An 1840 Address to the Seminary

Important as female education is now admitted to be, it is not perhaps surprising that it did not receive early attention. Men attack evils as they find them, without first investigating secret influences and remote causes. It was natural, for instance, that intemperance should first be attacked as it existed in the intemperate, before it was traced back to its source in temperate drinking. And so it was natural that mankind should first attempt to control the waters of society as they found them flowing on, impetuous and turbid, before tracing them up to their source and purifying the springs from which they flowed.

This attempt has been made from the beginning and is still made. It is not even yet understood how true it is in the body politic as well as in the natural body, that "if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it," that if one portion of the community be enslaved, or oppressed, or degraded, there will be sown indirectly the seeds of vice, of debility and of ultimate dissolution; and especially that if those who hold to use the relations of wives, and mothers, and daughters, and sisters, are restricted, or cramped, or in any way prevented from receiving that expansion of the intellect and of the affections which will enable them to exert an elevating and a purifying influence upon man, society cannot reach its full stature and perfection. It is not understood how high those qualities of the intellect and of the heart are which are needed for the right management of the young, how much light and how much love must shine around the opening bud of early childhood that it may expand in fair proportions; it is not understood how early the ductile material of character begins to grow rigid, so that before the age of eight, or even of six, it generally assumes lineaments to which subsequent life only serves to give greater prominence. In forming that material man cannot do what ought to be done, he cannot undo what will be done by a mother who is ignorant or weak or selfish or unprincipled; and whatever influence he may wish to exert will be far more efficient if he has the cooperation of one who can enter fully into all his views, - just as the oak will cast a shade that is deeper and more refreshing if the vine that adorns it mingles its leaves with those of every branch, and entwines itself to the topmost bough.

But these truths are beginning to be understood and felt, and there are probably more persons now than ever before, who feel that if we are ever to do any thing effectual for the improvement of society, the proper place to begin at is the beginning - that the influence that presides over the cradle, and the nursery, and the fireside, must be a right influence.

My opportunities for information on this subject are slight, but I imagine there are now few who will not assent to the two following propositions: 1st, that so far as the object of education is to fit the individual for a particular sphere, the education of woman - her preparation for that sphere, should be as complete and thorough as that of man; and 2d, that so far as the object of education is to expand and strengthen the mind without reference to a more specific and immediate result, the advantages of the sexes should be equal. By this I do not mean that their education should be the same, but that the education of woman should be as well adapted to expand and strengthen her mind as that of man is to expand and strengthen his.

Between these two parts of education there is a broad distinction, and it is now generally understood that it is a false method to neglect the specific and th practical for the more general. The trades, the business, the individual duties of life, its ordinary arrangements both domestic and public, must move forward. We must, for example, have good blacksmiths. They must perfect themselves in their business, and then, if they please, they may learn fifty languages. It is precisely for this that Mr. Burritt claims our admiration. It is not so much that he knows so many languages, though this is certainly very extraordinary, as it is that he has acquired them without neglecting the labors or slighting the details of his occupation. That is what is needed very where, and especially in female education. It is from a want of this on the part of some distinguished females, and of many others who have had a school education, that more prejudice has arisen against female education than from any other source. Woman has so much to do with details, that it is particularly unfortunate, and incongruous, and often one of the "miseries of human life," to those intimately connected with her, when she is so imaginative, as not to see things as they are, or so much given to general speculation as not to attend to the minutiae of domestic and social life. It is even said by some respecting this Seminary that it is doing more harm than good, because, as they say, it "turns all the girls into ladies." And their idea of a lady seems to be, that she is a sort of person who has a smattering of knowledge without knowing much that is substantial, that she is above work, a good deal dressed up, and that she is particularly pleased when she can find somebody who will talk nonsense to her, and to who she can talk nonsense. They would imagine that the following description by Crabbe of a boarding school Miss is as applicable now as it was in his day.

"To farmer Moss in Langar vale, came down,
His only daughter, from her school in town;
A tender timid maid, who knew not how
To pass a pig-stye, or to face a cow;
Smiling she came, with petty talents graced,
A fair complexion, and a slender waist."

