,,why ,,go ,,to ,,college8 an ,address  
,,by  ,,alice ,,freeman ,,palmer        
,formerly ,president of ,wellesley      
,college     ,to a largely increasing   
number of young girls college doors are 
opening every year4  ,every year adds to
 the number of men who feel as a friend 
of mine1 a successful lawyer in a great 
city1 felt when in talking of the future
 of his four little children he said1   
,for the two boys it is not so serious1 
but ,i lie down at night afraid to die  
and leave my daughters only a bank      
account4  ,year by year1 too1 the       
experiences of life are teaching mothers
 that happiness does not necessarily    
come to their daughters when accounts   
are large and banks are sound1 but that 
on the contrary they take grave risks   
when they trust everything to           
accumulated wealth and the chance of a  
happy marriage4  ,our ,american girls   
themselves are becoming aware that they 
need the stimulus1 the discipline1 the  
knowledge1 the interests of the college 

in addition to the school1 if they are  
to prepare themselves for the most      
serviceable lives4  ,but there are still
 parents who say1 ,there is no need that
 my daughter should teach2 then why     
should she go to college8  ,i will not  
reply that college training is a life   
insurance for a girl1 a pledge that she 
possesses the disciplined ability to    
earn a living for herself and others in 
case of need1 for ,i prefer to insist on
 the importance of giving every girl1 no
 matter what her present circumstances1 
a special training in some one thing by 
which she can render society service1   
not amateur but of an expert sort1 and  
service too for which it will be willing
 to pay a price4 ,the number of families
 will surely increase who will follow   
the example of an eminent banker whose  
daughters have been given each her      
specialty4  ,one has chosen music1 and  
has gone far with the best masters in   
this country and in ,europe1 so far that
 she now holds a high rank among        

musicians at home and abroad4  ,another 
has taken art1 and has not been content 
to paint pretty gifts for her friends1  
but in the studios of ,new ,york1       
,munich1 and ,paris1 she has won the    
right to be called an artist1 and in her
 studio at home to paint portraits which
 have a market value4  ,a third has     
proved that she can earn her living1 if 
need be1 by her exquisite jellies1      
preserves1 and sweetmeats4  ,yet the    
house in the mountains1 the house by the
 sea1 and the friends in the city are   
not neglected1 nor are these young women
 found less attractive because of their 
special accomplishments4  ,while it is  
not true that all girls should go to    
college any more than that all boys     
should go1 it is nevertheless true that 
they should go in greater numbers than  
at present4  ,they fail to go because   
they1 their parents and their teachers1 
do not see clearly the personal benefits
 distinct from the commercial value of a
 college training4  ,i wish here to     

discuss these benefits1 these larger    
gifts of the college life1--what they   
may be1 and for whom they are waiting4  
,it is undoubtedly true that many girls 
are totally unfitted by home and school 
life for a valuable college course4     
,these joys and successes1 these high   
interests and friendships1 are not for  
the self-conscious and nervous invalid1 
nor for her who in the exuberance of    
youth recklessly ignores the laws of a  
healthy life4 ,the good society of      
scholars and of libraries and           
laboratories has no place and no        
attraction for her who finds no message 
in ,plato1 no beauty in mathematical    
order1 and who never longs to know the  
meaning of the stars over her head or   
the flowers under her feet4  ,neither   
will the finer opportunities of college 
life appeal to one who1 until she is    
eighteen 7is there such a girl in this  
country871 has felt no passion for the  
service of others1 no desire to know if 
through history or philosophy1 or any   

study of the laws of society1 she can   
learn why the world is so sad1 so hard1 
so selfish as she finds it1 even when   
she looks upon it from the most         
sheltered life4  ,no1 the college cannot
 be1 should not try to be1 a substitute 
for the hospital1 reformatory or        
kindergarten4 ,to do its best work it   
should be organized for the strong1 not 
for the weak2 for the high-minded1      
self-controlled1 generous1 and          
courageous spirits1 not for the         
indifferent1 the dull1 the idle1 or     
those who are already forming their     
characters on the amusement theory of   
life4  ,all these perverted young people
 may1 and often do1 get large benefit   
and invigoration1 new ideals1 and       
unselfish purposes from their four      
years' companionship with teachers and  
comrades of a higher physical1 mental1  
and moral stature than their own4  ,i   
have seen girls change so much in       
college that ,i have wondered if their  
friends at home would know them1--the   

voice1 the carriage1 the unconscious    
manner1 all telling a story of new      
tastes and habits and loves and         
interests1 that had wrought out in very 
truth a new creature4 ,yet in spite of  
this ,i have sometimes thought that in  
college more than elsewhere the old law 
holds1 ,to him that hath shall be given 
and he shall have abundance1 but from   
him who hath not shall be taken away    
even that which he seemeth to have4     
,for it is the young life which is open 
and prepared to receive which obtains   
the gracious and uplifting influences of
 college days4  ,what1 then1 for such   
persons are the rich and abiding rewards
 of study in college or university8     
,pre-eminently the college is a place of
 education4  ,that is the ground of its 
being4  ,we go to college to know1      
assured that knowledge is sweet and     
powerful1 that a good education         
emancipates the mind and makes us       
citizens of the world4  ,no college     
which does not thoroughly educate can be

