wide-spread
conviction that our country is at an alarming
crisis, which shortly will decide whether our
sacred institutions shall be sustained or perish. All sects and parties allow that our only
safety depends on the virtue and intelligence
of the coming generation, of whom women
are to be the chief educators. And yet our
census shows that illiterate women are now in
excess of illiterate men to the number of over
one million, and that this illiteracy increases
faster among women than amiong men. Even
Boston, the capital of our most forward educational State, shows twice as many illiterate 
WOMAN'S EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION.    201
women as men, and other cities report equally
or more humiliating statistics.
In this emergency women are organizing
all over the nation to secure to our sex educational, as well as legal and political equality.
And the leaders in this effort are women of
good sense, benevolence and intelligence, and
such -as ordinarily accomplish what they
undertake. Such women, I think, would not
give the ballot without limitation to all
women  of this nation.  They will rather rectify the mistake made so extensively in giving
this power to all men, however ignorant or
vicious. Let the franchise be given to women
on condition that they are duly qualified by
paying taxes and a certain measure of education,. and then every woman will have new
stimulus to fit herself for these responsibilities. And one immediate result would be
the increase of intelligent voters. At the same
time we have unusual facilities for making so
great a change with safety. For each of our
States prescribes its own conditions of conferring the ballot, and thus the experience of
a few will serve for guidance to the many.
In seeking to decide what quality and
amount of education should be the proper 
232   EDUCATIONAL, REMINISCENCES.
condition for a woman to be allowed the ballot, we should consider whether the common college curriculum is needful to fit her
for her distinctive duties as housekeeper, vwic,
mother, and chief educator of;,the nation's
children. If not, what should be added or
withdrawn?
This is a practical question where conjecture must, in a measure, take the place of experiments. For as yet but few women have
completed the common college course. But
the following considerations should have due
regard. As the general rule every true woman would prefer to be a wife, mother and
housekeeper, could her ideal be fully met.
But in multitudes of cases this can never be,
and so, every woman should prepare herself
not only for the ordinary duties of the family
state, but also for some'profession to secure
an ihzctpendelt livelihood.
This being granted, every woman is entitled
to etial advantages with those bestowed on
man.  In other words, it is the "right" of
every woman to be provided with opportunities for gaining her distinctive and also a selfsupporting profession cyz.ial to what are given
to men, and it is the duty of every parent and 
WOMAN'S EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION.               203
of the S'ate also to secure such advantages t~
wl - omen.
Our public school system, then, should be
regulated by this principle.  It should secure
to every young girl first and chiefly the kind
cf training which will best prepare her to become a housekeeper, wife, mother, and schoci
teacher; and also ensure to her a self-su?,porting profession saZtted to her capacities ai;.,
tastes.  For every one succeeds best in what
best suits taste and ablility.
I-Iow, then, could our public school system
be so modified as to meet these requisitions?
The following is offered for the consideration of the friends of popular education as
what, perhaps, may aid in deciding the question.  Our public schools are now so graded
that the priz'ary branches might be taught in
a much shorter time were the enormous accumulations of useless deaies in our school books
greatly reduced. There is no use in filling the
memory with what excites no interest as prac'ica/ly useful and therefore soon forgotten.
Let this reduction be made to give room for a
iractical training that would be interesting to
all who should be trained for wvoman's distinctive profession. 
204       EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
As one method, let a model house be built
for the scientific and practical training of
young girls as future housekeepers, mothers,
and teachers, and an endowment of $50o,ooo000
invested to support a lady Principal of Domestic Science, who shall choose her own Associate Principal. Then let a family be instituted, consisting of these two principals and
ten of the most deserving pupils of the public
schools, who shall receive gratuitous instruction in all the duties of the family state, both
practical and scientific, and at the close receive diplomas certifying that they have been
instructed in all that a woman needs to know
should she become housekeeper, wife, mother,
or school teacher. Then ten others might follow in rotation, and none be allowed to graduate till this course is completed, either at
home or at school.
This might be done so that this course of
domestic education could be combined with
intervals for reading the standard works of
English  literature, and  thus  cultivating a
taste for a higher course of reading than is
now prevalent. Such an establishment might
become a popular feature not only of the
public school system, but be widely imitated 
WOMAN S EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION.         205
in women's colleges and private schools, so
that as the result every young girl will, either
at home or in such an establishment, be
properly trained for her future duties. During such a course the lady Principal could
decide which of those under her care were of
a class that would be benefited by a more extensive literary or scientific course, and such
could ere long find ready admission to men's
colleges or professional schools.   But these
would probably be a small minority, while
the majority would prefer more quiet and less
ambitious employments.
In St. Louis a university is now flourishing
which is formed by uniting a college, a polytechnic school, a female seminary, and the
public schools.  Would not the "co-education" of the sexes and ecanomy be promoted
by a similar method  in other cities?  Is
it just or generous for men in our colleges
and professional schools to teach only one,
* two, or at most three hours a day, while women
are required to teach four, five, and six hours?
Could not the duties of the weaker sex be
wisely diminished by increasing those of the
stronger?
It was with the hope of raising funds for 
206        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
endowing a womrhan's professional schocl,
that I prepared my several works on Domestic Economy and Domestic Science, now
all included in the volume entitled the
Haousekeeper and Healthkeeper,,,  and  also  a
smaller work on Phzysiology and Calistlienics.
I made such a contract with my generous
publishers, the Harpers, that I can take at costall I wish for my agents to sell, and, after.
certain number are sold, have the right to cc —
trol all future sales by a new contract. The:)
two works embrace all that is of permanent
value in my other works on Domestic Science,
and are prepared with questions and illustrations to serve as a text-book for schools, and
all profits are consecrated to this object.
As in this and all my efforts for the education of my sex, I have repeatedly received the
aid of generous friends both at the East and
West, it is proper to state some of my financial experiences as a defense of my sometimes
questioned ability and discretion in this particular, where every woman ought to excel.
In early life a bequest of $2,000 for my use
was invested in what was then regarded the
safest and most prosperous bank in New England. A few years after, this bank failed, 
WOMAN S EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION.            207
and all was lost. When I had completed my first
edition of Domestic Economy, it was placed
in the Massachusetts School Library, and for
this I was required to pay more than I received to a gentleman employed to prepare
an index. Soon after the publishing house
failed, and by some strange chicanery I could
recover my right to the book only by paying
five hundred dollars.
Two other books published in New England
and one in New York, were entirely lost as
to any personal profits by the death or failure
of the publishers. In another case, having
recovered 82,5oo00 of a railroad company for
injuries received, I requested a business gentleman to place it so that I could use it in
three months. He gave me the note of an
honest man, secured by twice the amount of
stock in the Boston Grocers' Bank, and in
a few months the bank failed, and the honest
man failed, and I lost all but $500. In another
case, an agent of mine, highly recommended
as both honest and capable, took a piano I
had ordered and several hundred dollars
of books, and departed to parts unknown
and has not been heard of since. In another
case $I,500 paid to me for literary and other 
208        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
services was placed temporarily with a banker
who suddenly died insolvent, and all was lost.
These and several other similar experiences
have in a few cases caused delay in meeting
engagements.   But I have kept regular accounts, open to all who care to examine them,
which show that I have always supported my
own agency, and that of several of my associates, without using any funds but my own
earnings, and have paid out of the funds committed to my discretion all I have received,
and for the purpose for which they were contributed.  At the same time it has led me to
refuse in repeated instances, liberal offers of
aid, because involving responsibilities and
risks beyond my strength to bear.
Be it understood, however, that in all of
these transactions I was guided by the counsels of the best business men. Where I was
in error it was by following "good advice." 
CHAPTER XV.
AMERICAN WOMEN: WILL YOU SAVE YOUR COUNTRY?
[The following pages are the first portions of the
anonymous work of mine referred to in a previous
chapter. Its remarkable relevancy to the present
political and moral condition of our country will appear
at the close of the extract.]
T  is constantly repeated that intellteizcc
and virtue are indispensable to t4Fe,afety
of a democratic government like ours, where
the peo~pe hold all the power. You hear it said,
too, that our country is in great peril from the
want of this intelligence and virtue.   But
these words make a faint impression, and it
is the object of what follows to convey these
truths more vividly to your minds'.
This will be attempted, by presenting some
events, in a country where a government similar to our own was undertaken, by a people
destitute of that intelligence and virtue so
indispensable; and then it will be shown that
similar dangers are impending over our own 
210        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
country. The grand point to be illustrated
is, that a people without education have not
intelligence enough to know what measures
will secure safety and prosperity, nor virtue
enough to pursue even what they know to be
right, so that, when possessed of power, they
will adopt ruinous measures, be excited by
base passions, and be governed by wicked and
cruel men.