Or if intellectual advantages are really obtained, they take it for granted it is at the expense of the more homely, and useful, and domestic qualities. So prevalent has this prejudice been even among the better informed portions of the community, that young ladies whose tastes have led them to make uncommon attainments in languages or science have felt themselves, from other motives than their native modesty, desirous of carefully concealing the fact. This prejudice ought to be entirely done away, and young ladies now in a course of education, owe it to themselves and to the cause to see that it is done away. Let them have independence, and keep to their good sense on this point, fully preparing themselves for domestic duties, and acquiring no fastidiousness or false refinement in regard to their performance, and there is no friend they have now, or ever will have, who will not be happy and proud to have them accomplished to any extent, and make the highest attainments in literature and science. A single Miss Burritt, if she could be found, would, in my opinion, do more for the cause of female education than any money that can be raised.

Regarding it then as settled that woman should be as well fitted for her particular sphere, whatever that may be, as man is for his, let us look at the proposition stated in regard to her general education. This was that so far as the objection of education is simply to expand and strengthen the mind, the advantages of the sexes should be equal. But taking this as our principle, and perhaps we cannot adopt a better, there are still two reasons, as society is now constituted, why the general education of females will be less extensive than that of the other sex. The first is, that the particular callings of men render much of the study that is specific and professional with them, entirely general with females. The great motive with men in studying languages and mathematics, is not, generally, to cultivate their faculties, but to prepare themselves for the attainment and practice of their professions. There evidently is not the same reason for teaching young ladies Navigation, and Engineering, and Hebrew, as if they were expected to take the command of our men of war, or lay out rail-roads, or expound the Old Testament. This reason must have a very considerable influence so long as the present distribution of employments remains. The second reason is to be found in the comparatively early age at which females enter into society and into married life. The effect of this also upon a protracted course of study and general mental discipline must be unfavorable - but whether there will be any change in this respect, is, perhaps, doubtful.

Still, making every allowance which, in a practical world like this, we must make for these two reasons, there will remain what may be fairly called a liberal education for females which we are called upon by parental affection, by a regard to the general good, by the spirit of christianity, by justice itself, to diffuse as widely as possible. It only remains therefore to inquire what should be the spirit and principle of such an education and what means ought to be provided for its promotion.

And here I may observe, that deficient as the means have been, yet the great reason why the legitimate objects of female education have not been more fully realized, has existed, not so much in that deficiency, as in the wrong spirit and principle by which fashionable female education has been governed. Let woman be rightly estimated, let her be so treated that she shall rightly estimate herself, and the extent and quality of her moral influence upon a family and upon society will be less modified than many have supposed by the precise amount of acquisition she may make in the higher branches of intellectual education.

It is obvious then, that the inquiry respecting the spirit and principle of female education is first in importance; and as that education is, and ought to be, conducted very much with reference to the opinions and feelings of others, perhaps it may be well to inquire what those feelings are to which we should have respect if we had it in our power to endow a female friend with every thing that we thought desirable. What are the feelings which a young lady would herself wish to excite in a judicious and impartial person of her own sex?

And here we will not ask the young lady to answer, but we will answer for ourselves and for her, that one feeling which we should wish to have excited would be admiration. Perhaps some would hesitate to avow this, but it is, to some extent, common to all, and if properly regulated, is not, in my judgment, wrong. This is the feeling awakened by that excellence in natural objects, in human actions, and in the products of skill, which addresses itself to the taste. God evidently made his works to be admired. The human figure and countenance, as the chief of those works on the earth, ought to be admired. If he has given us endowments capable of exciting this feeling, it is an advantage to us, and if those around us are what they should be, a pleasure to them, for which both we and they ought to be thankful; and if we are able to embody and express the principles of a pure taste, I do not see why we may not emulate what is beautiful and graceful in nature; and innocently seek to become the conscious objects of that feeling which God excites by his works.