 called good1 no matter what else it    
does4  ,no student who fails to get a   
little knowledge on many subjects1 and  
much knowledge on some1 can be said to  
have succeeded1 whatever other          
advantages she may have found by the    
way4  ,it is a beautiful and significant
 fact that in all times the years of    
learning have been also the years of    
romance4  ,those who love girls and boys
 pray that our colleges may be homes of 
sound learning1 for knowledge is the    
condition of every college blessing4    
,let no man incapable of mathematics    
enter here1 ,plato is reported to have  
inscribed over his ,academy door4  ,let 
no one to whom hard study is repulsive  
hope for anything from us1 ,american    
colleges might paraphrase4  ,accordingly
 in my talk today ,i shall say little of
 the direct benefits of knowledge which 
the college affords4 ,these may be      
assumed4  ,it is on their account that  
one knocks at the college door4  ,but   
seeking this first1 a good many other   

things are added4  ,i want to point out 
some of these collateral advantages of  
going to college1 or rather to draw     
attention to some of the many forms in  
which the winning of knowledge presents 
itself4  ,the first of these is         
happiness4  ,everybody wants a good     
time1 especially every girl in her      
teens4  ,a good time1 it is true1 does  
not always in these years mean what it  
will mean by and by1 any more than the  
girl of eighteen plays with the doll    
which entranced the child of eight4  ,it
 takes some time to discover that work  
is the best sort of play1 and some      
people never discover it at all4 ,but   
when mothers ask such questions as      
these3  ,how can ,i make my daughter    
happy8 ,how can ,i give her the best    
society8 ,how can she have a good time8 
the answer in most cases is simple4     
,send her to college1--to almost any    
college4  ,send her because there is no 
other place where between eighteen and  
twenty-two she is so likely to have a   

genuinely good time4 ,merely for good   
times1 for romance1 for society1 college
 life offers unequalled opportunities4  
,of course no idle person can possibly  
be happy1 even for a day1 nor she who   
makes a business of trying to amuse     
herself4  ,for full happiness1 though   
its springs are within1 we want health  
and friends and work and objects of     
aspiration4  ,we live by admiration1    
hope1 and love1 says ,wordsworth4  ,the 
college abounds in all three4 ,in the   
college time new powers are sprouting1  
and intelligence1 merriment1            
truthfulness and generosity are more    
natural than the opposite qualities     
often become in later years4  ,an       
exhilarating atmosphere pervades the    
place4  ,we who are in it all the time  
feel that we live at the fountain of    
perpetual youth1 and those who take but 
a four years' bath in it become more    
cheerful1 strong1 and full of promise   
than they are ever likely to find       
themselves again2 for a college is a    

kind of compendium of the things that   
most men long for4 ,it is usually       
planted in a beautiful spot1 the charm  
of trees and water being added to       
stately buildings and stimulating works 
of art4 ,venerable associations of the  
past hallow its halls4  ,leaders in the 
stirring world of to-day return at each 
commencement to share the fresh life of 
the new class4 ,books1 pictures1 music1 
collections1 appliances in every field1 
learned teachers1 mirthful friends1     
athletics for holidays1 the best words  
of the best men for holy days1--all are 
here4 ,no wonder that men look back upon
 their college life as upon halcyon     
days1 the romantic period of youth4  ,no
 wonder that ,dr4 ,holmes's poems to his
 ,harvard classmates find an echo in    
college reunions everywhere2 and        
gray-haired men1 who outside the        
narrowing circle of home have not heard 
their first names for years1 remain     
,bill and ,joe and ,john and ,george to 
college comrades1 even if unseen for    

more than a generation4  ,yet a girl    
should go to college not merely to      
obtain four happy years but to make a   
second gain1 which is often overlooked1 
and is little understood even when      
perceived2 ,i mean a gain in health4    
,the old notion that low vitality is a  
matter of course with women2 that to be 
delicate is a mark of superior          
refinement1 especially in well-to-do    
families2 that sickness is a            
dispensation of ,providence1--these     
notions meet with no acceptance in      
college4 ,years ago ,i saw in the mirror
 frame of a college freshman's room this
 little formula3  ,sickness is          
carelessness1 carelessness is           
selfishness1 and selfishness is sin4    
,and ,i have often noticed among college
 girls an air of humiliation and shame  
when obliged to confess a lack of       
physical vigor1 as if they were         
convicted of managing life with bad     
judgment1 or of some moral delinquency4 
,with the spreading scientific          

conviction that health is a matter      
largely under each person's control1    
that even inherited tendencies to       
disease need not be allowed to run their
 riotous course unchecked1 there comes  
an earnest purpose to be strong and     
free4 ,fascinating fields of knowledge  
are waiting to be explored2             
possibilities of doing1 as well as of   
knowing1 are on every side2 new and dear
 friendships enlarge and sweeten dreams 
of future study and work1 and the young 
student cannot afford quivering nerves  
or small lungs or an aching head any    
more than bad taste1 rough manners1 or a
 weak will4  ,handicapped by inheritance
 or bad training1 she finds the plan of 
college life itself her supporter and   
friend4 ,the steady1 long-continued     
routine of mental work1 physical        
exercise1 recreation1 and sleep1 the    
simple and wholesome food1 in place of  
irregular and unstudied diet1 work out  
salvation for her4  ,instead of being   
left to go out-of-doors when she feels  

