REMARKS ON TABLE 44, DIVISION B. Table 44, Division B, presents the statistics of two hundred seminaries for women. Of these one hundred and thirty-seven report preparatory departments, with 6,202 students. This leaves 19,202 students, of whom 67 per cent. are known to be in collegiate departments; the distribution of the remainder is uncertain. The majority of these seminaries are in possession of valuable buildings, as will be seen by reference to Column 24. A few are well equipped with libraries and apparatus, though, as a rule, larger provision in these respects is desirable. Endowment funds are generally wanting, as will be seen by an examination of Column 25. In their general arrangement the academic or collegiate departments of these seminaries show the influence of the colleges of their respective geographical sections. In the North they are generally divided into four classes, each corresponding to a year; in the South, on the contrary, the division is commonly into schools. The curriculum is a more or less modified copy of the college curriculum, with large opportunity for electives and for partial or special courses. The adjustment of studies is the evidence of a double purpose in the seminaries. On the one hand they have endeavored to meet the general demand with respect to woman's education. On the other they have sought to maintain that higher ideal which would appropriate for women as well as for men the advantages of the kind of instruction and training approved by wise effort and long experience as the best for mental discipline and culture. When to this double purpose there is the added responsibility of preparatory work it is obvious that some part of the scheme must fail of satisfactory results. Under such circumstances a process of selection goes on quietly, perhaps, but none the less certainly, and in time makes itself felt in entirely new adjustments. Such a process has been going on in the seminaries for women throughout the country. Some have developed into colleges proper; others are gradually assuming the distinctive character of schools preparatory to college; while many, abandoning to the colleges the work which is their particular province, seek to make provision for that very large class of young women to whose wants the customary college training is not adapted. This separation of functions has been fully accomplished in but few localities, but will undoubtedly take place in others as colleges for women and colleges open alike to both sexes multiply. In the absence of endowment funds the charges for board and tuition become the sources of support. Experience proves that this is not a condition favorable to the highest development of a scholastic work, but, on the other hand, it is conducive to a clear understanding of existing demands. In their recognition of these demands and the measures adopted for meeting the same, these seminaries have escaped the charge frequently made against the superior schools for men of having lost touch with the interests of actual life. Sixty-four per cent. of the seminaries tabulated belong to some one of the religious denominations. This relation is sometimes merely a nominal one, and sometimes implies oversight and financial aid from the denomination. The relation has fostered a high order of moral training in the seminaries, and has done much to develop that zeal for charitable and missionary labors which characterize a large proportion of the educated women of the country. Brief notices of a few endowed seminaries or of seminaries that had been the special objects of denominational care are appended to this general view. The selection has necessarily been limited to such as have furnished very full information to this Office. They are fairly illustrative of the entire number. Judson Institute, at Marion, Ala., is one of the oldest seminaries for women in the country. It is the property of the Alabama State Convention, and its affairs are in the hands of a board of trustees appointed by that body. Its officers and teachers all receive stipulated salaries, so that they are freed from dependence upon the pecuniary profits arising from its management. Its scholastic standards have always been high, the full graduating course corresponding to that of the arts colleges. It has enjoyed a large patronage, and numbers above five hundred alumnæ. The institute is in possession of a fine property. The buildings, which have been recently enlarged and newly furnished, were unfortunately destroyed by fire November 24. The estimated loss is one hundred thousand dollars, one-fourth of which was covered by an insurance. Temporary provision was at once made for continuing the exercises of the school and steps taken for the immediate restoration of the building. It will be constructed on a much larger scale than the old building. Wesleyan Female College, Macon, Ga.. received a charter in 1836, authorizing it to confer degrees upon women. The charter of Oberlin preceded this by a few years, but the Wesleyan Female appears to have graduated women from its college course earlier than Oberlin. The college has a deservedly high reputation, and numbers one thousand nine hundred and eighteen graduates. Its productive fund amounts to fifty thousand dollars. The grounds are extensive and attractive. The college building contains a gymnasium, a museum of natural history, an art gallery, and a library well supplied with choice literature and books of reference. In addition to the main structure is a building containing a chapel and recitation rooms. Several hundred dollars have been expended in the scientific department for securing the most approved apparatus for the illustration of chemistry, natural philosophy, and astronomy. Silliman Collegiate Institute, Clinton, La., reports productive funds to the amount of twenty-seven thousand dollars. The catalogue for 1887-88 furnishes the following particulars: "The school was established in 1852, chiefly through the benevolence of Mr. William Silliman. In 1866 he purchased the property and donated it with an endowment fund of twenty thousand dollars to the Presbytery of Louisiana. The conditions of the