Look, then, at France, during that awful
period called thize Reign of Terror.  First,
observe the process by which the power
passed into the hands of the people. An extravagant king, a selfish aristocracy, an exacting priesthood, had absorbed all the wealth,
honor, and power, until the people were
ground to the dust. All offices of trust and
emolument were in the hands of the privileged
few, all laws made for their benefit, all monopolies held for their profit, while the common people were condemned to heavy toils,
with returns not sufficient to supply the necessities of life, so that, in some districts,
famine began to stalk through the land.
Speedily the press began to unfold these
wrongs, and at the same time, Lafayette and
his brave associates returned from our shores, 
ADDRESS TO AMERICAN WOMEN.
and spread all over the nation enthusiastic
accounts of happy America, where the people
govern themselves, unoppressed by monopoly,
or king, or noble, or priest. The press teems
with exciting pages, and orators inflame the
public mind to a tempest of enthusiasm. The
court and the aristocratic party cower before
the storm; and ere long, the eleven hundred
representatives of the people are seen marching, in solemn pomp, through the streets of
the capital, while the whole land rings with
acclamations of joy. They take their seats,
on an equality with nobles and king, and proceed to form a constitution, securing the
rights of the people.   It is adopted, and
sworn to, by the whole nation, with transports and songs, while they vainly imagine
that all their troubles are at an end. But the
representatives, chosen by the people, had not
the wisdom requisite for such arduous duties
as were committed to them, nor had the people themselves the intelligence and virtue indispensable  for such a change.   Men  of
integrity and ability were not selected for the
new offices created. Fraud, peculation, rapine, and profusion abounded.   Everything
went wrong, and soon the country was more
211'. 
212        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
distressed than ever.  "What is the cause of
this?" the people demand of their representa tives. "It is the aristocrats," is the reply;
"it is the king; it is the nobles; it is the clergy. They oppose and thwart all our measures; they will not allow our new Constitution
to work, and therefore it is that you suffer."
And so the people are filled with rage at those
whom they suppose to be the cause of their
disappointment and sufferings. The clergy
first met the storm.   "These  bishops and
priests, with their vast estates, and splendid
mansions, and rich incomes-they beggar the
peqple, that they may riot on the spoil." And
so the populace rage and thunder around the
national Hall of Legislation till they carry
their point, and laws are passed confiscating
the property of the clergy, and driving them
to exile or death. Their vast estates pass into
the control of the National Legislature, and
for a time, abundance and profusion reign.
The people have bread, and the office-seekers
gain immense spoils.  But no wisdom or honesty is found to administer these millions for
the good of the people. In a short time, all
is gone; distress again lashes the people to
madness, and again they demand why they 
ADDRESS TO AMERICAN WOMEN.
do not gain the promised plenty and prosperity. "It is the aristocrats," is the reply; "it
is the king; it is the nobles; it is the rich
men.  They oppose all our measures, therefore nothing succeeds, and the people are distressed."
Next, the nobles meet the storm.  "They
are traitors; they are enemies of the people;
they are plotting against our liberties; they
are living in palaces, and rolling in splendid
carriages from the hard earnings of the poor."
The populace rage against them all over the
land.  They besiege the House of Representatives; they beseech-they threaten. At last
they carry their point; the estates of the nobles are seized; they are declared traitors, and
doomed to banishment or death. Again millions are placed at the control of the people's
agents. It is calculated that by this and former confiscations, more than a thousand millions of dollars were seized for the use of the
people. Again fraud, peculation, profusion,
and mismanagement abound, till all this incomprehensible treasure vanishes away.
Meantime, all the laws have' been altered;
all the property has passed from its wonted
owners to new hands; the wealthy, educated,
213
.   a   e". ~ * I, 
214       EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
and noble are down; the poor, the ignorant,
the base hold the offices, wealth, and power.
Everything is mismanaged. Everything goes
wrong.   The people grow distracted with
their sufferings, and again demand the cause.
"It is the king; it is his extravagant Austrian
queen, who rules him and his court. They
thwart all our measures.  They are sending
to brother kings for soldiers to crush our liberties.   They are gathering armies on our
borders to overwhelm us."
Next, the helpless king and his family become the mark for popular rage. Every indignity and insult was inflicted-and borne with
a patient fortitude that extorted admiration,
till finally the king is first led forth to a bloody
death; next the queen is sacrificed; next the
virtuous sister of the king; and, last, the little
dauphin is barbarously murdered.
Still misery rules through the nation. The
friends of the king and former government,
and all the peaceable citizens and supporters
of order, are called aristocrats, and every art
devised to render them objects of fear, suspicion, and hatred, especially such of them as
hold property to tempt the cupidity of the
people. Through the whole land two parties
I:.  ",    I,' 
ADDRESS TO AMERICAN WOMEN.
exist; one the distressed, bewildered, exasperated people, raging for their rights, and
driven to madness by the fancied opposition
of aristocrats; the other a trembling, cowering minority, suffering insult, and fear, and
robbery, and often a cruel death.
And now priests and nobles and king and
queen are all gone, and yet the people are
more distressed than ever before. Amid these
scenes of violence, confusion and misrule, confidence has ceased, commerce has furled the
sail, trade has closed the door, manufactures
ceased their din, and agriculture forsaken the
plough.
There is no money, no credit, no confidence,
no employment, no bread. Famine, and pestilence,'and grief, and rage, and despair brood
over the land. Again the people cry to their
representatives, "Why do you not give us the
promised prosperity and plenty? We have
nothing to eat, nothing to wear; our business
and trades are at an end. The nations around
us are gathering to devour us, and what is the
cause of all these woes?"
It is the Girondists," is the reply; "it is
this party among the people's representatives.
They are traitors; they have been bribed;
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216        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
they have joined with foreign aristocrats and
kings. They interrupt all our measures, and
they are the cause of all your sufferings."
And now the people turn their rage upon
the most intelligent and well-meaning portion
of their representatives, who have been striving to stem the worst excesses of those who
yield entirely to the dictation of the mob.
After a period of storms and threats and violence, at length a majority is gained against
them, and a decree is passed condemning a
large portion of the National Legislature as
traitors, while their leaders are borne forth by
the exulting mob to a bloody death. Still the
distress of the people is unrelieved, and again
they clamour for the cause.  "It is the party
opposed to us," say the Jacobins, with Robespierre at their head; "they are the traitors;
they will not adopt the measures which will
save the people from these ills."
"Cut them down!" cries the populace; and
again another portion of the people's representatives are led forth to death.
And now Robespierre, the leader of the
lowest mob of all, is supreme dictator, and
all power is lodged with this coldest-blooded
ruffian that ever doomed his fellow beings to a 
ADDRESS TO AMERICAN WOMEN.
violent death. This was the Reign of Terror,
when the mob had gained complete mastery,
and this man, its advocate and organ, administered its awful energies. Look, then,
for a moment at the picture.
But the horrors of this period are so incredible, the atrocities so monstrous, that the tale
will be regarded with distrust, without some
previous indication of the causes which led
to such results.
Let it be remembered, then, that this whole
revolutionary movement was, in fact, a war
of the common people upon the classes above
them. Let it be remembered, too, that the
French people, by the press, and by emissaries
all over Europe, had invoked the lower classes
of all nations to make common cause with
them. "War to the palace, and peace to the
cottage," was their watchword.  Every throne
began to shake, and every person of rank,
talents and wealth felt his own safety involved
in the contest. It was thus that the revolutionary leaders felt that they were contending
for their lives against the whole wealth, aristocracy, and monarchial power of Europe.
In France itself, individual ambition, hate,
envy, or vengeance added fearful power to this
217 
218        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
war of contending classes. Not only every
leader, but every individual found in the opposing party some rival to displace, or some
private grudge to revenge, while ten thousand
aspirants for office demanded sacrifices, in
order to secure vacated places. At last the
struggle became so embittered and desperate,
that each man looked out only for himself.
Friend gave up friend to save his own life, or
to secure political advancement, till confidence
between man and man perished, and society
became a mass of warring elements, excited
by every dreadful passion.
Few men are deliberately cruel from the
mere love of cruelty. Thousands, under the
influence of fear, revenge, ambition, or hate,
become selfish, reckless, and cruel. When
too, in conflicts where men feel that by the
hands of opponents they have lost property,
home, honor, and country; when they have
seen their dearest friends slaughtered or
starved, then, when the hour of retaliation
arrives, pity and sympathy are dead, and every
baleful passion rages. Thus almost every
man in the conflict had suffered; if a democrat, from those above him; if an aristocrat,
from those below him. 