like it1 the regular training of the    
gymnasium1 the boats on lake and river1 
the tennis court1 the golf links1 the   
basket ball1 the bicycle1 the long walk 
among the woods in search of botanical  
or geological specimens1--all these and 
many more call to the busy student1     
until she realizes that they have their 
rightful place in every well-ordered day
 of every month4  ,so she learns1 little
 by little1 that buoyant health is a    
precious possession to be won and kept4 
,it is significant that already         
statistical investigation in this       
country and in ,england shows that the  
standard of health is higher among the  
women who hold college degrees than     
among any other equal number of the same
 age and class4  ,and it is interesting 
also to observe to what sort of         
questions our recent girl graduates have
 been inclined to devote attention4     
,they have been largely the neglected   
problems of little children and their   
health1 of home sanitation1 of food and 

its choice and preparation1 of domestic 
service1 of the cleanliness of schools  
and public buildings4 ,colleges for     
girls are pledged by their very         
constitution to make persistent war on  
the water cure1 the nervine retreat1 the
 insane asylum1 the hospital1--those    
bitter fruits of the emotional lives of 
thousands of women4  ,i can never afford
 a sick headache again1 life is so      
interesting and there is so much to do1 
a delicate girl said to me at the end of
 her first college year4  ,and while her
 mother was in a far-off invalid        
retreat1 she undertook the battle       
against fate with the same intelligence 
and courage which she put into her      
calculus problems and her translations  
of ,sophocles4 ,her beautiful home and  
her rosy and happy children prove the   
measure of her hard-won success4        
,formerly the majority of physicians had
 but one question for the mother of the 
nervous and delicate girl1 ,does she go 
to school8  ,and only one prescription1 

,take her out of school4  ,never a      
suggestion as to suppers of pickles and 
pound-cake1 never a hint about midnight 
dancing and hurried day-time ways4  ,but
 now the sensible doctor asks1 ,what are
 her interests8 ,what are her tastes8   
,what are her habits8  ,and he finds new
 interests for her1 and urges the       
formation of out-of-door tastes and     
steady occupation for the mind1 in order
 to draw the morbid girl from herself   
into the invigorating world outside4    
,this the college does largely through  
its third gift of friendship4  ,until a 
girl goes away from home to school or   
college1 her friends are chiefly chosen 
for her by circumstances4  ,her young   
relatives1 her neighbors in the same    
street1 those who happen to go to the   
same school or church1--these she makes 
her girlish intimates4 ,she goes to     
college with the entire conviction1 half
 unknown to herself1 that her father's  
political party contains all the honest 
men1 her mother's social circle all the 

true ladies1 her church all the real    
saints of the community4 ,and the       
smaller the town1 the more absolute is  
her belief4  ,but in college she finds  
that the girl who earned her scholarship
 in the village school sits beside the  
banker's daughter2 the ,new ,england    
farmer's child rooms next the heiress of
 a ,hawaiian sugar plantation2 the      
daughters of the opposing candidates in 
a sharply fought election have grown    
great friends in college boats and      
laboratories2 and before her diploma is 
won she realizes how much richer a world
 she lives in than she ever dreamed of  
at home4  ,the wealth that lies in      
differences has dawned upon her vision4 
,it is only when the rich and poor sit  
down together that either can understand
 how the ,lord is the ,maker of them    
all4  ,to-day above all things we need  
the influence of men and women of       
friendliness1 of generous nature1 of    
hospitality to new ideas1 in short1 of  
social imagination4  ,but instead1 we   

find each political party bitterly      
calling the other dishonest1 each class 
suspicious of the intentions of the     
other1 and in social life the pettiest  
standards of conduct4  ,is it not well  
for us that the colleges all over the   
country still offer to their fortunate  
students a society of the most          
democratic sort1--one in which a        
father's money1 a mother's social       
position1 can assure no distinction and 
make no close friends8  ,here capacity  
of every kind counts for its full value4
  ,here enthusiasm waits to make heroes 
of those who can lead4  ,here charming  
manners1 noble character1 amiable       
temper1 scholarly power1 find their full
 opportunity and inspire such           
friendships as are seldom made          
afterward4 ,i have forgotten my         
chemistry1 and my classical philology   
cannot bear examination2 but all round  
the world there are men and women at    
work1 my intimates of college days1 who 
have made the wide earth a friendly     

place to me4  ,of every creed1 of every 
party1 in far-away places and in near1  
the thought of them makes me more       
courageous in duty and more faithful to 
opportunity1 though for many years we   
may not have had time to write each     
other a letter4  ,the basis of all      
valuable and enduring friendships is not
 accident or juxtaposition1 but tastes1 
interests1 habits1 work1 ambitions4  ,it
 is for this reason that to college     
friendship clings a romance entirely its
 own4  ,one of the friends may spend her
 days in the laboratory1 eagerly chasing
 the shy facts that hide beyond the     
microscope's fine vision1 and the other 
may fill her hours and her heart with   
the poets and the philosophers2 one may 
steadfastly pursue her way toward the   
command of a hospital1 and the other    
towards the world of letters and of art2
 these divergences constitute no        
barrier1 but rather an aid to the       
fulness of friendship4 ,and the fact    
that one goes in a simple gown which she