donation were that the Presbytery, through its agents and trustees in perpetual succession, should conduct said institution as a college for young ladies, to be kept free from all sectarian tenets and religious dogmas. The object of the donor being,' he said, 'to give to the public an institution of learning, where all denominations may send their children without interfering with the religious prejudices of any." "To this fund several thousand dollars have since been added, making this the wealthiest female college in the South-West, and thus enabling it to offer superior advantages, both in scope of curriculum and assistance to worthy pupils. The entire management of the institution is in the hands of a board of trustees, created by this Presbytery, irrespective of denominational tenets." The large brick buildings, which were erected at a cost of thirty thousand dollars, present a handsome appearance; they are surrounded by attractive grounds embracing ten acres. The laboratory is supplied with costly apparatus for philosophical and chemical experiments and the class-rooms are well furnished with maps, charts, and globes. The annual interest from the Silliman Fund furnishes tuition to about thirty young ladies selected by the board of trustees from applicants the least able to bear the expense of education. The Dickinson Memorial Fund was donated by the late Mrs. A. R. Dickinson, of Plaquemine, La. The interest of this fund is used for the tuition of the daughters of Presbyterian ministers. The standards of scholarship have been materially advanced during the past four years. Frederick Female Seminary, Frederick, Md., is one of the oldest incorporated institutions in the State. In 1840 the State Legislature granted a full charter and gave authority to raise fifty thousand dollars for the purchase of grounds and the erection of suitable buildings. The requisite funds having been secured, a building was erected and the seminary organized in 1843. The original buildings were two in number, each fifty feet wide and ninety feet deep, with high basement and three stories. During the present year extensive additions have been built and the grounds greatly improved. During the Civil War the work of the seminary was suspended for a time. With the return of peace it was reopened and has since been continued without interruption. The productive funds amount to $24,000. The seminary comprises a preparatory and collegiate department, the latter consisting of two courses, English and classical. Latin and Greek are included in the classical course, but for the latter French or German may be substituted. The number of graduates to date is two hundred and eighty-eight. Of seven institutions for the Superior Education of Women in Massachusetts, tabulated in Division B, Table 44, four report productive funds. Abbot Female Academy at Andover, chartered January 29, 1829, and opened May 6 of the same year, was the first academy incorporated for girls only in the State. Its records show a long list of benefactors, to whose fostering care the academy is indebted for its ample buildings with their admirable equipments as regards library, cabinets, apparatus, art collections, and gymnasium. The curriculum is arranged in two courses; the English and Latin course covering four years, and the French and German course three years. Both courses give opportunity for electives. An efficient corps of teachers is always employed and high standards maintained. Ten scholarships have been founded in the academy. The amount of permanent productive funds reported is $16,084. A building fund has also been accumulated during the last four years, which amounts now to $36,528, of which $5,847 were given during the current year. Bradford Academy, founded in 1803 and chartered in 1804, is the oldest incorporated institution in the country to which women were admitted from the first. It was conducted as a school for both sexes until 1836, when the male department was closed. It occupies a fine site, commanding views of the beautiful scenery of the Merrimack Valley. The building is spacious and supplied with all the appurtenances of a fine ed ucational work. The grounds comprise above twenty-five acres, twelve of which are covered with a growth of oak and laid out with paths for exercise and recreation. Great care has always been taken to secure superior teachers, and the records of the academy show the names of many who have achieved wide reputation. The regular academic course includes Latin and Greek, with French or German. The studies are so arranged that three are assigned for each term, the course being completed in four years. Special courses are provided for those who come for a less time. The permanent productive funds amount to $36,000. The Semi-Centennial of Mt. Holyoke Seminary was celebrated with great enthusiasm and success June 22 and 23, 1887. The following particulars are derived from the volume containing the account of the proceedings: Two semi-centennial days had been observed in 1886, viz, the granting of the seminary charter February 10 and the laying of the corner stone, October 3. Prior to 1836 but two schools for girls only had been chartered in the State, viz, Ipswich Academy in 1828 and Abbot Academy in 1829. The former had no endowment to secure its continued existence, and the latter was not designed exclusively to farnish the higher education, and for nearly forty years required no examinations for admission. The charter of Mt. Holyoke Seminary legalized the holding of funds gathered-though with great opposition and ridicule-to found a permanent institution, designed to do for young women what colleges for two hundred years had been doing for young men. These funds were the voluntary gifts of benevolence and were all spent in building. In the entire lack of endowed departments, running expenses had been met for half a century from board and tuition fees; these were kept at the lowest figure practicable, that the seminary course might be "within reach of the class most likely to be benefited by it and to use it for the good of the world." In view of these facts, when the desire of making a jubilee gift