ADDRESS TO AMERICAN WOMEN.
Meantime, religion-that powerful principle
in humanizing and restraining bad passionshad well-nigh taken her flight. The war upon
the clergy at length turned to a war upon the
religion they represented, till atheism became
the prevailing principle of the nation.
By a public act, the leaders of the people
declared their determination "to dethrone the
King of Heaven, as well as the monarchs of
the earth." For this end the apostate clergy,
put in the places of those exiled, were induced
to come before the bar of the National Legislature and publicly abjure Christianity, and
declare that "no other national religion was
now required but liberty, equality, and morality."
On this occasion, crowds of drunken artisans appeared before the bar of the house,
trampling under foot the cross, the sacramental vases, and other emblems of religious faith.
A vile woman, dressed as the Goddess of
Reason, was publicly embraced by the presiding officer of the National Legislature, and
conducted by him to a magnificent car, and
followed by immense crowds to the grand
Cathedral of Notre Dame, where she was
seated on an altar, and there received the
219 
220        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
worship of the multitudes. The Sabbath, by
a national decree, was abolished; the Bible
was burned publicly by the executioner; and
on the grave-yards was inscribed "Death is
an eternal sleep!"
At Lyons, a similar scene"' was  enacted,
where a fete in honor of Liberty was celebrated.   The churches were all closed, the
Decade, or Sabbath of Reason, proclaimed,
and an image of a vile character was carried
in procession, followed by vast crowds shouting, "Down with the aristocrats! Long life to
the guillotine!" After the image came an ass,
bearing the cross, the Bible, and the communion service; and these were led to an altar,
where a fire was lighted, the cross and Bible
burned, the communion bread trampled under
foot, and the ass made to drink out of the
communion cup. Wherever democracy reigned, the services of religion were interrupted,
the burial service vanished, baptisms ceased,
the sick and dying were unconsoled by religion, while every species of vice, obscenity,
and licentiousness was practiced without
concealment or control. The establishments
for charity, the hospitals, and all humane institutions were swept away, and their funds 
ADDRESS TO AMERICAN WOMEN.
seized by the agents of the people.   Even
flthe sepulchres of the dead were upturned.
The noble, the wise, and the ancient, the
barons of feudal ages, the heroes of the Crusades, the military chieftains, the  ancient
kings, resting in long-hallowed tombs, the
mightiest monarchs of the nation, the "chief
ones of the earth," were moved from their
rest, and rose to meet the coming of this
awful day, while the treasures of their tombs
were rifled by vulgar hands, and their very
skulls kicked around as footballs for sport.
Meantime the sovereigns of Europe were
making preparations to meet this flood of
democratic lava, which threatened to overflow
every surrounding land. Vast armies began
to gather on every side, and avenging navies
hovered along the shores.   This added the
fervour of patriotic devotion to the mania of
democracy.
"Ye sons of France! awake to glory!
Hark! hark! what myriads bid you rise!
Your children, wives, and grandsires hoary;
Behold their tears, and hear their cries!
Shall hateful tyrants, mischief breeding,
With hireling hosts, a ruffian band,
Affright and desolate our land,
While Peace and Liberty lie bleedng?
221
II 
222        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
To arms! to arms! ye brave!
The avenging sword unsheath!
March on! march on! to victory or death!"
These inspiring sentiments, sung in the
thrilling notes of the Marseilles Hymn, were
echoed from one end of the land to the other,
awakening a whirlwind of enthusiasm. The
wants of thousands thrown out of employ, joined with the excitement of patriotism, raised an
army unparalleled in numbers. It is calculated that, at one time, one million two hundred thousand Frenchmen were thus enrolled,
and at the command of the National Legislature; while the millions of property, not otherwise squandered, were employed to clothe,
feed, and equip this incomprehensible multitude.  All Fra —e was bristling like an armed
field; while every mandate of government,
backed as it was by such a military force,
was utterly resistless. Thus it was that the
Reign of Terror was so silent, awful, and
hopeless.
Behold, then, through the terror-stricken
and miserable land, the national troops employed in arresting every person suspected of
favoring aristocracy, or conspicuous as the
holder of wealth, or object of hate, envy, or 
ADDRESS TO AMERICAN WOMEN.
suspicion to all in the possession of power. Behold the prisons of the capital, of the provincial cities, and of the country villages, crammed to overflowing with the rich, the noble,
and the learned. No regard was paid to station,
age, or sex. Gray hairs and blooming childhood, stern warriors and beautiful maidens,
coarse laborers and noble matrons, were huddled together into the damps, and filth, and
darkness of a common dungeon, while the
guillotine daily toiled in its bloody work of
death.
Whenever a fresh supply of funds was demanded for the national service, a new alarm
of invasion or of counter-revolution was spread,
and then followed new arrests of those suspected, or of those who held any species of wealth.
In disposing of captives to make room for new
supplies, some were poniarded in prison, some
shot, and some guillotined. At last, it was
found needful to adopt a more summary
method, and the National Legislature decreed
that the land must be cleared of traitors and
aristocrats, not by trial and single execution,
but by a slaughter of masses.  A corps was
formed of the most determined and bloodthirsty, and sent all over the land to execute
223 
224         EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
this mandate. In carrying out this unparalleled
system of cold-blooded murder, various modes
were adopted.  One was called the Republican
Baaptisrn, by which men, women, and children
were placed in a vessel with a trap-door in the
bottom, and carried out into the midst of the
waves; then the trap-door was opened, and
the crew, getting into a boat, left their victims
to perish. Another method was called the
Republican Marriage.  By this, two of the
opposite sex, generally an old person and a
young one, were bereft of all clothing, then
tied together, and, after being tortured a while,
thrown into the waves. Another mode was
called the maitraillade or fusillade. Sixty, or
more, captives were bound, and ranged in two
files along a deep ditch dug for the purpose.
At the two extremities of each file, were placed
cannons loaded with grapeshot, and, at a given
signal, these were discharged on this mass of
human beings. But a few were entirely killed
at the first discharge. Wounded and mutilated, they fell in heaps, or crawled forth, and,
with piercing shrieks, entreated the soldiers to
end their sufferings with death, Three successive discharges did not accomplish the
work, which was finally ended by the swords 
ADDRESS TO AMERICAN WOMEN.
of the soldiery. Next day, the same scene
was renewed on a larger scale, more than two
hundred prisoners being thus destroyed. This
was repeated day after day; while, on one occasion, the commanding officer rose from a
carouse, and with thirty Jacobins and twenty
courtesans, went out to enjoy a view of the
horrid scene.
At Toulon the mitraillades were repeated,
till at least eight hundred were thus slaughtered in a population of less than ten thousand. In Lyons, during only five months, six
thousand persons suffered death, and among
these were a great portion of the noblest and
most virtuous citizens. At Toulon, one of
the victims was an old man of eighty-four,
and his only crime was the possession of
eighty thousand pounds, of which he offered
all but a mere trifle to escape so shocking a
death, but in vain. Bonaparte, who saw these
horrors, says: "When I beheld this poor old
man executed, I felt as if the end of the world
was at hand."
At Nantes, five hundred children, of both
sexes, the oldest not fourteen, were led out to
be shot. Never before was beheld so piteous
a sight! The stature of the little ones was so
225 
226        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
low that the balls passed over their heads,
and, shrieking with terror, they burst their
bonds, and rushing to their murderers, they
implored for pity and life. But in vain; the
sabre finished the dreadful wqrk, and these
babes were slaughtered at their feet.
At another time, a large body of women,
most of them with young children, were carried out into the Loire, and while the unconscious little ones were smiling and caressing
their distressed mothers, these mothers were
bereft of all clothing and thrown with their
infants into the waves.
At another time, three hundred young girls
were drowned in one night at Nantes, where,
for some months, every night hundreds of
persons were carried forth and thrown into
the river, while their shrieks awoke the inhabitants and froze every heart with terror.
In this city, in a single month, either by hunger,
the diseases of prison, or violence, fifteen thousand persons perished, and more than double
that number during the Reign of Terror.
In the prisons not less dreadful sufferings
were endured. In these foul and gloomy
abodes the cells were dark, humid, and filthy;
the straw, their only beds, became so putrid
-4 
ADDRESS TO AMERICAN WOMEN.
that the stench was horrible, while enormous
rats and every species of vermin preyed on
the wretched inmates. In such dens as these
were gathered the rank, the beauty, the talents, and the wealth of Paris, and the chief
cities of the land.  Here, too, degraded turnkeys, attended by fierce dogs, domineered over
their victims, while on one side were threats,
oaths, obscenity, and insult, and on the other
were vain arguments, useless supplications,
and bitter tears. 