 has earned and made herself1 and the   
other lives when at home in a merchant's
 modern palace--what has that to do with
 the things the girls care about and the
 dreams they talk over in the walk by   
the river or the bicycle ride through   
country roads8  ,if any young man to-day
 goes through ,harvard lonely1          
neglected1 unfriended1 if any girl lives
 solitary and wretched in her life at   
,wellesley1 it is their own fault4  ,it 
must be because they are suspicious1    
unfriendly or disagreeable themselves4  
,certainly it is true that in the       
associations of college life1 more than 
in any other that the country can show1 
what is extraneous1 artificial1 and     
temporary falls away1 and the every-day 
relations of life and work take on a    
character that is simple1 natural1      
genuine4  ,and so it comes about that   
the fourth gift of college life is      
ideals of personal character4  ,to some 
people the shaping ideals of what       
character should be1 often held         

unconsciously1 come from the books they 
are given by the persons whom they most 
admire before they are twenty years old4
  ,the greatest thing any friend or     
teacher1 either in school or college1   
can do for a student is to furnish him  
with a personal ideal4  ,the college    
professors who transformed me through my
 acquaintance with them--ah1 they were  
few1 and ,i am sure ,i did not have a   
dozen conversations with them outside   
their class rooms--gave me1 each in his 
different way1 an ideal of character1 of
 conduct1 of the scholar1 the leader1 of
 which they and ,i were totally         
unconscious at the time4  ,for many     
years ,i have known that my study with  
them1 no matter whether of philosophy or
 of ,greek1 of mathematics or history or
 ,english1 enlarged my notions of life1 
uplifted my standards of culture1 and so
 inspired me with new possibilities of  
usefulness and of happiness4  ,not the  
facts and theories that ,i learned so   
much as the men who taught me1 gave this

 inspiration4  ,the community at large  
is right in saying that it wants the    
personal influence of professors on     
students1 but it is wholly wrong in     
assuming that this precious influence   
comes from frequent meetings or talks on
 miscellaneous subjects4  ,there is     
quite as likely to be a quickening force
 in the somewhat remote and mysterious  
power of the teacher who devotes himself
 to amassing treasures of scholarship1  
or to patiently working out the best    
methods of teaching2 who standing       
somewhat apart1 still remains an ideal  
of the ,christian scholar1 the just1 the
 courteous man or woman4  ,to come under
 the influence of one such teacher is   
enough to make college life worthwhile4 
,a young man who came to ,harvard with  
eighty cents in his pocket1 and worked  
his way through1 never a high scholar1  
and now in a business which looks very  
commonplace1 told me the other day that 
he would not care to be alive if he had 
not gone to college4  ,his face flushed 

as he explained how different his days  
would have been if he had not known two 
of his professors4  ,do you use your    
college studies in your business8 ,i    
asked4  ,oh1 no6 he answered4  ,but ,i  
am another man in doing the business2   
and when the day's work is done ,i live 
another life because of my college      
experiences4  ,the business and ,i are  
both the better for it every day4  ,how 
many a young girl has had her whole     
horizon extended by the changed ideals  
she gained in college6 ,yet this is     
largely because the associations and    
studies there are likely to give her    
permanent interests--the fifth and      
perhaps the greatest gift of college    
life of which ,i shall speak4  ,the old 
fairy story which charmed us in         
childhood ended with--,and they were    
married and lived happy ever after4  ,it
 conducted to the altar1 having brought 
the happy pair through innumerable      
difficulties1 and left us with the      
contented sense that all the mistakes   

and problems would now vanish and life  
be one long day of unclouded bliss4  ,i 
have seen devoted and intelligent       
mothers arrange their young daughters'  
education and companionships precisely  
on this basis4  ,they planned as if     
these pretty and charming girls were    
going to live only twenty or twenty-five
 years at the utmost1 and had           
consequently no need of the wealthy     
interests that should round out the     
full-grown woman's stature1 making her  
younger in feeling at forty than at     
twenty1 and more lovely and admired at  
eighty than at either4  ,emerson in     
writing of beauty declares that the     
secret of ugliness consists not in      
irregular outline1 but in being         
uninteresting4  ,we love any forms1     
however ugly1 from which great qualities
 shine4 ,if command1 eloquence1 art1 or 
invention exists in the most deformed   
person1 all the accidents that usually  
displease1 please1 and raise esteem and 
wonder higher4  ,beauty without grace is

 the head without the body4 ,beauty     
without expression tires4  ,of course   
such considerations can hardly come with
 full force to the young girl herself1  
who feels aged at eighteen1 and imagines
 that the troubles and problems of life 
and thought are hers already4 ,oh1 tell 
me to-night1 cried a college freshman   
once to her ,president1 which is the    
right side and which is the wrong side  
of this ,andover question about         
eschatology8  ,the young girl is        
impatient of open questions1 and        
irritated at her inability to answer    
them4  ,neither can she believe that the
 first headlong zest with which she     
throws herself into society1 athletics1 
into everything which comes in her way1 
can ever fail4  ,but her elders know1   
looking on1 that our ,american girl1 the
 comrade of her parents and of her      
brothers and their friends1 brought up  
from babyhood in the eager talk of      
politics and society1 of religious      
belief1 of public action1 of social     