to their alma mater was expressed in the annual meeting of the National Association of Holyoke Alumuæ, June, 18-5, the proposition to secure endowment for the chair of the principal met with a warm response, and it was resolved to 'raise for this purpose before June, 1887, the sum of twenty thousand dollars, to be called the Mary Lyon Fund. To devise means for the accomplishment of this purpose a committee was appointed of which Mrs. Helen French Gulliver was chairman Mrs. Gulliver's report, presented at the anniversary, showed that the fund had reached the sum of $28,150 and was still increasing. The work of the committee will be continued with the hope of raising an endowment adequate to the larger demands of the college organization upon which Mt. Holyoke has just entered in accordance with the act of the Legislature March 8, 1888. By this act the name is changed to Mt. Holyoke Seminary and College, and power is granted to confer "such honors, degrees, and diplomas as are granted or conferred by any university, college, or seminary of learning in the Commonwealth." By reference to Column 25, Table 44, Division B, it will be seen that the productive fund has reached the sum of $205,000. The growth of the seminary is well illustrated by the increase of its teaching force in the fifty years of its history. In 1837 the faculty consisted of one principal, one associate principal, two teachers, and three assistant pupils, and, so far as appears from the catalogue, without any division of labor or distribution of departments. In 1887 there are over thirty teachers, each one of whom has her department of instruction and her especial work. The roll of graduates numbers two thousand, which, with four thousand non-graduates, makes up a past membership of six thousand. Three-fourths of this number have been teachers; two hundred have been foreign missionaries; the alumnæ records show that one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven of the graduates have married. In the review of the work of the seminary attention is called to the great number of institutions which have been founded by graduates of Mt. Holyoke, or organized upon the same plan. In this connection the fact was noted that Mr. and Mrs. Durant gave some time to the special study of the workings of Mt. Holyoke when they were forming their plans for the foundation of Wellesley College. Sixty-one seminaries, academics, and high schools, all of excellent reputation, are enumerated whose principals or prominent teachers had been students of Mt. Holyoke. The treasurer of the alumnæ association submitted the following report for the fifteen years from 1862 to 18-7: "The cash receipts of the treasurer in these fifteen years amount to $35,096, of which $28,350 belong to the Mary Lyon Fund; $1,869 were given toward building and furnishing Williston Hall; $1,104 for the mineralogical and geological cabinets; $1,145 for the educational fund; $365 from the Boston and Worcester Alumnæ Associations for microscopes; $500 in one donation for the green-house; $500 in another for improvements in the seminary hall; $500 were received from a legacy of Effie McKennan. "Though the Tolman Fund of about four thousand dollars, the income of which is designed for the benefit of weary teachers, did not come into our treasury, it should be mentioned here. "Besides these gifts of money, there have been numerous and valuable gifts from individuals and classes of which a grateful record is kept with names of donors. These have not only aided in filling the cabinets and art gallery of Williston Hall and furnishing its various departments, but have also contributed in many ways to the comfort and enjoyment of the household. The estimated value of gifts from classes alone is not less than four thousand dollars. Our missionary alumne have kept us in constant remembrance by their gifts of rare and costly antiquities from various lands. The department of natural science has also been greatly enriched by contributions through the same channel." The following description of buildings and equipments is from the catalogue of 188788: "The grounds, comprising nearly seventy acres, slope to a stream which broadens into a pond. A driveway leads across this stream and ascends the hill, which bears the name of Goodnow Park, in honor of the donor, Hon. E. A. Goodnow, of Worcester. The pond, furnished with boats and boat-house, affords opportunities for rowing. "The main edifice, which fronts west, has at each end a wing extending eastward; the extremities of the two wings are connected by the gymnasium, thus enclosing a quadrangle. "Steam heat is supplied throughout, and an elevator gives easy access to the upper stories. Pure water is furnished in abundance from an artesian well four hundred and fifty feet deep. "The library, a fire-proof building connected with the main edifice, has recently been enlarged. The new room is filled with cases compactly arranged so that twenty-five thousand volumes can be shelved within easy reach. The library is open fourteen hours a day; at present it contains twelve thousand volumes, selected with careful reference to the courses of study. There is a card catalogue and also a classified index. The reading-room, near by, is well supplied with newspapers and magazines.” The Lyman Williston Hall (finished in 1876) stands north-east of the other buildings, surrounded by a spacious lawn. It contains large and well-appointed rooms for lectures and recitations, extensive cabinets, a chemical laboratory for practical work, and valuable philosophical apparatus. The art gallery occupies the entire upper floor of this building, including a large cen◄ tral apartment with several adjacent rooms. An astronomical observatory was completed in June, 1881. It contains a fine telescope with an eight-inch object glass, also a meridian circle, astronomical clock, chronograph, sextant, spectroscope, and other appliances. This building, with its equipments, as well as the lot on which it stands, is the gift of A. L. Williston, Esq., of Northampton, in memory of his son, John Payson Williston. In assuming the special function of a college it is not proposed to interfere at all with the work of the seminary. The distinction between the two as regards admission requirements and curriculum illustrate very clearly the differences in general between seminaries and colleges for women. For this reason an outline of both works is here presented. Admission requirements to Seminary.