Every night the wheels of the rolling car
were heard, coming to carry another band of
victims to their doom. Then the bars of the
windows and the wickets of the doors were
crowded by anxious listeners, to learn whether their own names were called, or to see their
friends led out to death. Those summoned
bade a hasty farewell to their friends.   The
husband left the arms of his frantic wife, the
father was torn from his weeping children, the
brother and sister, the neighbor and friend,
parted and went forth to die, while survivors,
picturing the last agonies of those they loved,
or waiting their own fate, suffered a living
death, till again the roll of the approaching
car renewed the universal agony.
227 
228        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
To such a degree did this protracted torture
prey upon the mind that many became reckless of life, and many longed for death as a
relief.
In many cases women died of terror when
their cell door was opened, supposing their
hour of doom was come.
The prison floors were often covered with
infants, distressed by hunger or in the agonies
of death. One evening three hundred infants
were in one prison; the next morning all were
drowned! When the citizens once remonstrated at this useless cruelty, the reply was,
' They are all young aristocratic vipers-let
them be stifled!"
Such accumulated horrors annihilated the
sympathies and charities of life.  Calamity
rendered every man suspicious. Those passing in the streets feared to address their nearest friends. As wealth was a mark for ruin,
all put on coarse or squalid raiment. Abroad,
no symptom of animation was seen, except
when prisoners were led forth to slaughter,
and then the humane fled and the hard-hearted rushed forward to look upon the agonies
of death. In the family circle all was fear
and distrust. The sound of a footstep, a voice 
ADDRESS TO AMERICAN WOMEN.
in the street, a knock at the door, sent pale ness to the cheek. Night brought little re pose, and in the morning all eyed each other
distrustfully, as if traitors were lurking there.
But there is a limit to the power of mental
suffering; and one of the saddest features of
this awful period was the torpid apathy which
settled on the public mind, so that, eventually,
the theaters, which had been forsaken, began
to be thronged, and the multitude relieved
themselves by farces and jokes, unconcerned
whether it was twenty or a hundred of their
fellow-citizens who were led forth to die.
Learning and talent were as fatal to their
possessors as rankand wealth. The son of
Buffon the naturalist, the daughter of the eloquent-Vernay, Roucher the poet, and even the
illustrious Lavoisier, in the midst of his philosophical experiments, were cut down. A few
more weeks of slaughter would have swept off
all the literary talent of France.
During the revolutionary period it is calculated that not less than two hundred thousand
persons suffered imprisonment besides those
who were put to death, of whiom the following list is furnished by the Republicans themselves:
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230        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
Twelve hundred and seventy-eight nobles,
seven hundred and fifty women of rank, fourteen hundred of the clergy, and thirteen thousand persons not noble, perished by the guillotine under decrees of the tribunals of the
people.
To this add the victims at Nantes, which are
arranged in this mournful catalogue:
Children shot'......
Children drowned...
Women shot.......
Women drownod.....
Priests shot and drowned.
Nobles drowned......
Artisans drowned...
The whole number destroyed at Nantes, of
which the above is a portion only, was thirtytwo thousand.
To these add those slaughtered in the wars
of La Vendee, viz., nine hundred thousand
men, fifteen thousand women, and twenty-two
thousand children. To this add the victims
at Lyons, numbering thirty-one thousand. To
this, add those who are recorded thus: "women who died of grief, or premature childbirth,
three thousand seven hundred;" and we have
~ 500
I 1,5OO
. 264
~   500
. 760
I5,400
* 5)300 
ADDRESS TO AMERICAN WOMEN.
a sum-total of one mnillion tuienty-two thousand
human beings destroyed by violence. How
many should be added, as those who died of
prison sufferings, or from the pangs and privations of exile, or from famine and from pestilence consequent on this state of anarchy and
violence, who can enumerate?
At some periods, such was the awful slaughter that the rivers were discolored with blood.
In Paris, a vast aqueduct was dug to carry off
the gore to the Seine, and four men employed
in conducting it to this reservoir. In the river Loire, the corpses accumulated so that birds
of prey hovered all along its banks, the waters became infected, and the fishes so poisonous that the magistrates of Nantes forbade the
fishermen to take them.
Thus, in the language of another, "France
became a kind of suburb of the world of perdition.   Surrounding nations were lost in
amazement as they beheld the scene. It seemed
a prelude to the funeral of this great world,
a stall of death, a den into which thousands
daily entered and none were. seen to return.
Between ninety and a hundred of the leaders
in this mighty work of death fell by the hand
of violence. Enemies to all men, they were
231 
232        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
of course enemies to each other. Butchers of
the human race, they soon whetted the knife for
each other's throats; and the same Almighty
Being who rules the universe, whose existence
they had denied by a solemn act of legislation,
whose perfections they had made the butt of
public scorn, whose Son they had crucified
afresh, and whose Word they had burned by
the hands of a common hangman, swept them
all, by the hand of violence, into an untimely
grave. The tale made every ear that heard
it tingle, and every heart chill with horror.
It was, in the language of Ossian,'the song of
death.' It was like the reign of the plague in
a populous city.  Knell  tolled upon knell,
hearse followed hearse, coffin rumbled after
coffin, without a mourner to shed a tear, or a
solitary attendant to mark the place of the
grave.'From one new moon to another, and
from one Sabbath to another, the world went
forth and looked upon the carcasses of the
men who transgressed against God, and they
were an abhorring unto all flesh.'"
Such, my countrywomen, are the scenes
which have been enacted in our own age, in
a land calling itself Christian, and boasting itself as at the head of civilization and refine 
ADDRESS TO AMERICAN WOMEN.
ment.   Do you say that such cruelty and
bloodthirsty rage can never appear among us;
that our countrymen can never be so deluded
by falsehood and blinded by passion?
Look, then, at scenes which have already
occurred in our land.  Look at Baltimore: it
is night, and within one of its prisons are shut
up some of its most excellent and respected
citizens. They dared to use the rights of freemen, and express their opinions, and oppose
the measures of the majority; and for this,
a fierce multitude is raging around those walls,
demanding their blood. They force the doors,
and, with murderous weapons, reach the room
containing their victims. Some friendly hand
extinguishes the lights, and in the protecting
darkness they seek to escape.  Some  succeed; others are recognized, and seized, and
stabbed, and trampled on, and dragged around
in murderous fury. One of the noblest of
these victims, apparently dead, is seized by
some pitying neighbor, under the pretense of
cruelty, and thrown into the river and carried
over a fall. There he is drawn forth and restored to consciousness; and. there, too, it is
discovered, that by Americans, by the hands
of his fellow-citizens, his body has been stuck
23g' 
234        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
with scores of pins, deep pilunged into his
flesh!
Look, again, at the Southwest, and see gamblers swinging uncondemned from a gallows,
and among them a harmless man, whom the
fury of the mob hung up without time for judge
or jury to detect his innocence.
See, on the banks of the Mississippi, fires
blazing, and American citizens roasted alive
by their fellow-citizens! See, even in New
England, the boasted land of law and steady
habits, a raging mob besets a house filled with
women and young children. They set fire to
it, and the helpless inmates are driven forth
by the flames to the sole protection of darkness and the pitiless ruffians. See, in Cincinnati, the poor blacks driven from their homes,
insulted, beaten, pillaged, seeking refuge in
prisons and private houses, and for days kept
in constant terror and peril.
See, in Philadelphia, one class of citizens
arrayed in arms against another, both excited
to the highest pitch of rage, both thirsting for
each other's blood, while the civil authority
can prevent universal pillage, misrule, and
murder, only by volleys that shoot down
neighbors, brothers, and friends. 
ADDRESS TO AMERICAN WOMEN.
See in New York city, an infuriated mob
attacking the helpless negroes, and their orphan asylum in flames!
What, then, has saved our country from
those wide-sweeping horrors that desolated
France? Why is it that, in the excitements
of embargoes, and banks, and slavery, and
abolition, and foreign immigration, the besom
of destruction has not swept over the land?
It is because there has been such a large body
of educated citizens, who have had intelligence
enough to understand how to administer the
affairs of state, and a proper sense of the necessity of sustaining law and order; who have
had moral principle enough to subdue their
own passions, and to use their influence to
control the excited minds of others. Change
our large body of moral, intelligent, and religious people to the ignorant population of
France, and the horrors of the Reign of Terror would be before our eyes. Nothing can
preserve this nation from such scenes but perpetuating this preponderance of intelligence
and virtue. This is our only.safeguard.