responsibility--that this typical girl1 
with her quick sympathies1 her clear    
head1 her warm heart1 her outreaching   
hands1 will not permanently be satisfied
 or self-respecting1 though she have the
 prettiest dresses and hats in town1 or 
the most charming of dinners1 dances1   
and teas4 ,unless there comes to her1   
and comes early1 the one chief happiness
 of life1--a marriage of                
comradeship1--she must face for herself 
the question1 ,what shall ,i do with my 
life8  ,i recall a superb girl of twenty
 as ,i overtook her one winter morning  
hurrying along ,commonwealth ,avenue4   
,she spoke of a brilliant party at a    
friend's the previous evening4  ,but1   
oh6 she cried1 throwing up her hands in 
a kind of hopeless impatience1 tell me  
what to do4  ,my dancing days are over6 
,i laughed at her1 ,have you sprained   
your ankle8  ,but ,i saw ,i had made a  
mistake when she added1 ,it is no       
laughing matter4  ,i have been out three
 years4  ,i have not done what they     

expected of me1 with a flush and a      
shrug1 and there is a crowd of nice     
girls coming on this winter2 and anyway1
 ,i am so tired of going to teas and    
ball-games and assemblies6  ,i don't    
care the least in the world for foreign 
missions1 and1 with a stamp1 ,i am not  
going slumming among the ,italians4  ,i 
have too much respect for the ,italians4
 ,and what shall ,i do with the rest of 
my life8  ,that was a frank statement of
 what any girl of brains or conscience  
feels1 with more or less bitter         
distinctness1 unless she marries early1 
or has some pressing work for which she 
is well trained4  ,yet even if that     
which is the profession of woman par    
excellence be hers1 how can she be      
perennially so interesting a companion  
to her husband and children as if she   
had keen personal tastes1 long her own1 
and growing with her growth8  ,indeed1  
in that respect the condition of men is 
almost the same as that of women4  ,it  
would be quite the same were it not for 

the fact that a man's business or       
profession is generally in itself a     
means of growth1 of education1 of       
dignity4  ,he leans his life against it4
  ,he builds his home in the shadow of  
it4  ,it binds his days together in a   
kind of natural piety and makes him     
advance in strength and nobility as he  
fulfils the common round1 the daily     
task4  ,and that is the reason why men  
in the past1 if they have been honorable
 men1 have grown old better than women4 
,men usually retain their ability       
longer1 their mental alertness and      
hospitality4 ,they add fine quality to  
fine quality1 passing from strength to  
strength and preserving in old age      
whatever has been best in youth4  ,it   
was a sudden recognition of this fact   
which made a young friend of mine say   
last winter1 ,i am not going to parties 
any more2 the men best worth talking    
with are too old to dance4  ,even with  
the help of a permanent business or     
profession1 however1 the most           

interesting men ,i know are those who   
have an avocation as well as a vocation4
  ,i mean a taste or work quite apart   
from the business of life4  ,this       
revives1 inspires1 and cultivates them  
perpetually4  ,it matters little what it
 is1 if only it is real and personal1 is
 large enough to last1 and possesses the
 power of growth4  ,a young sea-captain 
from a ,new ,england village on a long  
and lonely voyage falls upon a copy of  
,shelley4  ,appeal is made to his fine  
but untrained mind1 and the book of the 
boy poet becomes the seaman's           
university4  ,the wide world of poetry  
and of the other fine arts is opened1   
and the ,shelleyian specialist becomes a
 cultivated1 original1 and charming man4
 ,a busy merchant loves flowers1 and in 
all his free hours studies them4 ,each  
new spring adds knowledge to his        
knowledge1 and his friends continually  
bring him their strange discoveries4    
,with growing wealth he cultivates rare 
and beautiful plants1 and shares them   

with his fortunate acquaintances4       
,happy the companion invited to a walk  
or a drive with such observant eyes1    
such vivid talk6  ,because of this      
cheerful interest in flowers1 and this  
ingenious skill in dealing with them1   
the man himself is interesting4  ,all   
his powers are alert1 and his judgment  
is valued in public life and in private 
business4  ,or is it more exact to say  
that because he is the kind of man who  
would insist upon having such interests 
outside his daily work1 he is still     
fresh and young and capable of growth at
 an age when many other men are dull and
 old and certain that the time of decay 
is at hand8  ,there are two reasons why 
women need to cultivate these large and 
abiding interests even more persistently
 than men4  ,in the first place1 they   
have more leisure4  ,they are indeed the
 only leisure class in the country1 the 
only large body of persons who are not  
called upon to win their daily bread in 
direct wage-earning ways4  ,as yet1     