It must be confessed however that this brings us on dangerous ground. The love of admiration, as distinguished from the love of those things which may properly awaken it, can never be called a virtue. Under its best forms it is simply innocent, and under almost all the forms in which we see it, it is decidedly selfish. It is, in the female world, what the desire of power is among men - the moving spring of the world of fashion, as that is of the world of politics, and it is to obtain this that the tactics of rival belles are displayed at places of fashionable resort, as those of politicians are in congress and at the polls.

The feeling itself is awakened, 1st, by natural gifts, as beauty and grace of person; and 2d, by those acquisitions that are termed accomplishments. So far as it depends upon the first, it can evidently have no good effect in stimulating industry, and the readiness with which such advantages are made the ground of pride, and vanity, and affectation, and impertinent display - the facility with which they lead to a line of feeling and conduct inconsistent with a high state of either moral or intellectual culture, renders the possession of them in any remarkable degree, in almost all cases, a misfortune. No woman much distinguished for any thing else, has, so far as I know, been distinguished for beauty, and most distinguished women have been remarkably plain. By this I do not mean to say that beauty is, in itself undesirable, but only relatively so, for in a perfect state of things every individual would be perfectly beautiful. When the character is so strong that beauty can seem to be possessed with that charming unconsciousness with which the flower blooms, it is well; but if, when we say, "she is beautiful," we must hear from some dear friend of hers the too well founded remark, "yes, and she knows it too," then would a countenance expressive simply of good temper and good sense be on the whole more pleasing.

But it is not of admiration as excited by natural gifts, so much as by the results of education, that I ought here to speak. Those acquisitions which have this desire for their object are, as I have said, termed accomplishments; and it is the gratification of this desire by means of them that is often the express, if not the avowed end, of most of the pains taken in female education. It is, indeed, by the predominance of this, that the whole spirit of fashionable female education has been corrupted, so that there are few things in the treatments of women in heathen or Mohammedan countries more irrational and degrading than the sacrifice of the health, and intellect, and affections of young girls that is oten made with reference to it. The physical system is distorted, and years are spent in mere mechanical drudgery in which neither the head nor the heart are interested or improved. If there is in any human being a true love of that which lies at the foundation of the arts, - of that which is beautiful, and graceful, and sublime, let it be cultivated, and brought out in its appropriate forms of expression. It will add not only grace, but dignity to the character. It will refine and elevate society. But when the true inspiration gives place to the selfish love of admiration, it is like the coming in of idol worship under the name, and in the place, of true religion. Instead of the simplicity of character and unselfish pleasure connected with a true love of the arts, forwardness, artifice, affectation, envy, come in; and under the pretence of cultivating a part of our nature which was intended to be the ally of virtue, the affections are perverted and the heart hardened. There becomes fixed in the mind, and who has not seen it? a passion which is among the most absorbing and unhappy of any in its effects. The individual under its influence becomes entirely selfish. There is no artifice to which she will not resort, no meanness to which she will not descend. The desire increases by indulgence, affection is sacrificed to it, fortune is wasted, and the comforts and duties of home are neglected. Well has Lady Morgan observed, that those who excite general admiration are seldom calculated to make one happy.

Nor is there any passion that will more certainly lead to ultimate disappointment and unhappiness. The period during which admiration can be experienced is brief, and nothing can be more pitiable than attempts made to retain it as age comes on. I have seen few persons more restless and apparently wretched, than some who have lived in the midst of admiration and flattery, when they found themselves passing into the shadows of age. Let accomplishments come in as accessories to a cultivated intellect and pure affections, and they are to be desired. They are as the clouds that sometimes follow in the train of the evening sun, and that reflect in brighter colors, without obscuring, the common light of day. But when they are taken out of their proper place, and it is attempted to make them shine by their own light, even admiration is seldom gained, and when it is, it is too dearly purchased by the loss of respect.