—Mathematics.-Mental and written arithmetic, including the metric system of weights and measures; Olney's Complete School Algebra (an elementary work is not sufficient); plane geometry. In order that a requisite mathematical discipline may be gained, it is desirable that there be a familiar acquaintance with two or three authors in higher arithmetic. A careful review of mental arithmetic is also important. Latin.-Latin grammar, Jones's Latin Prose Composition, Caesar's Gallic Wars, four books, or an equivalent amount of Cornelius Nepos, or Sallust; Cicero, seven orations. A thorough acquaintance with the principles of syntax is required. The English system of pronunciation is preferred. English.- Knowledge of principles as given in How to Write Clearly, by E. A. Abbott, or in Welsh's Essentials of English; correction of errors in syntax, and an essay on an assigned subject. Geography; also Guyot's Physical Geography, Parts II and III, or an equivalent. History of the United States. Although well-qualified candidates may be admitted to the entering class at sixteen years of age, it is better that all should be seventeen or eighteen. None should enter the Senior class under twenty. The prescribed studies of the seminary course are as follows: Latin; Ancient and Medieval Literature; French or German1; English Literature; Rhetoric and Philology; Logic; Mathematics. The required course includes plane, solid, and spherical geometry, algebra, and plane and spherical trigonometry. Physics; Astronomy; Chemistry; Mineralogy, Lithology, and Geology; Physiology and Hygiene; Zoology; Biology; Botany; History. Two courses, one in ancient and the other in medieval and modern history, are required. Civil Government; Mental and Moral Science; Theism and Christian Evidences; History of Art. Course of Study. The prescribed curriculum is arranged to occupy four years. It is the aim of the course to give a solid and well-balanced education in those things which are fundamental, at the same time encouraging and providing for further study in whatever department it may be desired. The special courses arranged in French, German, and Greek, as well as in some of the sciences, are additional to the regular curriculam. The college curriculum is substantially the same as that of other arts colleges. It presents a higher range of the seminary studies. Greek appears among the prescribed subjects, and large provision is made by electives for special courses in the modern languages, Ancient and Modern Literatures, Physical Science, Psychology, Ethics, Philosophy, Esthetics, Political Economy, and International Law. In accordance with the time-honored traditions of Mt. Holyoke the new department makes special provision for the study of the Bible and of Theism and Christian Evidences. Greek is omitted from the scientific course, and Latin is pursued but two years; the first as a prescribed and the second as an elective study. The college courses, classical or scientific, occupy four years. The Industrial Institute and College for White Girls, Columbus, Miss., derives its entire income from State appropriations. In his report to this Office for the current year the president says: "This institution was established by the State of Mississippi by act of Legislature, approved March 12, 1884. First session opened October, 1885. Its design is to afford white girls of Mississippi opportunity for education in the arts and sciences, training in music, fine arts, and industrial arts. Its success, as attested by popular favor and the record of its pupils now engaged in teaching in academic and industrial schools, as well as by the number of pupils earning good salaries in telegraphy, phonography, book-keeping, decorative art, and other lines of profitable employment for which they were prepared here during the first three sessions, is already beyond the hopes of its most earnest advocates and inaugurators." Lindenwood College, St. Charles, Mo., was opened as a private school in 1830. In 1854 it was chartered as a college in view of liberal gifts for its establishment, made by two citizens, Maj. George C. Sibley and S. S. Watson, Esq. In 1870 it was placed under the control of the Presbyterian Synod of Missouri. They are The college buildings were erected expressly for the purposes they serve. surrounded by spacious and beautiful grounds which afford fine facility for exercise. The endeavor was early made to secure an endowment fund for the institution in order that the various departments might be freed from dependence upon tuition fees. The efforts were so far successful that in 1871 upwards of forty thousand dollars had been secured. This, however, appears not to have been invested as a permanent fund, and the catalogue of 1885-86 stated that the college had no endowment. The next year (1887) a fund of twelve thousand dollars was reported, of which ten thousand appeared to be a recent gift. Renewed efforts are being made to raise the endowment to a sum commensurate with the high purposes of the college, and also to increase the provision for laboratory practice. The course of the college department is an extensive one, covering four years. Only those who complete the same receive the college diploma. The Greensborough Female College, Greensborough, N. C., reports a small productive fund, amounting to three thousand dollars. The following particulars of its history and equipment are from the catalogues for 1881-82 and 1885-86: The college was founded by the North Carolina Conference and chartered in 1838, being the first incorporated college for women in the State. It was opened for students in 1846 and continued in successful operation until its destruction by tire in 1863. It was reopened in 1873, and in 1881 was bought by a number of citizens living in different parts of the State. 1 Greek may be substituted. |