fortunately1 few men among us have so   
little self-respect as to idle about our
 streets and drawing-rooms because their
 fathers are rich enough to support     
them4  ,we are not without our          
unemployed poor2 but roving tramps and  
idle clubmen are after all not of large 
consequence4  ,our serious1             
non-producing classes are chiefly women4
  ,it is the regular ambition of the    
chivalrous ,american to make all the    
women who depend on him so comfortable  
that they need do nothing for           
themselves4  ,machinery has taken nearly
 all the former occupations of women out
 of the home into the shop and factory4 
,widespread wealth and comfort1 and the 
inherited theory that it is not well for
 the woman to earn money so long as     
father or brothers can support her1 have
 brought about a condition of things in 
which there is social danger1 unless    
with the larger leisure are given high  
and enduring interests4  ,to health     
especially there is great danger1 for   

nothing breaks down a woman's health    
like idleness and its resulting ennui4  
,more people1 ,i am sure1 are broken    
down nervously because they are bored1  
than because they are overworked2 and   
more still go to pieces through         
fussiness1 unwholesome living1 worry    
over petty details1 and the daily       
disappointments which result from small 
and superficial training4  ,and then1   
besides the danger to health1 there is  
the danger to character4  ,i need not   
dwell on the undermining influence which
 men also feel when occupation is taken 
away and no absorbing private interest  
fills the vacancy4  ,the vices of       
luxurious city life are perhaps hardly  
more destructive to character than is   
the slow deterioration of barren country
 life4 ,though the conditions in the two
 cases are exactly opposite1 the trouble
 is often the same1--absence of noble   
interests4  ,in the city restless       
idleness organizes amusement2 in the    
country deadly dulness succeeds daily   

toil4  ,but there is a second reason why
 a girl should acquire for herself      
strong and worthy interests4  ,the      
regular occupations of women in their   
homes are generally disconnected and of 
little educational value1 at least as   
those homes are at present conducted4   
,given the best will in the world1 the  
daily doing of household details becomes
 a wearisome monotony if the mere       
performance of them is all4  ,to make   
drudgery divine a woman must have a     
brain to plan and eyes to see how to    
sweep a room as to ,god's laws4         
,imagination and knowledge should be the
 hourly companions of her who would make
 a fine art of each detail in kitchen   
and nursery4  ,too long has the pin been
 the appropriate symbol of the average  
woman's life--the pin1 which only       
temporarily holds together things which 
may or may not have any organic         
connection with one another4  ,while    
undoubtedly most women must spend the   
larger part of life in this modest      

pin-work1 holding together the little   
things of home and school and society   
and church1 it is also true1 that       
cohesive work itself cannot be done     
well1 even in humble circumstances1     
except by the refined1 the trained1 the 
growing woman4  ,the smallest village1  
the plainest home1 give ample space for 
the resources of the trained college    
woman4  ,and the reason why such homes  
and such villages are so often barren of
 grace and variety is just because these
 fine qualities have not ruled them4    
,the higher graces of civilization halt 
among us2 dainty and finished ways of   
living give place to common ways1 while 
vulgar tastes1 slatternly habits1 clouds
 and despondency reign in the house4    
,little children under five years of age
 die in needless thousands because of   
the dull1 unimaginative women on whom   
they depend4 ,such women have been      
satisfied with just getting along1      
instead of packing everything they do   
with brains1 instead of studying the    

best possible way of doing everything   
small or large2 for there is always a   
best way1 whether of setting a table1 of
 trimming a hat1 or teaching a child to 
read4  ,and this taste for perfection   
can be cultivated2 indeed1 it must be   
cultivated1 if our standards of living  
are to be raised4 ,there is now         
scientific knowledge enough1 there is   
money enough1 to prevent the vast       
majority of the evils which afflict our 
social organism1 if mere knowledge or   
wealth could avail2 but the greater     
difficulty is to make intelligence1     
character1 good taste1 unselfishness    
prevail4  ,what1 then1 are the interests
 which powerfully appeal to mind and    
heart1 and so are fitted to become the  
strengthening companions of a woman's   
life8  ,i shall mention only three1 all 
of them such as are elaborately fostered
 by college life4  ,the first is the    
love of great literature4  ,i do not    
mean that use of books by which a man   
may get what is called a good education 

and so be better qualified for the      
battle of life1 nor do ,i mention books 
in their character as reservoirs of     
knowledge1 books which we need for      
special purposes1 and which are no      
longer of consequence when our purpose  
with them is served4  ,i have in mind   
the great books1 especially the great   
poets1 books to be adopted as a resource
 and a solace4  ,the chief reason why so
 many people do not know how to make    
comrades of such books is because they  
have come to them too late4  ,we have in
 this country enormous numbers of       
readers1 probably a larger number who   
read1 and who read many hours in the    
week1 than has ever been known elsewhere
 in the world4  ,but what do these      
millions read besides the newspapers8   
,possibly a denominational religious    
weekly and another journal of fashion or
 business4  ,then come the thousands who
 read the best magazines1 and whatever  
else is for the moment popular in novels
 and poetry--the last dialect story1 the

 fashionable poem1 the questionable but 
talked-of novel4  ,let a violent attack 
be made on the decency of a new story   
and instantly1 if only it is clever1 its
 author becomes famous4  ,but the       
fashions in reading of a restless       
race--the women too idle1 the men too   
heavily worked--,i will not discuss     
here4  ,let light literature be         
devourered by our populace as his drug  
is taken by the opium-eater1 and with a 
similar narcotic effect4  ,we can only  
seek out the children1 and hope by      
giving them from babyhood bits of the   
noblest literature1 to prepare them for 
the great opportunities of mature life4 
,i urge1 therefore1 reading as a mental 
stimulus1 as a solace in trouble1 a     
perpetual source of delight2 and ,i     
would point out that we must not delay  
to make the great friendships that await
 us on the library shelves until        
sickness shuts the door on the outer    
world1 or death enters the home and     
silences the voices that once helped to 

