vW IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) /. J^A M /•«-,* ^^^ < ^*.%<' y. 1.0 I.I 1.25 i:^ 12.8 1 50 ""•^ u IIM 2.2 lA ill 1.6 ^^/ y ';< s^^, *^J5J^* //^ c? / >^ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions Institui Canadian de microreproducttons historiques 1980 Technical Notes / Notes techniques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Physical features of this copy which may alter any of the images in the reproduction are checked below. L'Institut a microfilm6 le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Certains ddfauts susceptible^ de nuire d la quality de la reproduction sont notds ci-dessous. IZl Coloured covers/ Couvertures de couleur D Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur D D Coloured maps/ Cartes g6ographiques en couleur Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages ddcoiordes, tachetdes ou piqudes D n Coloured plates/ Planches en couleur Show through/ Transparence D Tight binding (may cause shadows or (distortion along interior margin)/ Reliure serrd (peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge int6rieure) D Pages damaged/ Pages endommagdes Additional comments/ Commentaires suppl6mentaires Original copy restored and laminated. Bibliographic Notes / Notes bibliographiques n Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Bound with other material/ Relid avec d'autres documents D Pagination incorrect/ Erreurs de pagination Pages missing/ Des pages manquent Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Plates missing/ Des planches manquent Additional comments/ Commentaires suppl6mentaires D Maps missing/ Des cartes g^ographiques manquent The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the conrdition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shill contain the symbol — ♦► (meaning CONTINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Les images suivantes ont 6x6 reproduites avec le plus grand soin, corr^pte tenu de la condition et de la nettetd de I'exemplaire filmd, et an conformity avec les conditions du contrat de fllmage. Un des symboles suivants apparattra sur la der- nidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole -^^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". The original copy was borrowed from, and filmed with, the kind consent of the following institution: Library of the Public Archives of Canada Maps or plates too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: L'exemplaire filmd fut reproduit grdce 6 la g6n6rosit6 de I'dtablissement pr§teur suivant : La bibliothdque des Archives publiques du Canada Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un seul clich6 sont filmdes 6 partir de Tangle sup6rieure gauche, de gauche 6 droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n^cessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la m^thode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 I.? f ■ t: r .1 _;^ _ J^" \ V ' ! '*»" ' T H (_) U G H T S ON TJtT Ul^ JCATION OF WOi "^A"^ Jl rHE lNTR(Jl)UC'rOKV iJ'Xrn'uM, IT) TirH: FIRSr SESSION OF I fHE CEASSES OF THE LADIES" EDUCATIONAL j ASSOCEATION OF MONTREAL, OCT., 1871. i |!V rRlNCIPAL DAWSON. LJ..I>., F » y- M ,| 1 . I- .. , 1 i! ,,,,■ ,,;v i:MK' ' !=-'V rOMMriTK« OF' THK ^SSOGUTluN. iX 'TSi' MONTREAL 1 .S7 I ?AW,M^aaBssm THOUGHTS ON riiK HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN. i THE INTRODUCTORY LECTURK TO THE FIRST SESSION OF THE CLASSES OF THE LADIES' EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MONTREAL, OCT., 1871. BY FRIIS'C[PAL DAWSON, LL.U., F.R.S. PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OK THK EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE ASSOCIAIION. MONTREAL : GAZKTTB PRINTING HOUSB, CORNER ST, PRA.NCOIS XAVIRR AND CRrtHJ iTRBBTS. 1871. I f -71 13 Sl.'i oo THOUOHTS ON THB HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN. INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. The ancient stoics, who derived much of their philosophy from Egypt and the East, beheved in a series of great cosmical periods, at the end of each of which the world and all things therein were burned by fire, but only to re-appear in the succeeding age on so precisely the same plan that one of these philosophers is reported to have held that in each succeeding cycle there would be a new Xantippe to scold a new Socrates, I have sometimes thought that this illustration expressed not merely their idea of cosmical revolutions, but also the irrepressible and ever recurring conflict of the rights and education of women, l^otwithstanding all that may be said to the contrary, I believe that Xantippe was as good a wife a? Socrates or any of his contemporary Greeks deserved. She no doubt kept his house in order, prepared his dirmers, and attended to his collars and buttons if he used such things, and probably had a general love and respect for the good man. But she was quite incapable of seeing any sense or reason in bis philosophy ; and must have regarded it as a vexatious waste of time, and possibl}' as a chronic source of inipecuniosity in family affairs. The educated Greek of her day had small resi)ect for woman, and no idea of any other mission for her than that of being his domestic drudge. No one had ever taught Xantippe philosophy. Hence she despised it ; and being a woman of character and energy, she made herself felt as a thorn in the flesh of her hu8])and