What, then, are our prospects in this respect? Look at the monitions recorded in
our census. Let it be first conceded, that
235 
236        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
the fact that a man cannot read and write
is not, in itself, proof that he is not intelligent and virtuous.   Many, in our country,
who do not read, by intercourse with men
and things, by the discussionr of religion
and politics, and by the care of their
affairs, gain much knowledge and mental
discipline. Still, a person who cannot read
a word in a newspaper, nor a line in his Bible,
and who has so little value for knowledge as
to remain thus incapacitated, as a general
fact, is in the lowest grade of stupidity and
mental darkness.  So that the number who
cannot read and write is, perhaps, the surest
exponent of the intellectual and moral state
of a community. For though this list may
embrace many intelligent and virtuous persons, on the other hand, there are probably
as many, or more, of those classed as able
to read and write, who never have used this
power, and who are among the most stupid
and degraded of our race.
These preceding pages were written in
I845, and now what are the returns of our
last census, of i870? Instead of the decrease
of ignorance in our nation, we find its increase, and what to our sex is specially humil 
ADDRESS TO AMERICAN WOMEN.
iating, this increase of ignorance is greater
among women than among men. For of our
present population (in I870), numbering
thirty-eight and a-half millions, seventeeen
per cent. of the adult males cannot read, and
twenty-three per cent. of adult women, or
nearly one-fourth of all our sex, are in the
same condition.
237 
CHAPTER XVI..
QUERIES AND SUGGESTIONS.
HE  preceding pages show how much  I
have been aided and guided by the
counsels and influence of experienced housekeepers, mothers, and teachers. I may here
add that I cannot recall an instance in which
I have, either in general aims or specific
measures, gone contrary to their judgment,
while in several instances I have relinquished
cherished views and efforts in compliance
with their counsels.
In what follows will be presented some untried methods for the consideration and discussion of those who are leaders in educational operations, but especially of the intelligent and benevolent women of my country.
I. As preliminary, the following principles
and facts are assumed, as those in which it is
probable all will agree. It is the fundamental
principle, both of our national government
and of the Christian religion, that all men, as 
QUERIES AND SUGGESTIONS.
children of one Father, are created free and
equal, and are equally entitled to whatever
will secure their own best good and the best
good of the commonwealth, these being one
and the same. On this primary principle our
educational institutions must be framed. But
at the same time the fact must be recognized
that there are various grades of mind, some
lower and some higher, demanding modes of
training and spheres of action, some on one
plane and some on another. It is also a fact
that individual minds of equal grades are diversely organized, certain mental faculties being powerful and prominent in some and deficient in others. In view of these facts, the
leading aim of educational institutions should
be to trazn each mind for the higher or lower
sphere for which its natural tastes and abilities
are best adapted, and also to develop equally
every bodily and mental faculty so as to
secure a well-balanced mind in a healthful
body. For the training suited to a mind with
certain faculties dormant or deficient would
be unsuitable for another mind in which these
same faculties were powerful and prominent.
There are also important facts in our circumstances as a nation which demand atten
239 
EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
tion in framing our educational institutions.
Our national census of 1872-3 reveals these
startling facts: that there are over one million more illiterate women than men, that il-'
literacy increases faster among women than
among men, that the increase of children is
far greater among the ignorant classes than
among those most educated, that it is the illiterate who care least for the proper education of their children, that vice and
poverty are nearly in tL-he same ratio as illiteracy, and that immigration, both on the Atlantic and Pacific shores, is chiefly from the
more ignorant classes and is increasing every
year. The conseqences of the rule of ignorant majorities in a republic have been mournfully illustrated in France and in some of our
Southern States.
These  principles and  facts must be our
guide in judging of our present systems of
education, and of the changes and improvements needed.   It is certain that the great
majority of this nation will consist of the
working classes, and that only a small portion
of them will gain that style of education provided in our colleges and universities. And
yet both the state, civil and private benefactions
240 
QUERIES AND SUGGESTIONS.
have been profusely bestowed on these institu tions. This results from a fact already recog nized, that there are higher and lower grades
of mind demanding diverse spheres, diverse
modes of education, and divere appliances
and apparatus.
There are higher grades of mind, fitted by
superior natural abilities to become civil
rulers, learned investigators, scientific discoverers and useful inventors. For such our
?dviz)ersities should be still more liberally endowed, and every facility provided to excite
to effort and to insure success. And it should
be one of the aims of our public school system to discover those who are fitted by superior talents for such positions, and secure to
them such appropriate advantages.
But is it not the case that institutions for
the training of these higher grades of mind
have been unduly multiplied, while appropriate
advantages for the humbler classes have been
neglected, especially in the proper training of
woman? And are not the methods of our
public high schools unduly modeled after the
college and university plan?
II. The most important and influential of
all our educational institutions is that of the
241 
242       EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
family, in which the housekeeper and mother
is the chief minister, with her kitchen, nursery and school assistants. In preyious pages
it has been shown how multiplied and complicated are the duties of a wbman as chief
minister of the family state, and how imperfect are existing methods of training her for
these duties. Without discussing the relative
intellectual abilities of the two sexes, all will
allow that the training of the human mind in
early life is unsurpassed in difficulty and importance, and that this is committed to woman
more extensively than to man.
In this view of the case, no educational
question is of such vital importance as the
appropriate education of woman for the
Duties of the Family State.
III. In offering suggestions on these topics,
some additional details - of personal history
will be introduced to illustrate the importance of certain principles of mind which
have been greatly neglected both in family
and school education.
The first of these principles is the influence
of excited interest to gain some practical
good in quickening intellectual vigor, and in
securing accurate perceptions and consequent 
QUERIES AiD SUGGESTIONS.
long retention of memory. This will be illustrated by my own personal history before
and after the period of school education. At
the age of twenty, al my knowledge of geography, grammar and arithmetic had been
gained without the interest that would have
attended a perception of their practical use,
and so nearly all had faded from memory.
But the multiplied duties of a housekeeper
and mother, which were shared by me as eldest daughter, awakened the highest interest,
as the motives of love, duty and practical
usefulness called into vigorous exercise every
intellectual faculty. Afterwards, by religious
motives and the necessity of self-support by
teaching, I was again incited to renewed and
more successful efforts at acquiring knowledge from books, in view of a practical good
to be gained, while my instructors were exact
and thorough. Studying and teaching at the
same time, I was only a little in advance
of my classes of bright and active minds,
excited by entering with me into fields
of  knowledge  hitherto  barred  from  our
sex.   Thus simultaneously as teacher and
pupil I learned the importance of a practical aim and also the value of frequent
243
I 
244        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
repetition in both acquiring and retaining
knowledge.
After establishing my school, I found myself on the threshold of further studies.
In Latin, French  and  mathematics I took
only a short course that would aid me for the
practical end of preparing and supervising
my teachers and judging of their methods
with their classes. This being attained, my interest and attention were turned to other
p)ractical matters.   When  obliged to teach
classes in mental philosophy and to give daily
instruction in the Bible, my interest was
again aroused by the supremest motives, in
the education of immortal minds, most of
them to become future mothers and teachers.
in tfiis department I soon was made to realize the unpractical character of all existing
text-books on mental science, and this led
to the preparation of the work already
noticed, which was introduced into their
classes, as superior to any other, by the
Professors of Mental Philosophy in the leading universities of Ohio and Virginia, and
was  sought for by other  teachers in this
branch.
The following abridgement of the preface 
QUERIES AND SUGGESTIONS.
to this work gives an outline of its con
tents:
"When a true philosopher examines a new and
curious contrivance, these are his natural and appropriate inquiries: For what end or purpose was it contrived?  Is it in perfect order, so as to,.work according
to the design of its author? If disordered, how is it
to be rectified? Who is its author, and has he made
any revelation of the end he designed and of the right
method to secure this end? Can the character and intention of the author be discovered by the nature of
this contrivance?  Now, the human mind is the most
curious and wonderful of all contrivances, and one
would suppose that all true philosophers would seek
the answers to these questions as the prominent aim of
their writings. But instead of this we find most works
on mental philosophy to consist chiefly- of descriptions,
names and classification of the mental faculties, of
discussions as to the propriety of these names and
classification, of a history of discussions and of various
abstract theories and views that have no practical issues. On the contrary, in this work, the attempt is
made  to remedy these deficiencies.   It commences
with a description of the various faculties of the human mind, using the names and classification most
common in popular use, and those which the common
people understand and employ. Then follows an tccount of the sources of human knowledge, including
all gained by personal experience, by human testimony
and by revelations from the Creator, including the evidences sustaining such revelations. Next is set forth
the object or end for which mind is created, as learned
alike by reason and revelation. Then is presented
245 
2m6        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
the evidence of the disordered action of mind and its
consequences in this and in the future life; then the
true mode of rectifying this disordered action, as made
known both by reason and revelation; and finally the
right mode of training the human mind according to
its laws and the teachings of its Creator."