Respect - this is the next feeling which we should wish our young friend to excite; and the foundations of which are very different from those of admiration. With this, beauty, accomplishments, and even talents, considered by themselves have very little to do. They may increase respect when its fundamental requisites are present, but they cannot give it. The foundation of respect is laid in the use which we make of our own powers. One who uses the faculties which God has given in a right way, and for right ends, is always respectable; and respect is diminished by any neglect or perversion of those faculties. If they are perverted by vice, it is criminal; if they are neglected through indolence, it is, if less criminal, more contemptible; and if they are used in an improper sphere or in an affected way, it is either pitiable or ridiculous.

But a right use of the faculties implies, of course, the ascendency of the moral nature, manifesting itself in a sacred regard to duty whether towards God or towards man. Wherever this is seen it commands respect, and no other element o four nature does, except in combination with this. The moment a child has an idea of any thing as right, and struggles and makes sacrifices for it as such, that moment we respect tha tchild. We see in it something sacred. We recognize its relations to God; we see evidence of moral accountability, and the pledge of an immortal life. Here is the germ that we are to cultivate. Here is the ground on which angels sympathize with man, on which man has been redeemed. He was redeemed because his moral nature rendered him capable of communion with God, and brought him into relations to his government which can cease only when that ceases. And shall a being thus endowed, thus cared for, be set up as an exhibition?

But essential as the exhibition of moral principle is in order to respect, there is still another element not to be overlooked. It is a sense of propriety. By this I mean that nice perception of the natural relations as constituted by God, by which many people adopt, as by a finer sense or instinct, the course of conduct that would be found best on the widest view of things. This, it must be confessed, is not always proportioned to moral principle,k and when it is not, we feel a painful want of harmony in the effect produced upon our minds. Certainly we are not to mistake conventional arrangements for the natural order of things; but if woman has a sphere that is appropriate to her, she must lose respect whenever she attempts to move out of that sphere.

The only danger of those who seek to be respected is of becoming formal and stiff. But of this there is no need. The firmest principle is entirely compatible with the kindest affections, and the most perfect grace of manner. Who was kinder in heart than our Savior? Who ever regarded all the principles of taste mor uniformly than he? Respect may seem a cold word to some; but we may rely upon it that no woman was ever truly and worthily beloved further than she was respected; and she is false to her own interests as well as to the dignity of the sex, who, for the sake of pleasing, steps from the high ground of moral principle, and does any thing that would diminish respect. Young women little know how eagerly this is watched for, how quickly it is perceived, how contemptuously it is spoken of. The qualities which excite respect may become repulsive. They will when principle verges towards bigotry, and propriety towards precision. But when those qualities are connected with good taste, and pervaded, as they may be, by the affections, they become as the diamond fitly set, not only solid but brilliant, the most precious gem that can sparkle upon the breast of beauty. Respect need not, and should not be incompatible with the warmest affection.

And this leads me to add, that we should not only wish our young friend to be admired and respected, but also to be beloved. Unless there is between us and others a reciprocal affection, the light and warmth of life have gone out. That woman should be the object of affection is especially desirable, both as her happiness is more dependent upon it than that of the other sex, and as it is the legitimate source of her influence. When her qualities are such as properly to attract love in addition to respect and admiration, however great her influence may be, man would not wish it less; and it certainly will be so great, that woman ought not to wish it more. It will be an influence too, that will preclude all idea of conflicting and rival interests between the sexes, white it is felt, through the christian views and devoted affections of man, upon the widest movements of society. The sphere of woman in its relation to these great movements, is like the wheel in the vision of the prophet that was within a wheel. It lies at the centre. There the affections of our hearts cluster, and nothing can go well unless the same spirit inspires and guides the movements of both the wheels.

The great mistake in regard to affection, obvious as it is, seems to consist in supposing that it can exist permanently without permanent qualities in the character by which it is naturally attracted, and upon which it can fix. How can we love, if there is nothing to be loved? But how far education can confer those qualities on which affection depends may admit of a question. Certainly it cannot secure them as it may accomplishments and knowledge, for affection depends, not upon what a person may acquire, but upon what she may come to be; not upon what she has, but upon what she is. This is an important distinction and a proper attention to it would do much to correct the general spirit of education of both sexes. Interest asks, has she money? Pride and vanity ask, has she accomplishments? Yes, and has she knowledge? but the heart asks, is she affectionate? is she benevolent and disinterested? is she pure and elevated in her moral character? These are qualities wich [sic] cannot be obtained by playing on musical instruments, or reciting lessons.