and his associates. In this way Xantipjie derived from her husband's wisdom onlv a provocation of her bad temper, and he lost all the benefit of the loving sympathy of a kindred soul ; and so the best and purest of heathen philosophers found no help-meet for him. Xantip{)e thus becomes a specimen of the typical luieducated woman in her relation to the higher departments of learning and human progi-ess. '..yiiteJUii: Thoughtless, passionate, a creature of impulses for good or evil, she may,> according to circumstances, be " Uncertain, <.oy and bard tu jilease," or, after her fasliion a " ministering angel," hut she can never rise to the ideal of the " Perfoft woman nolilyplaiined To warn, to conifoit and coramaud.' In ordinary circumstances she may be a useful liousehold worker. If emancipated from this, she may sjircad her buttcrlly wings in thoughtless frivolity ; but she treats the higher interests and efforts of h"unianity with stolid unconcern and insipid levity, or interferes ui them with a capricious and clamorous tyrany. In what she does and in what she leaves undone she is e(i[ually a drag on the progress of what is good and noble, and the ally and promoter of what is empty, useless and wasteful. If the stoics anticipated a perpetual succession of such women they might well be hopeless of the destinies of mankind, urdess they could find in their philosophy a remedy for the evil. But the stoics wanted that higher light as to the position and destiny of woman which the Gospel has given to us ; and it is a relief to turn from their notions to the higher testimony of the Word of God. The Bible has some solution for all the diflicult problems of human nature, and it has its own theory on the subject of woman's relations to man. In the old record in Genesi':, Adam, the earth-born, finds no helpmeet for him among the creatures sprung, like himself, from tlie ground ; l)ut he is given that equal helper in the woman made from himself In this new relation he assumes a new name. He is no longer Adam, the earthy, but hh, lord of creation, and his wife is Isha — he the king and she the (pieen of the world. Thus in Eden tbere was a perfect unity and ('((uality ofman and woman, as both Moses and our Saviour, in commenting on this passage indicate, though Milton, usually so correct as an interpreter of (lenesis,, seems partially to o\'crlook this. But a day came when Isha, in the exercise of her independent judgment, was t(;mpted to sin, and tempted her husband in turn. Then comes a new dispensation of lal)our and sorrow and subjection, the fruit, not of (Jod's original arrangements, but of man's fall. Simple as a nursery tale, profounder than any philosophy, this is the Bible theory of the subjection of woman, and of that long series of wrong and suffering and self-abnegation which has fallen to her lot as the partner of man in the struggle for existence in a sin-cursed world. But even here there is a gleam of light. The Seed of the woman is to bruise the head of the serpent, and Isha receives a new name, .Eve — the mother of life. For in her, in every generation, from that of Eve to that of Mary of Bethlehem, resided the glorious possibility of bringing forth the Deliverer from the evils of the fall. This great prophetic destiny ■ »».t ■ '«-«-""»»>«jgiM»late it as an outsider, but most bewildering to all who have any practical concern with it ; and more t-specially, I should suppose, to careful and thoughtful mothers, wlu se minds arc occupied with the connections which their daughters may foim, and the positions which they may fill in society. The educational problem which these facts present admits, T believe, of but two general solutions. If we could uivolvo women in the same necessities for independent exertion and professional work with men, I have no doubt that ii. the struggle for existence they would secure to themselves un equal, perhaps greater share of the more solid kinds of the higher education. Some strong-minded women and chivalrous men in our day favour this solution, which has, it must be confessed, more show of reason in older countries where, from unhealthy social conditions, great numbers of unmarried women have to contend for their own subsistance. But it is opposed by all the healthier instincts of our humanity ; and in countries like tliis where very few women remain unmarried, it woidd be simply impracticable. A better solution would be to separate in the cat;e of both sexes professional from general education, and to secure a large amount of the former of a solid and practical character for both sexes, for its own sake, and because of its beneficial results in the promotion of our well- bomg considered as individuals, as well as in our family, social and profes- sional relations. This solution also has its difficulties, and it cannot, I fear, ever be fully worked out, until either a higher intellectual and moral tone be reached in society, or until nations visit with proper penalties the failure, on the part of those who have the means, to give to their children the highest attainable education, and with this also provide the funds for educating all those who, in the lower schools, prove themselves to be possessed of eminent abilities. It may be long before such laws can be instituted, even in the more educated communities ; and in the mean time in aid of that higher appreciation of the benefits of education