This is a brief outline of a work which excited the highest interest among the active
and earnest young minds under my care as
they perceived its practical uses-an interest
rarely found to be excited by the abstract and
unpractical text-books used in most of our
literary institutions, which, for this reason, did
not interest either my pupils or myself. It
was owing to this fact that one professor described this work as "possessing in no ordinary degree the best of all qualities in a textbook —incentives to izzvestigation "- and  as
"being fearlessly original and felicitously correct;" while another professor sought it as "a
work more suitable to this country than any
other he had met."
IV. In view of those experiences in attempts
to train the human mind to right action and
habits, it is important to consider some facts
in the history of other nations and countries.
At the present time the wives and mothers of
our country are attempting to meet the in 
QUERIES AND SUGGESTIONS.
creasing danger from intoxicating drinks, and
mournful statistics show that it is in Christian
nations that this evil prevails, especially in
Great Britain and our owncountry. In contrast to this, we find the Mahometan religion
forbids entirely the use of such drinks, and
that, as the consequence, the Mahometans are
far more free from intemperance than the
Christian  nations.   Moreover,  the  Jewish
people are freer from the vice of intemperance
than the Christian communities around them.
On this subject I was informed by the chief
Rabbis of New York city that among the
60,ooo Jews their thirteen Rabbis knew not
of even one of any of their congregations who
was habitually intemperate. They supposed
such. cases might be found outside of their
congregations,  though they knew  of none.
When I inquired the cause of this it was ascribed, chiefly, to great care and faithfulness
in family training.   At one of their synagogues I observed that the men wore scarfs
with a colored border, and was told that this
was their weekly reminder at their worship
of these words of their law, so greatly reverenced:
"Ye shall lay up these my words (saith Jehovah) in
247 
248        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
your hearts and in your souls. And ye shall teach
them to your children, speaking of them when thou
sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way,
when thou liest down and when thou risest up. And
thou shalt write them on the door-posts of thy house,
and upon thy gates, and bind them as a sign on your
hand, that they may be as frontlets bedtween your eyes,
that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your
children."
Moreover, this promise of long life for obedience has been remarkably fulfilled, as exhibited by scientific records in France, showing
that the Jewish people, in spite of their oppressed condition among all nations, are not
only the richest but the most long-lived and
healthy people in the world, and this they believe is owing to their faithfulness in training
their children to faithful obedience to their
law. - To this also they ascribe their preservation as a distinct people in all ages and
nations.
Thus it appears by the records of other ages
and nations that it is not by civil laws and
penalties but by the religious training of the
famnily, that temperance, prosperity, health and
long life are best secured. In former days, ability to read the New Testament in the Greek,
the language in which our Saviour spoke, was
equired for admission to college, but now in 
QUERIES AND SUGGESTIONS.
many colleges it is dismissed; yet vile poetry
celebrating heathen vices is retained! The
Greek language is allowed by all to be the
most perfect, and God has chosen it by which
to instruct us in truth and duty, and woman
is his chief minister in the family state to administer these divine teachings. Dean Alford
and Bishop Ellicot, and other competent witnesses tell us that it is "an easy language,"
and that "no one to whom God has given a
fair measure of ability can justly plead that
an accurate knowledge of the Greek Testament is beyond his reach."
Would it not be well for Christian parents
to at least equal their Jewish brethren in reverence for their Divine Writings, so that every
woman and school-teacher shall in our public
schools be prepared to read and instruct in
this sacred language?
V. It is conceded by all that the educated
vicious are more dangerous than the ignorant,
and that the safety of our republic depends
more on moral and religious training than on
intellectual. And yet we are now discussing
whether the Bible shall be ejected from our
public schools, while leading editors of religious papers and clergymen are advocating this
249 
250        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
measure! The plausible plea for this is that
in schools supported by taxing infidels, pagans
and all the various Christian sects, religion
must be left out lest the rights of conscience
should be abridged.   But thcye are several
ways to meet this difficulty; one is that
adopted in several public schools, of having
religious and moral instruction given either
as the opening or closing exercise, allowing
all parents to withhold their children from
school at this time. A better way is for
the teachers so to conduct this part of school
duty as not to interfere with the peculiar views
of conscientious parents and children. But
few are aware how nearly the better classes of
pagan, Mahometan, Jewish and Christian parents are agreed in the moral and religious
training of the young. "To do justly and
love mercy," "to fear God and keep his commandments" as made known by both nature
and revelation, is what almost every parent of
every religion and every nation wish their offspring to be trained to do: School Instruction
in Morality  and Religious  Princiles  may
be given without trenching' upon doctrinal
or debatable grounds.
In a recent work translated by Henry Ho. 
QUERIES AND SUGGESTIONS.
mer, of the Albany State Library, who is a
returned missionary from Turkey, we find the
teachings of' the leading Mahometan theologian, their most popular religious teacher, to
be identical with the fundamental truths of
both the Jewish and Christian! faith: that it
shall be well with the righteous, and ill with
the wicked both here and forever in the life to
come. In another recent work we find a collection of extracts from the sacred books of the
Persians, the Egyptians, the Hindoos and the
Chinese, in which all the virtues of the Christian faith are inculcated, and the rewards of
obedience in a future life and the eternal
penalties of disobedience are maintained. And
the best educated parents in all these nations
wish their children trained in conformity to
these instructions. Let these truths, held in
common by the good of all nations, be inculcated in our schools by discreet and properly
trained teachers, and there would probably
be universal approbation; or, if a few objected they might be allowed to withdraw
their children at the regular hour for moral
and religious instruction. In the interesting
letters from the missionary teachers in preceding pages we find that their efforts for the
251 
252        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
moral and religious training of their scholars
were approved by parents of all sects.
VI. In none of our educational institutions
have there been consistent and successful
methods maintained to form the Hiabits of System, Order and Punctuality, which are even
more important in the ermr)loyments of the family state than in the pursuits of business men.
And nowhere are the diversities of mental organization more marked than in these particulars.  Some minds have a natural tendency to
system, order and punctuality, and little effort
is needed to form these habits. But in other
minds there is a constitutional aversion to
conformity to such rules, or, indeed, to any
rules. This is specially noticeable in minds
in which imagination and fancy predominate.
It is by the housekeeper and mother that such
habits be must formed in early life, and there
are none more important to the comfort and
repose of the family. In a family where the
housekeeper and mother is lacking in these
virtues, there is incessant jar and discomfort.
The cook, if anxious to please, finds her carefully prepared dishes spoiled by delay. The
husband, to meet his business appointments,
must often eat in haste or lose a meal. No 
QUERIES AND SUGGESTIONS.
one knows when the meal is to begin, and
soon there is no simultaneous gathering and
no appropriate time for the service recognizing
the Giver of all good and his paternal care.
The hour of Scripture reading and prayer is
uncertain and irregular, and for this reason
often is relinquished altogether. No system
of home employments can be maintained in
such a family.  Closets, drawers and bedchambers are in confusion, the multitudinous
implements of woman's work are mislaid, the
search for needful articles takes up half the
time that would otherwise be happily employed. Neither school nor college yet known
aims to remedy such defects. My father lamented in himself the want of early training
in these respects, and jocosely complained that
half his life was spent in looking for his hat.
It will be asked, Can these constitutional
defects be remedied by education? My own
happy experience is an encouraging reply, for
there never was a more unpromising subject
to train to habits of punctuality, system and
order.  And yet the gentle and persevering
discipline of my early educators did secure
these habits, and they have proved some of
the chief causes of comfort and success. And
253 
254        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
what has been done for me, the chief of sinners as to natural revolt from these virtues,
can be done for all by similar persistent love
and efforts. And where it is not accomplished
in the family, it can and ought-to be secured
in the school.
VII. In Chapter XIII. are the views of
Professor Agassiz and Horace Greeley on defects in our systems of education. The following are additional indications of increasing
dissatisfaction with our schools among those
best informed:
In the October number of "Old and New"
is an article from an officer of one of our colleges, who has visited European schools and
given much time and thought to this subject.