make these friendships sweet4  ,if      
,homer and ,shakespeare and ,wordsworth 
and ,browning are to have meaning for us
 when we need them most1 it will be     
because they come to us as old familiar 
friends whose influences have permeated 
the glad and busy days before4  ,the    
last time ,i heard ,james ,russell      
,lowell talk to college girls1 he       
said1--for he was too ill to say many   
words--,i have only this one message to 
leave with you4  ,in all your work in   
college never lose sight of the reason  
why you have come here4  ,it is not that
 you may get something by which to earn 
your bread1 but that every mouthful of  
bread may be the sweeter to your taste4 
,and this is the power possessed by the 
mighty dead1--men of every time and     
nation1 whose voices death cannot       
silence1 who are waiting even at the    
poor man's elbow1 whose illuminating    
words may be had for the price of a     
day's work in the kitchen or the street1
 for lack of love of whom many a        

luxurious home is a dull and solitary   
spot1 breeding misery and vice4  ,now   
the modern college is especially        
equipped to introduce its students to   
such literature4 ,the library is at last
 understood to be the heart of the      
college4 ,the modern librarian is not   
the keeper of books1 as was his         
predecessor1 but the distributer of     
them1 and the guide to their resources1 
proud when he increases the use of his  
treasures4  ,every language1 ancient or 
modern1 which contains a literature is  
now taught in college4  ,its history is 
examined1 its philology1 its            
masterpieces1 and more than ever is     
,english literature studied and loved4  
,there is now every opportunity for the 
college student to become an expert in  
the use of his own tongue and pen4      
,what other men painfully strive for he 
can enjoy to the full with comparatively
 little effort4  ,but there is a second 
invigorating interest to which college  
training introduces its student4  ,i    

mean the study of nature1 intimacy with 
the strange and beautiful world in which
 we live4 ,nature never did betray the  
heart that loved her1 sang her poet high
 priest4  ,when the world has been too  
much with us1 nothing else is so        
refreshing to tired eyes and mind as    
woods and water1 and an intelligent     
knowledge of the life within them4 ,for 
a generation past there has been a      
well-nigh universal turning of the      
population toward the cities4  ,in #ahdj
 only nine per cent of our people lived 
in cities of #h1jjj inhabitants or more4
  ,now more than a third of us are found
 in cities4  ,but the electric-car1 the 
telephone1 the bicycle1 still keep      
avenues to the country open4 ,certain it
 is that city people feel a growing     
hunger for the country1 particularly    
when grass begins to grow4  ,this is a  
healthy taste1 and must increase the    
general knowledge and love of nature4   
,fortunate are the little children in   
those schools whose teachers know and   

love the world in which they live4      
,their young eyes are early opened to   
the beauty of birds and trees and       
plants4  ,not only should we expect our 
girls to have a feeling for the fine    
sunset or the wide-reaching panorama of 
field and water1 but to know something  
also about the less obvious aspects of  
nature1 its structure1 its methods of   
work1 and the endless diversity of its  
parts4  ,no one can have read ,matthew  
,arnold's letters to his wife1 his      
mother1 and his sister1 without being   
struck by the immense enjoyment he took 
throughout his singularly simple and    
hard-working life in flowers and trees  
and rivers4  ,the ,english lake country 
had given him this happy inheritance1   
with everywhere its sound of running    
water and its wealth of greenery4       
,there is a close connection between the
 marvellous unbroken line of ,english   
song1 and the passionate love of the    
,englishman for a home in the midst of  
birds1 trees1 and green fields4    ,the 

world is so full of a number of things1 
,that ,i think we should all be as happy
 as kings1  is the opinion of everybody 
who knows nature as did ,robert ,louis  
,stevenson4  ,and so our college student
 may begin to know it4  ,let her enter  
the laboratories and investigate for    
herself4  ,let her make her delicate    
experiments with the blowpipe or the    
balance2 let her track mysterious life  
from one hiding-place to another2 let   
her name all the birds without a gun1   
and make intimates of flower and fish   
and butterfly--and she is dull indeed if
 breezy tastes do not follow her through
 life1 and forbid any of her days to be 
empty of intelligent enjoyment4  ,keep  
your years beautiful2 make your own     
atmosphere1 was the parting advice of my
 college president1 himself a living    
illustration of what he said4  ,but it  
is a short step from the love of the    
complex and engaging world in which we  
live to the love of our comrades in it4 
,accordingly the third precious interest

 to be cultivated by the college student
 is an interest in people4  ,the scholar
 today is not a being who dwells apart  
in his cloister1 the monk's successor2  
he is a leader of the thoughts and      
conduct of men4  ,so the new subjects   
which stand beside the classics and     
mathematics of medieval culture are     
history1 economics1 ethics1 and         
sociology4  ,although these subjects are
 as yet merely in the making1 thousands 
of students are flocking to their       
investigation1 and are going out to try 
their tentative knowledge in ,college   
,settlements and ,city ,missions and    
,children's ,aid ,societies4  ,the best 
instincts of generous youth are becoming
 enlisted in these living themes4  ,and 
why should our daughters remain aloof   
from the most absorbing work of modern  
city life1 work quite as fascinating to 
young women as to young men8  ,during   
many years of listening to college      
sermons and public lectures in          
,wellesley1 ,i always noticed a         