which may supply a better if necessarily less effectual stimulus, I desire to direct your attention to a few considerations which show that young women, viewed not as future lawyers, physicians, politicians, or even teachers, but as future wives and mothers, should enjoy a high and liberal culture, and which may help us to understand the nature and means of such culture. The first thought that arises on this branch of the subject, is that woman was intended as the help-meet of man. And hero I need not speak 8 of that kind and loving ministry of women, which renders life sweet and mitigates it pains and sorrows, and which is to be found not solely among the educated and refined, but among the simplest and least cultured, — a true instinct of goodness, needing direction, but nativ? to the heart of woman, in all climes and all states of civilization. Yet it is sad to think how much of this holy instinct is lost and wasted through want of knowledge and thought. How often labour and self-sacrifice become worse than useless, because not guided I)y intelligence ; how often an influence that would be omnipotent for good becomes vitiated and debased into a power that enervates and enfeebles the better resolutions of men, and involves them and their purposes in its own inanity and frivolity. No influence is so powerful for good over young men as that of educated female society. Nothing is so strong to uphold the energies or to guide the decisions of the greatest and most useful men, as the sympathy and advice of her who can look at affairs without, from the quiet sanctuary of home, and can bring to bear on them the quick tact and ready resources of a cultivated woman's mind. In this, the loftier sphere of domestic duty, in her companionship and true co-partnership with man, woman requires high culture quite as much as if she had alone and unshielded to fight the battle of life. It may be said that, after all, the intelligence of the average woman is quite equal to that of the avei^ge man, and that highly educated women would not be appreciated by the half-educated men who perform most of the work of the world. Granting this, it by no means follows that the necessity for the educatien of women is diminished. Every Xantippe can- not have a Socrates ; but every wise and learned woman can find scope for her energies and abilities. If need be, she may make something even of a very commonplace man. She can greatly improve even a fool, and can vastly enhance the happiness and usefulness of a good man, should she be so fortunate as to find one. But it is in the maternal rotation that the importance of the education of women appears most clearly. It requires no very extensive study of biography to learn that it is of less consequence to any one what sort of father he may have had than what sort of mother. It is indeed a popular impression that the children of clever fathers are likely to exhibit the opposite quality. This I do not believe, except in so far as it results from the fact that men in public positions or immersed in business are apt to neglect the oversight of their children. But it Is a noteworthy fact that eminent qualities in men may almost always be traced to similar qualities in their mothers. Knowledge, it is true, is not hereditary, but traiauig and culture and high mental qualities are so, and I believe that the transmission is chiefly through the mother's side. Farther, it is often to the girls rather than to the boys, and it frecjuently happens that if a selection were to be made as to the members of a family most deserving of an elaborate and costly education, the young women would be chosen 1! I :! t. 9 rather than the young men. But leaving this physiological view, let us look at the purely educational. Imagine an educated mother, training and moulding the powers of her children, giving to them in the years of infancy thos'^ gentle yet permanent tendencies which are of more account in the formation of character than any subsequent educational influences, selecting for them the best instructors, encouraging and aiding them in their diffi- culties, sympathising with them in their successes, able to take an intelligent interest in their progress in literature and science. How ennobling such an influence, how fruitful of good results, how certain to secure the warm and lasting gratitude of those wlio have received its benefits, whca they look back in future life on the paths of wisdom along which they have been led. What a contrast to this is the position of an untaught mother — finding her few superficial accomplishments of no account in the work of life, unable wisely to guide the rapidly developing mental life of her children, bringing them up to repeat her own failures and errors, or perhaps to despise her as ignorant of what they must learn. Truly the art and profession of a mother is the noblest and most far-reaching of all, and she who would worthily discharge its duties must be content with no mean preparation. It is perhaps worth while also to say here that these duties and responsibilities in the future are not to be measured altogether by those of the past. The young ladies of to-day will have greater demands made on their knowledge than those which were made on that of their predecessors, I saw this amusingly illustrated lately hi a collec- tion of nursery rhymes of the future, which, if my memory serves me, ran in