He  laments the want of scientific, practical
training in our educational institutions, primary, academic and collegiate. As to our
colleges, he claims that they are not (like
those of Europe) well endowed and well officered, and gives as the reason that most of
them are established by contending sects, so
that in a majority of our States there is not a
single college or university worthy the name,
but only a multitude of little sectarian schools
with pompous names, each doing its best to 
QUERIES AND SUGGESTIONS.
prevent the existence of any broader and better institution. He claims that, with few exceptions, our colleges are without complete
facilities, without requisite libraries, without
illustrative collections for the various branches
of science, without suitable laboratories and
without an adequate supply of modern apparatus and conveniences, so that our young men
must go to Europe for completing the highest
education.
President Porter of Yale College, in a recent address, points out certain defects in the
"special schools" that fit boys for college.
One is that, even in childhood, when all
should be treated alike, those fitting for college are confined to that narrow course which
secures admission to colleges, and this involves
to the college-bred man the loss of a background of common knowledge, which is very
important. He claims that there is needed
in all schools that common sense gained by
acquaintance with common people, and also
a knowledge of common things and of the
hopes and aims of the masses, most of which
is lost in the distinctive training for and in
our colleges. He claims that in all preparatory schools there should be some training in
255. 
256       EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
English language and literature, in the fundamentals of mathematics, in the outlines of
general history, the outlines of the natural
sciences, and an acquaintance with one modern language. He maintains that Latin and
Greek are begun too early and pursued too
exclusively, and that trustees and teachers
enforce too high pressure in these branches,
thus inducing weariness and disgust, forming
mechanical habits of thought and study, and
checking spontaneity and mental growth.
President Chadbourne of Williams College, in a recent address, points out the following as prevailing defects in both private
and public schools: Modes of study that induce bad habits of mind that last through
life;-committing to memory great quantities
of uninteresting and unimportant details, to
be speedily forgotten; the use of text books
crammed with useless details which only burden and confuse so that "our best text books
need to be cut down one-half." He insists,
not that they should teach less, but that they
should teach more interesting and valuable
matter.   He claims that up to fourteen, children are taught in branches unfitted to their
age or to their grade of intellect, and that 
QUERIES AND SUGGESTIONS.
they should be confined to the simple outlines of arithmetic, geography, history and the
natural sciences, with general reading enough
to make newspapers and the conversation of
mature persons intelligible.   He  states the
evil of wrong classing, by which the bright
and the dull have the same lessons, instead
of which, he says, "the dullards should be
cared for as the lame and blind."
He points out the evils of the multiplication
of rules and routine, by which individuality
is repressed and a burden made of that which
should be a delight, while there is a lacking
of that enthusiasm in teachers who depend
chiefly on text books, and who would otherwise excite the intellect and awaken interest.
Lastly and chiefly he notices the mournful
lack of that moral training which is the chief
instrument in forming character and habits.
The defects and evils in our common
schools are set forth in the reports of several
school superintendents. For example, in the
recent report of the Superintendent of Public
Schools in Brooklyn, that " City of Churches"
where we should expect the most care for
the humbler classes, we find the schools so
2sl
I 
258       EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
overcrowded that so many as half the classes
number from eighty to one hundred and
eighty at each recitation, while these tremendous classes are taught and controlled by
young untrained girls, many knowing but little more than their pupils, some not having
full growth, and their average age being only
eighteen. For the humble pittance of $400
a year to pay for both board and clothing,
these young creatures teach five and six
hours a day, and many of them an evening
school  in  addition.   So enormous is the
crowding that in some recitation-rooms, and
these poorly ventilated, the back rows cannot
be reached by the teacher except by removing or treading on the front rows. What a
ruin- of health and intellect to both teachers
and pupils with six hours taxation in such
pestilential crowding!  And  now the new
State-law is soon to be enforced, by which
multitudes of the children without schools
are to be added to these dens of abuse and
cruelty.
Is not a society to prevent cruelty toward
young children and their teachers as much
needed as the one which now protects dumb
animals in New York? 
QUERIES AND SUGGESTIONS.
It is reported that the male principals who
superintend these hordes of young teachers
find no time for anything else, and so (as
Brooklyn has never provided a normal school
to train its teachers) most is done by young
and untrained teachers. This is assigned as
the reason why the boys of Brooklyn now
leave school at the average age of fourteen,
when formerly the average was fifteen. This
superintendent objects to "co-education,"
because it promotes immoralities, which he
says he can illustrate by "sad facts." Will
not private schools multiply and public
schools sink in respectability when such evils
are presented by those who have the best
chance of knowing the truth?
As to other cities, there are some similar
painful statistics made public of the Philadelphia schools. And while boarding in New
York recently, I met a lady teacher of the
public schools of that city prostrated by paralysis while attempting to teach and govern
classes numbering  from seventy to eighty!
Thus it is in cities where in the churches
God is presented as a loving' father, most interested for the humble and neglected of his
children, and especially for the lambs that
259 
260        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
are lost rather than the ninety and nine who
are well provided.   It is the little ones of
the poor and ignorant classes who are thus
huddled into dens of poisonous air, and subjected to sudden drafts from open windows,
while no chance is given for instruction by
qualified teachers, and nothing done for
proper moral training.
In this nation it is the laboring-classes who
are to be the governing majority, and who also
inculde large numbers of minds of the highest grades. But school statistics show that
this great majority who are taxed for schools
have the poorest educational advantages. For
example, in Philadelphia, of the one hundred
and forty-eight thousand in public schools
only forty-five thousand are taught in anything but the primary branches, and of those
who reach the grammar schools only a small
portion graduate.   Only ten out of every
hundred of the pupils of our public schools
learn anything except the primary branches,
and leave usually at fourteen, while not one
in five hundred reaches a college. In Pennsylvania only three hundred and forty out
of fifteen hundred teachers are reported as
properly qualified to teach even the primary 
QUERIES AND SUGGESTIONS.
branches, or to give anypractical preparation
for a future profession.
It is very remarkable that our school reports, usually, are confined merely to the
expenditures, the number of children, and the
proportion who attend school-but how they
are taught and governed, and what intellectual and moral habits are formed, are passed
over as not worthy of notice. The time is
yet to come when supervisors of public schools
will secure the best and shortest course to develop mind, body and good habits during the
fourteen years to which the laboring-classes
limit the schooling of their children, especially their boys, who are wanted for labor.
At the same time they will also seek to draw
off only the higher grades of mind for a more
liberal education in high-schools and colleges.
In regard to the value of practical training
combined with school studies, England furnishes very important experiments.   For, by
law, certain children in workshops and factories attend school six hours a day. Another
class only half that time, and in the other
half work in shops and mills. And, to the
surprise of superintendents, this experiment
261 
262  EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
of thirty years' standing shows that the half
time scholars learn as much as those that attend school twice as many hours. And this
is the reason: Study is a healthful and pleasing diversion from work, and work is equally
a relaxation from study; while the discipline
of the shop induces habits of punctuality,
order and industry in the school-room. Moreover, knowledge, like food, needs time to
digest, so that the cramming of many studies
tends to debilitate rather than to strengthen.
Six months of schooling, one hour a day, will
accomplish far more than six months of continuous study.  This experiment has ani important bearing on the question of training of
young girls by such a method that only onehalf the day shall be spent in school studies,
and the other half be devoted to domestic employments.
In the preceding pages the effort commenced by ladies in Ohio, and afterwards
conducted by Gov. Slade, shows how much
might be done by benevolent women to save
our country from ignorance and vice. The
same ladies also organized the American Woman's Education Association, its leading object being to establish eoizdvwed institutions on 
QUERIES AND SUGGESTIONS.
the college plan of co-eqcua teachers, in which
woman shall be trained for her distinctive
profession as housekeeper, wife, mother, nurse
of infancy and the sick, and the chief educator of childhood.
Since the formation of this Association
more  than twenty colleges and professional
schools have been opened to women, so that
all women of the higher grades of intellect,
or who wish to enter men's professions, are
amply provided with all needed advantages. 
In consequence of this, the Association has
changed its plans, and is now aiming to secure the proper training of the daughters of
the industrial classes for their future duties as
housekeepers, wives, mothers,  nurses of infants and the sick, and also all the domestic
helpers needed in these various departments,
and as far as practicable to do this in connection with our common schools.
To this end the following Committees are
formed.
i. A Committee to prepare a course of
study and training, and the text-books suited
to the objects proposed. These, before publication, will be submitted for criticism to
leading educators, especially to the Superin
263 
EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
tendents of our State and City public
schools.
