The Life of Mary Lyon

The values of the situation inhered quite as much in its deficiencies as in its possessions. Yet hitherto people of foresight had usually seen to it that they were born boys. A boy, within the scope of his ability, promoted speculation; he might become almost anything. A girl was obviously intended for a home-maker and her preparation included little study; nature has been at some pains to teach humanity to avoid superfluous things. Seventeenth-century Dr. Thomas Fuller, in his "Church History of Britain," briefly discusses the "conveniency of she-colleges."" Nunneries also were good she-schools wherein the girls and maids of the neighbourhood were taught to read and work; and sometimes a little Latin was taught them therein." But nunneries had gone out of fashion in Protestant Britain; and as even a limited knowledge of the classics appeared unnecessary in housewives, the thrifty founders of this country did not propose to give it to them. Thereby they made no unkind distinction in intellect; they believed in learning for a boy only when he meant to use it. Harvard was established because, as the Massachusetts settlers quaintly phrased it, they " dreaded to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches when our present ministry shall lie in the dust." Their point of view coincides with that of many people who queried two hundred years later, " When girls become scholars, who is to make puddings and pies ?" The idea of a woman preacher, lawyer, or teacher of an... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.