this wise : " Twinkle twinkle solar star, Now we've found out what you are, When unto the noonday sky, We the speetroHcope apply. " and so on. Or again Little Jaek Horner, of Latin no scorncr, In the second declension did spy. How of nouns there are some That ending in " uru," Do not form the plural in "i." Under these little bits of nonsense Ues the grave truth that the boys and girls of the future will know more and learn more, and for that very reason will require more Aviso and enlightened management than their predecessors. But the question has still other aspt^cts. A Moman may be destined to dwell apart — to see the guides and friends of youth disappearing one by one, or entering on new relations that separate them from her, and with this isolation may come the hard necessity to earn bread. How many thus situated must sink into an unhappy and unloved dependance ? How much better to be able to take some useful place in the world, and to gain an it 10 i honourable subsistence. But to do so, there must be a foundation of early culture, and this of a sound and serviceable kind. Or take another picture. Imagine a woman possessing abundance of this world's goods, and free from engrossing cares. If idle and ignorant, she must either retire into an unworthy insigiuficance, or must ex[)ose herself to be the derision of the shrewd and clever, and the companion of fools. Perhaps, worse than this, she may be a mere leader in thoughtless gaiety, a snare and trap to the unwary, a leader of unsuspicious youth into the ways of dissipation. On the other hand, she may aspire cc be a wise steward of the goods bestowed on her, a centre of influence, aid and counsel in every good work, a shelter .'ind support to the falling and despair" ~g, a helper and encourager of the useful and active ; and she may be all t\us and more, in a manner which no man, however able or gifted, can fuily or effectually imitate. But to secm-e Buch fruits as these, she must have sown abunuantly the good seeds of mental and moral discipline in the sunny spring time of youth. Lastly, with reference to this branch of the subject, it may be maintained that liberal culture will fit a woman better even for the ordinary toils and responsibilities of household life. Even a domestic servant is of more value to her employer if sufficiently intelligent to understand the use and meaning of her work, to observe and reason about the best mode of arranging and managing it, to be thoughtful and careful with reference to the things committed to her charge. How much more does this apply to the head of the house, who in the daily provisioning and clothing of her httle household army, the care of their health, comfort, occupations and amusements, the due and orderly subordination of the duties and interests of servants, children and friends, and the arrangement of the thousand ditRcidties and interferences that occur in these relations, has surely much need of system, tact, information and clearness of thought. We realize the demands of her position only when we consider that she has to deal with all interests from the commonest to the highest, with all classes of minds, from the youngest and most untutored to the most ctiltivated ; and that she may be required at a moment's notice to divert her thoughts from the gravest and most serious concerns to the most trifling details, or to emerge from the practical performance of the most commonplace duties into the atmosphere of refined and cultivated society. But it would be unfair to omit the consideration of still another a.spect of this matter. Woman has surely the right to be happy as well as to be useful, and should have fully opened to her that exalted pleasure which arises from the development of the mind, from the exploration of new regions of thought, and from an enlarged acquaintance with the works and ways of God. The man who has enjoyed the gratification of exercising his mental powers in the field of scientific investigation or literary study — of gathering their flowers and gems, and of breathing their pure and bracing atmosphere, would surely not close the avenues to such high enjoyment against women. 11 The desire to do so would he an evidence of sheer pedantry or moral obliciuitjr of which any man" should bo ashamed. On the contrary every educated man and woman should in this re8pt>ct be an educational minsionary, most desirous that others should enjoy these pleasures and jirivileges, both as a means of happiness and as a most et!ectual preventive of low and pernicious tastes and persuits. But, objects Paterfamilias, 1 have attended to all this. I have sent my daughters to the best schools I can iind, and have paid for many masters beside ; and j'.'st as I take their brothers from school and put them to the desk, I take my daughters also from school with their education finished, and hand them over to their mamma to be " brought out.'' What can I do more for them ? The answer to this question opens the Avhole subject of the higher education, and as there is just as much misunderstanding of this subject in the case of boys as in the case of girls, I am not sorry to ask your attention to it for a few moments. What is our idea of a college as distinguished from a school ? Many think that it is merely a higher kind of school adding a few more years to the school-boy's drudgery. Some think it a place of social improvement, ■where