2. A Committee of Correspondence to se cure the organization of influential women in
every State, to co-operate by introducing the
method of training and text-books into both
private and public shools.   The profits of
these text-books will be employed to prepare
suitable teachers, and for their comfort and
success. These Committees will also aid in
the selection, location, and care of missionary
teachers in the more destitute sections of our
country.
There is an abundance of wealth, education, and leisure now in the hands of the
women of our country, which require only
efficient orgadization to meet every demand
of benevolence.   There are multitudes of
well-educated Christian women as ready to
become missionary teachers as those whose
experience has been given in these pages.
There is wealth enough in the hands of benevolent women to support all the agencies
needed. What is wanted is a full view of
our dangers as a nation, andt appropriate organization to meet these dangers.  When our
country was on the brink of disunion and
264 
QUERIES AND SUGGESTIONS.
destruction, the women of our country organized to perform their part of the self-sac.rificing labor involved, and they did it wisely
and well. No less dangers are now impending from the inroads of ignorance and vice
threatening speedy ruin. Appended to this
is a chart prepared from our census, giving
to the eye a mournful picture of the present
condition of our country as to illiteracy. In
all those dark places the children are growing up in ignorance and vice, and even in
the best educated States are hundreds of
hamlets without schools. And in a few years
all these children are to be our rulers or
mothers of our rulers. Here should be reared
the missionary school-house-a HOME for the
teacher and a church for the hamlet.
We are constantly meeting in newspapers
statements of liberal benefactions from women
to endow colleges and professional schools
for men; is it unreasonable to hope that the
time is near when unmarried women and
widows will find equal privileges, so that a
home can  be  secured  to every  educated
woman, where, if not a natural mother, she
may become a "Christ mother," to rear neglected children not her own? Should not
265 
266        EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES.
every young woman have an opportunity
thus to aid in "saving her country"?  Will
not the fathers of our nation thus provide
for their daughters?   It might be a wise
measure in providing- educational endowments for women, that they shall be required
to establish a family and rear orphans or
other neglected children, and thus the benefactions would sustain the best kind of permanent orphan asylum.
THE END. 
APPENDIX. 
APPENDIX.
REVUE ENCYCLOPEDIQUE
ou
Analyse raisonnee des productions les plus remarquables
dans la litterature, les sciences et les arts; par une
reunion de membres de l'Institut et d' autres hom    mes de lettres.                    I
a Paris, September, I83C.
Art. 3me.          Livwes atrangers.
Etats Unis.
Vues relatives au perfectionnement de l'educatio;,
pr('sente'es aux curateurs de la MAaison d'Educatioiz de
jeunes filles, a Hartford, et publies d'apres leur demande; par Catharine E. Beecher, Hartford, I83o, MI
8~ de 84.pages.
L'auteur de cet ouvrage est directrice de l'Institution
de jeunes filles i Hartford, etablissement dont elle a
considerablement accri la renommee et la prospeite.
Ce ne sont donc point des vues purement speculatives
qu'elle communique au public, mais des fruits de l'experience parvenus a la maturite; il serait ai desirer
qu'elle eut completement raison sur tous les points, car
elle etablit qu' it n' y a point de defaut de caracte're
d'habititdes et de manieres qui nepuisse etre corrigd.
Comme elle a continuellement une centaine de pen sionnaires sous les yeux, ella a certainement beaucoup
vu, beaucoup observe; mais n'a-t-elle pas juge' avec
quelque indulgence? On ne lui saurait pas mauvais
gre d'avoir mieux pense' de quelques-unes de ses eleves
qu'elles ne le mdritaient reellement, d'avoir considere
comme  gueris des maux qui n'etaient que  pallies.
Cete  disposition a juger favorablement est peutetre
une condition de rigeur pour que 1' instituteur ou 1' in stitutrice obtienne quelque succes.  Ce petit ouvrage
prouve ce que l'on soupgonnait deja, que l'on a fait en
Ameique les memes fautes qu'en Europe, relativement
a l'education; mais il fait voir aussi que l'on y fait des
grands efforts pour sortir de cette ancienne et profonde 
APPENDIX.
[ Transtation.]
ENCYCLOPEDICAL  REVIEW;
or,
i-hilosophical Analysis of Standard productions in Lit    erature, Science and the Arts, by; a number of the
Members of the French Institute and other literary
authorities.
Paris, Sept., 1830.
Art.. 3d.          Foreign Books.
United States,
Suggestions respecting improvements in education, presented to the Trustees of the Hartford Female Seminary,
and published at their request, by Catharine E. Beecher,
etc.
The writer of this work is the directress of the Hartford Female Institute, an educational establishment of
which she has largely increased the renown and prosperity.
The views which she gives to the public are not, therefore, purely speculative ideas, but the matured fruits of
experience; it would be desirable that she were completely justified in all her opinions, for she establishes
as a principle, that "there is no defect whatever, in
character, habits, or manners, which may not be corrected."
As she has constantly some hundred pupils inder
-notice, she has certainly seen much, observed much; but
has she not formed her judgments somewhat indulgently? We would not think the worse of her for judging too favorably some of her pupils, for considering as
healed, evils which were but palliated. Such a disposition is, perhaps, an indispensable condition for success
in teaching. This little book proves what was already
suspected, namely, that the same mistakes have been
made in America as in Europe respecting education;
but it proves also that great efforts have been made there
to get out of the old, deep rut, and that they have secured 
APPENDIX.
olmniere, que l'on y obtient des ameliorations dont l'effet
nrecessaire sera d'en amener d'autres non moins importantes.  L'ecrit de Madame Beecher est, a quelques
egards, une statistique des meilleures maisons d'education de demoiselles, aux Etats-Unis; celle d' Hartford
serait, a coup siur, des plus remarquables, meme dans
l'une des plus grandes capitales de l'Eprope.
L'auteur soutient que les femmes doivent etre exclusivement chargees de l'education des personnes de
leur sexe: on ne peut lui opposer aucune experience
contraire  mais quelques inductions tres probables font
soupgonner que sa proposition est trop absolue. On
sait que l'education de l'homme ne serait pas aussi-bien
faite par des hommes seuls, que iorsque des femmes
sensees y prennent part; ne peut-on pas appliquer la
merne remarque  l'education desjeunes filles?  Puisque
nous en sommes encore 6 faire ces questions, et que la
solution nous embarrasse, il faut avouer qu'en fait d'education, nous en sommes encore aux premiers elements.
Recuillons donc les faits instructifs, car c'est par les
faits seulement que les arts s'enrichissent et s'acheminenr. vers leur perfection; et quel art merite mieux nos
recherches et nos soins que celui d'elever nos enfans
pour leur bonheur, et pour le bien-etre des generations
futures?                                          F.
274 
APPENDIX.
certain improvements, the inevitable effects of which
will be to lead to others no less important. Miss
Beecher's work is in some respects a statistical report
of the best female schools in America. The one in
Hartford would be certainly one of the most remarkable, even in a great European capital.
The author maintains that women should be exclusively intrusted with the education of their own sex.
No contrary experience can be opposed to her; but
very probable inductions lead us to suspect her assertion
too absolute. It is acknowledged that man's education
is not as well achieved by men alone as when sensible
women take a share therein; cannot the same remark
apply also to the education of girls? While we are still
considering these questions and puzzled how to solve
them, it must be acknowledged that, concerning education, we have not yet progressed beyond the first elements. Let us then collect instructive facts, for it is
through facts alone that arts can grow nobler and tend
towards perfection; and what art better deserves our
research and care than the one of bringing up our children for their own happiness and for the welfare of
generations to come?                              F.
275 
APPENDIX.
certain improvements, the inevitable effects of which
will be to lead to others no less important. Miss
Beecher's work is in some respects a statistical report
of the best female schools in America. The one in
Hartford would be certainly one of the most remarkable, even in a great European capital.
The author maintains that women should be exclusively intrusted with the education of their own sex.
No contrary experience can be opposed to her; but
very probable inductions lead us to suspect her assertion
too absolute. It is acknowledged that man's education
is not as well achieved by men alone as when sensible
women take a share therein; cannot the same remark
apply also to the education of girls? While we are still
considering these questions and puzzled how to solve
them, it must be acknowledged that, concerning education, we have not yet progressed beyond the first elements. Let us then collect instructive facts, for it is
through facts alone that arts can grow nobler and tend
towards perfection; and what art better deserves our
research and care than the one of bringing up our children for their own happiness and for the welfare of
generations to come?                              F.
275 
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