quickened attention in the audience     
whenever the discussion touched politics
 or theology4  ,these are1 after all1   
the permanent and peremptory interests1 
and they should be given their full     
place in a healthy and vigorous life4   
,but if that life includes a love of    
books1 of nature1 of people1 it will    
naturally turn to enlarged conceptions  
of religion--my sixth and last gift of  
college life4  ,in his first sermon as  
,master of ,balliol ,college1 ,dr4      
,jowett spoke of the college1 ,first as 
a place of education1 secondly as a     
place of society1 thirdly as a place of 
religion4  ,he observed that men of very
 great ability often fail in life       
because they are unable to play their   
part with effect4  ,they are shy1       
awkward1 self-conscious1 deficient in   
manners1 faults which are as ruinous as 
vices4  ,the supreme end of college     
training1 he said1 is usefulness in     
after life4 ,similarly1 when the city of
 ,cambridge celebrated in ,harvard's    

,memorial ,hall the life and death of   
the gallant young ex-governor of        
,massachusetts1 ,william ,e4 ,russell1  
men did well to hang above his portrait 
some wise words he has lately said1     
,never forget the everlasting difference
 between making a living and making a   
life4 ,that he himself never forgot2 and
 it was well to remind citizens and     
students of it1 as they stood there     
facing too the ancient words all        
,harvard men face when they take their  
college degrees and go out into the     
world1 ,they that be wise shall shine as
 the brightness of the firmament1 and   
they that turn many to righteousness as 
the stars for ever and ever4  ,good     
words these to go out from college with4
  ,the girls of ,wellesley gather every 
morning at chapel to bow their heads    
together for a moment before they       
scatter among the libraries and         
lecture-rooms and begin the experiments 
of the new day4  ,and always their      
college motto meets the eyes that are   

raised to its penetrating message1 ,not 
to be ministered unto1 but to minister4 
,how many a young heart has loyally     
responded1 ,and to give life a ransom   
for many4  ,that is the ,wellesley      
spirit2 and the same sweet spirit of    
devout service has gone forth from all  
our college halls4  ,in any of them one 
may catch the echo of ,whittier's noble 
psalm1--    ,o ,lord and ,master of us  
all   ,whate'er our name or sign1   ,we 
own ,thy sway1 we hear ,thy call1   ,we 
test our lives by ,thine4  ,that is the 
supreme test of life1--its consecrated  
serviceableness4 ,the ,master of        
,balliol was right2 the brave men and   
women who founded our schools and       
colleges were not wrong4  ,for ,christ  
and the ,church universities were set up
 in the wilderness of ,new ,england2 for
 the large service of the ,state they   
have been founded and maintained at     
public cost in every section of the     
country where men have settled1 from the
 ,alleghanies across the prairies and   

,rocky ,mountains down to the ,golden   
,gate4  ,founded primarily as seats of  
learning1 their teachers have been not  
only scientists and linguists1          
philosophers and historians1 but men and
 women of holy purposes1 sound          
patriotism1 courageous convictions1     
refined and noble tastes4  ,set as these
 teachers have been upon a hill1 their  
light has at no period of our country's 
history been hid4  ,they have formed a  
large factor in our civilization1 and in
 their own beautiful characters have    
continually shown us how to combine     
religion and life1 the ideal and        
practical1 the human and the divine4    
,such are some of the larger influences 
to be had from college life4 ,it is true
 all the good gifts ,i have named may be
 secured without the aid of the college4
  ,we all know young men and women who  
have had no college training1 who are as
 cultivated1 rational1 resourceful1 and 
happy as any people we know1 who excel  
in every one of these particulars the   

college graduates about them4  ,i       
believe they often bitterly regret the  
lack of a college education4  ,and we   
see young men and women going through   
college deaf and blind to their great   
chances there1 and afterwards curiously 
careless and wasteful of the best things
 in life4  ,while all this is true1 it  
is true too that to the open-minded and 
ambitious boy or girl of moderate       
health1 ability1 self-control1 and      
studiousness1 a college course offers   
the most attractive1 easy1 and probable 
way of securing happiness and health1   
good friends and high ideals1 permanent 
interests of a noble kind1 and large    
capacity for usefulness in the world4   
,it has been well said that the ability 
to see great things large and little    
things small is the final test of       
education4  ,the foes of life1          
especially of women's lives1 are        
caprice1 wearisome incapacity and petty 
judgments4  ,from these oppressive foes 
we long to escape to the rule of right  

reason1 where all things are possible1  
and life becomes a glory instead of a   
grind4  ,no college1 with the best      
teachers and collections in the world1  
can by its own power impart all this to 
any woman4  ,but if one has set her face
 in that direction1 where else can she  
find so many hands reached out to help1 
so many encouraging voices in the air1  
so many favoring influences filling the 
days and nights8