a man by idling a few years in a literary atmosphere may absorb a sort of aroma of learning, as his garments would absorb that of tobacco in a smoking room. Some think it a place to prepare yonng men for certain learned professions. All are wrong or only partly right. The college differs essentially from the school, inasmuch as the schoolboy becomes a student, that is, he is to take an active and not merely a passive part in his own education. He must begin to put away childish things, and become a man in independent effort, while still submitting himself to the guidance of more mature minds. He must now learn habits of self-reliance, study, and thought, must have the caterpillar growth of the school-room exchanged for the winged intellectual life which is to lead him fc»rth into the world. The college further differs from the school in the fact that it uses the school elements as a basis whereon to build a superstructure of literature and science, attainable only by the more matured mind of the student. The school-boy has certain foundation walls laid ; but his education is roofed in and finished only by the farther discipline of the College, and without this- it is likely to become a ruin without ever being inhabited. The College further ditl'ers from the school in that it attracts to itself for teachers, specialists in many departments of useful knowledge— men who have devoted themselves to these special branches, and have perhaps been original workers therein ; and thus it brings the schoolboy within reach of a new educational experience, and introduces him into those workshops of literature and science where the products exhibited to him in the school-room have actually b(?en made. In short, the school-boy who leaves school directly for the bushiess of life, is usu'<,]ly permanently fixed in an immature mental condition. He remains intellectually what he would be physically 12 if we could arrest his growth at the age of fifteen or sixteen, and not allow him to attain any further development. This fate unhappily befalls a large proportion of yonng men, even of those in whose case this arrest of development is not excused by the want of means to do better. It is almost universal in women, in whose case also there is not that hardening of tiie stunted mental constitution which even uneducated men acquire in the business of life. And so the prevalent tone of the feminine mind has come to be proverbially feeble. Men smile at woman's logic, and think it quite out of place to discuss any of the graver or deeper questions of practical science or business in her presence ; and a woman of any power and culture is pointed at as a strong-minded woman, or a blue-stocking, even by the poor fools who feel their own inferiority, or who cannot appreciate the value of pursuits which they do not understand. It is time that such false notions were at an end, and the effort which is now being inaugurated will, I hope, tend directly to this, in so far as Montreal is concerned. We cannot as yet boast of a Ladies' College ; but our classes for the present session will provide ior substantial instruction in the structure and literature of the two most important languages in this country, and for an introduction to that great department of science which relates to inorganic nature. I think we have reason to congratulate ourselves on the nature of the course and to be hopeful of the results. It is further to be noticed in this connection that the eiforts of the Committee, and especially of the Honorary Secretary, have been most zealous and untiring, and have been conducted with an amount of judicious care and foresight which should inspire the utmost confidence in the future management of the under- taking, and should entitle them to the warmest thanks of every friend of education. Several features of the present movement afford, I think, especial reasons for congratulation. One is that this is an Association of Ladies for educational purposes — originating with ladies, carried on by them, supported by their contributions. Another is, that the movement is self- supporting, and not sustained by any extraneous aid. It will, I hope, attract to itself endowments which may give it a stronger and higher character, but its present position of independence is the best guarantee for this, as well as foi- all other kinds of success. Another is that the Association embraces nearly all that is elevated in social and educational standing m our city, and has thus the broadest and highest basis that can be attained among us for any effort whatever. Still another is that we are not alone, nor are we indeed in the van of this great work, I need not speak of the United States, where the magnificent Vassar College, with which the name of one of our excellent and learned women was connected 30 usefully, and the admission of ladies to Cornell University, the University •of Michigan and others, have marked strongly the popular sentiment as to Wf W ' 13 the education of women. In Canada itself, Toronto, and even (Quebec and Kingston, liavo preceded us, though I think in the magnitude jf our success we may hope to excel them all. In the mother country, the Edinburgh Association has afforded us the model for our own ; and the North of England Educational Council, the JJedford College in London, the Hitehin College, the Carabr'dge Lectures for Ladies, the Alexandra College in