So far as what is termed education merely assists individuals in acquiring either knowledge or accomplishments which are to be used for purposes of display, it is not to be encouraged. So far as it gives this knowledge and these accomplishments for innocent pleasure, or to advance the civilization and comfort of the world, it is to be encouraged as any other useful art. It is only when it seeks to change what man is, and make him what he ought to be, that it assumes an importance beyond every thing else. Then it goes down into the depths of his being, and seeks to lay the foundations right. It says in words of more than human wisdom, "First make the tree good and the fruit will be good." Make men what they ought to be, and acquisitions and accomplishments will come as a matter of course. It is only as education can do this, that it will greatly affect for good the results of human society.

And here, I may observe, we see the distinction between an artist in education, a skillful professor, one who assists us in making a particular acquisition, and a Mother, a Father, a true educator, who moulds the feelings and principles of action, who enters into the work with an affection, and a sense of responsibility which money cannot purchase, and which nothing but high aims and virtuous conduct on the part of those cared for can reward. Here then there is needed not so much talents, as, what is by no means always proportioned to them, influence - and such an influence too, as none but a good parent can ordinarily exert. And I cannot believe that education will ever be what it should, till parents feel their responsibilities more, and give more personal attention to the subject than they do at present.

But so far as any thing can be accomplished in this department of education, no system is worth comparatively any thing that is not based on the Bible. The spirit of the Bible reaches down to the depths of the soul, has power to transform it, and to confer those qualities upon which the affections of a reasonable and a moral being must depend. It looks entirely at what a man is, and not at all at what he has. Hence it is that a young woman of good sense, and natural endowments, who should take the Bible, and seek in simplicity of heart to learn and manifest its spirit, asking wisdom of Him who giveth liberally to all, and should grow up at home with a sensible mother, would not only be more estimable and lovely, but would be better fitted for usefulness, and in the highest sense better educated than ninety-nine in a hundred who spend years at school.

I have nothing to say here of those specific affections which belong to the different relations of life; but as showing the general ground of what in my idea constitutes loveliness, and which alone exalts and sanctifies all those affections, I wish I could present before this audience a picture which I once had the pleasure of seeing at the house of a gentleman in Boston. It was a picture of Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus and hearing his words. There was loveliness, as there always must be when the countenance reflects the spirit of those instructions that fell from the lips of Christ. There was disinterested affection, and reverence, and purity, and moral elevation, and a settled peace which it would seem that even torture could not disturb, and where these are expressed, there will be loveliness whether the features are beautiful or not. But when, as in the picture, these qualities irradiate features that are in themselves beautiful, then the eye and the heart are both satisfied - we have before us the impersonation of female loveliness. A copy of that picture ought to be hung up in every female seminary in the land; for as it is the religion of Christ that has given woman the high position she now holds in the respect and the best affections of man, so it is the spirit of that alone that can fit her to maintain that position. Even admiration of the highest kind, as well as respect and love, can flow only from the manifestation, in female character, of the spirit of the christian religion.

Having thus considered severally the emotions with reference to which we should educate a young lady, and the qualifications upon which those emotions must depend, perhaps it may be well to bring those qualifications together, and contemplate the being we should have. There can surely be no harm in thus gathering up a little the fragments of that excellence that was broken and scattered in Eden, and holding them together long enough to see what we might have been - what, through the restoring grace of the second Adam, we may yet be. It may even do us good to contemplate ideal excellence by stimulating us to higher efforts, if we are at the same time careful to acquire no disrelish for those sober and chastened views which experience gives of what we are really to expect in a world like this.

Let us then, suppose the qualities mentioned to be combined in a high degree in a single individual. Let us suppose her beautiful in person, and, I will not say accomplished, for there clings to that word something of ostentation which I do not like, not accomplished, but possessed of accomplishments, and simple and elegant in manners. Let us suppose her intellectual faculties so exercised and balanced, that she has extensive information and good judgment, in connection with the lighter graces of imagination and fancy; and then that she so combines simple piety and the severer virtues with practical goodness as to awaken mingled respect and affection, and we have a combination, certainly possible, of solid and brilliant qualities such as might well remind a person of no extraordinary enthusiasm of that expression in the Revelations, "And I saw an Angel standing in the sun."

Having made these general remarks, which were, perhaps, rather expected than needed, I will proceed to say something on what I learned from those more immediately interested in it to be the peculiar feature of this Seminary - that is, its permanence. This, I understand, is the only Female Seminary in the Union where the buildings and grounds, the library and apparatus, are pledged as permanent contributions to the cause of female education. [Note: It has been mentioned to me since the above was spoken that there is at least one exception. It is however of recent origin.] All other Seminaries are sustained by individual enterprise - in some cases by a single person, - in others by associations who receive an income from the investment of their money. It is on this ground especially that the Trustees of this Seminary present their claims upon the liberality of the public, and as it seems to me with good reason. It is an attempt to do that for the daughters of the State, which the State itself, and beneficent individuals have from the first done for its sons. Some of the advantages connected with this feature are the following.

1st. It makes a good education less expensive. The practical operation of this single feature is of great importance. In those female schools that have been ranked highest, the expense, so far as I know, of sustaining a young lady for a year, is nearly double, and, in some cases, more than double what is required to give a young man the advantages of a college course. This, of course, prevents any, except the daughters of the wealthy from receiving what is called the best education. This is not in accordance with the spirit of our institutions, which is to give no political preferences, to diffuse knowledge and education as widely as possible, and then to let wealth and social institutions take care of themselves. If our colleges were not so endowed as to furnish a better education than private wealth can generally give, we should very soon have one education for the rich, and another for the poor, such as would lay the foundation for distinctions far broader than any that now exist. But these institutions were founded in an age when our legislators had not yet discovered tha tto make the best education cheap by endowments, so as to bring it within the reach of the great body of the people, was aristocratic in its tendencies. That discovery, so far as young men are concerned, is now made and generally received, at least in this State; but I cannot see how it would have that tendency as applied to young women. There are many wealthy men who pay three, and four hundred dollars a year for the education of their daughters, and I cannot see why it would not be a public benefit if these same advantages, and perhaps better, could be had for sixty dollars, so that the daughters of clergymen, country merchants, farmers, mechanics, might have the advantages of knowledge and truly cultivated intellects. The connection of female education with the general welfare has been already alluded to. This is such as to render it a matter in which the State is concerned, for the influence of common schools even, concerning which so much is said, is as nothing in comparison with the home which is so much made what it is by the mother, and where instruction and influence are combined as they can be no where else.

Nor should I be in the least deterred from giving such an education by any untoward symptoms of the present times. A period of transition is always one of some confusion. It was long ago said, that "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing." This we are seeing exemplified. But we believe that a judicious and liberal education, would not only lead woman to be satisfied with her present sphere, but would enable and induce her to render it more fruitful of blessings. On this subject we desire investigation. If there is any thign, which, upon an enlarged view of the constitution of God, and the relations of things, ought to be conceded to woman which has not yet been, then it is for the true interest of man to concede it; and any thing more is not for the interest of woman.

But after all the expense, what are the advantages offered by these private and shifting seminaries? So far as apparatus and libraries are concerned, next to nothing. Nor can such advantages be expected while the business is in the hands of individuals for the purpose of making money. But since the advances that have been made in the natural sciences, I consider some acquaintance with them essential to a good education of any rational being. I should as soon think of leaving a daughter without knowing how to read books, as, if I had the means of teaching her, to leave her ignorant of the great laws and principles of Chemistry, and Botany, and Natural Philosophy, and Astronomy, which unfold to us the structure of the universe, and bring us into intelligent communion with the works of God. This is a kind of knoweldge in the acquisition of which I should have no reference to the memre utility of physical results, but to the higher utility of its general elevating and strengthening and purifying influence upon the mind. To give this knowledge adequately, there must be more apparatus than would ever be found in private seminaries, where the chief part of the apparatus generally consists in pianos, and guitars, and music-books. I may also add here, that I do not suppose it would be possible to incorporate the peculiar features of this Institution, by which its advantages are afforded so surprisingly cheap, into any purely private establishment.

Another advantage connected with permanence consists in securing, and fixing the results of experience, and of individual wisdom. This, also is of great importance. In time past, when a shcool has been established by some able person and become celebrated, it has been thronged for a time, till the principal became old, or sick, or wearied, or got married, and then, however striking her improvements, or wise her arrangements, there has been no frame-work to sustain them, and they have been lost to the world. No more striking instance of this could be mentioned than the school at Ipswich under the care of Miss Grant. That school was a public benefit, which, from the number of teachers it sent forth cannot be wholly lost. But how much greater the benefit, if its principles and order shall be perpetuated in a permanent Institution as this is intended to be? The experience which would be acquired in such an Institution might be expected to give it authority by which a degree of uniformity would be produced, so tha tinstead of the present uncertainty in regard to schools, the public would know where to look and what to expect.

There are also some advantages connected with a permanent Institution gratuitously endowed form its more direct responsibility to the public. In such Institutions the salaries ar efixed; there is no intention of making money, and little temptation to those various kinds of mismanagement which are sometimes complained of in private schools.

With these advantages, the Trustees of this Institution hope to make it greatly and extensively useful. They do not, I presume, lay claim to any infallibility, nor to any perfection in their present arrangements. Many judicious persons still look with suspense at the issue of the experiment; though I am happy to say, that so far as I know, the objections are vanishing as the Institution makes progress, and becomes better known; and what I have seen this day strengthens my conviction that those objections will vanish entirely. For mysel fI have no doubt of the correctness of the general principles of which I have spoken. First; there is an education, which may if you please be termed liberal, higher than can be attained at our common schools and academies even, which it is desirable should be as generally and as equally within the reach of the young women of the country as possible. And second; what this is, and the best manner of giving it, can be best ascertained in a permanent Institution, the object of whose Trustees and Teachers is not private interest, except as that is promoted by a fixed salary, but solely the advancement of a rational mode of education. If these two points are established, we may safely leave it to the wants, and the good sense of the public, how long the course shall be, and of what studies it shall consist.

On such a subject I ought to speak with great diffidence, for I have no experience, and have had very little opportunity for observation; but I am free to confess, that if the mother and the home of a young lady where such as they should be, and such as many are, I should not desire for her a four, and I should have great doubts in regard even to a three years course at any public Seminary. I think too highly of the influence of home, the love of home, the habits and associations of home. I should not be without apprehension too, that the manners might suffer, for there is such a thing as school-manners; and possibly the morals of some might be endangered. Still there must be very many to whom such an institution will be an unmixed and an unspeakable blessing. Many young ladies have no mothers, others have those who either cannot, or will not, give them the requisite attention; others still who expect to teach, require an extended education; and if there should be some evils connected with such an Institution, as indeed there must be with all the institutions of man, they would doubtless be far overbalanced by the good.

In the mean time, the public has every reason to confide in the Trustees and Teachers of this Seminary, that their course will be guided by sound discretion and by enlarged, liberal and christian views. Let them be sustained then, and furnished with the means necessary to carry forward their great and good work.Their success hitherto has been all, and more than all that they anticipated. The omens of the future are full of promise. If the connection of this cause with the best destinies of the country, and of the world, is less perceptible than that of some others, it is not less intimate. That period for which the world waits, can never come till woman shall assume her proper place in intelligence and moral influence. Woman, as she ought to be, was reserved originally to give completeness to the creation of God; and it is only when she shall again become what she ought to be, that we can expect to see the moral elements which are now in commotion, arranging themselves into a permanent and happy order of things.