Dublin, the admission of ladies to the middle-class examinations of tho universities, are all indications of the intensitv and direction of the current. On the continent of Europe, Sweden has a state college for women. The Victoria Lyceum at Berlin has the patronago of the Princess Royal ; the University of Paris has established classes tor ladies, and St. Petersburgh has its university for women. All tliese movements have origi- nated not only in our own time but within a few years, and they are evi- dently the dawn of a new educational era, which, in my judgment, will see as great an advance in the education of our race as that which Avas inaugurated by the revival of learning and the establishment of universities for men in a previous age. It implies not only the higher education of women, but tho elevation, extension and refinement of the higher education of men. Colleges for women will, as new institutions, be fi-ee frcm many evil traditions which cling about the old seats of learning. Thuy will start with all the advantages of our modern civilization. They will h<- animated by the greater refinement and tact and taste of woman. 'I'hoy will im- press many of these features upon our older colleges, with which, I have no doubt, they will become connected under the same university "rganiza- tions. They will also greatly increase the demand for a higlKi- education among young men. An Edinburgh professor is reported to liave said to some students who asked ignorant questions — " Ask your sisters at home ; they can tell yon" — a r(;tort which, 1 imagine, few young men would lightly endure ; and so soon as young men find they must attain to higher culture bef(»re they can cut a res))ectable figure in the societ}" of ladies, we shall find them respecting science and literature almost as much as money, and attaching to the services of the college professor as much importance as to those of their hair-dresser or tailor. In order, however, to secure these results, I camiot too stn:>ngly urge upon the young ladies who may attend tliese lectures, that they nmst be actual students, applying their minds vigorously to the work of the class- room, performing such exercises as may be prescribed, and preparing thomselves by continuous and hard study for the examinations. I would also urge that perseverance is essential to success, and that not only should the students be prepared to follow out the lectures to their close, but those who have aided in the etlbrt thus far should be prepared for the necessity of equal eftbrts to sustain it in succeeding sessions. And now, ladies, if I hav«' dwelt on grave themes, it is because I have felt that I am in the presence of those who have a serious work in hand. 14 and who, being alive to its importance and responsibility, will not be unwilling to hear the views of one who has long looked on this matter with intereot, though from a somewhat different point of view. I can assure jou that I shall always regard it as no small honour to have been called on to deliver the opening lecture of the first session of this Association ; and I trust that, with God's blessing, we shall have cause to look back on thia -day as one marked by an event fraught with the most important and beneficial consequences to this community. That it may be so requires that we shall appreciate the full responsibility of the step we have taken, and pursue our course with vigour and energy. With reference to these points I cannot better clos3 than with an extract from the introductory lecture of my friend, Dr. Wilson, of Toronto, delivered two years ago, at the opening of the classes for ladies which have proved so succefsful in our sister city, and in which he brings up two of the most important topics to which I have directed your attention : — " It is not, therefore, unmeet that I should aim by every argument to enforce the idea that, as high culture and profound scholarship interfere in no degree with man's fitness for the roughest and most prosaic duties ; but rather that the cultivated intellect quickens into renewed vigor every inferior power : so is it with woman also. The development of her highest faculties, her powers of reasoning, her range of observatior, and compass of knowledge, will only make mind and hand work together the more promptly, in obedience to every tender impulse, and every voice of duty. " Once satisfied of this, I doubt not your hearty co-operation may be relied upon ; without which all efforts on our part for the higher education of woman must be vain. Yet I feel assured that, in spite of every impedi- ment, such a scheme lies among the inevitable purposes of the future. It may be rejected now ; it may be delayed and frowned on still, by the pre- judices inherited from a dead past ; but it cannot be prevented. It is one of the grand promises which make thoughtful men almost envious of those who are now entering on the life, for some of us so nearly an accomplished thing. 'Its triumph will be sunp:, By some yot unmoulded tongin-, Far on in summors thiit wo shall not see.' The thoughts of men are widening ; and we stand in special need of this as an element which will accelerate the world's progress onward and up- ward to noblest ends. Whether or no this generation shall, in our own province at least, share in any degree in the effort, or partake of its rewards, rests mainly with yourselves." .MlfMigia^i^y^: