I should be sorry not to
see S., and W., and P., and E., and G., and K. on the list of the ten,
but probably that is more than I ought to expect. The whole system is
demoralizing and foolish. Girls study for prizes, and not for learning,
when 'honors' are at the end. The unscholarly motive is wearing. If they
studied for sound learning, the cheer which would come with every day's
gain would be health-preserving.
"... I have seven advanced students, and to-day, when I looked around to
see who should be called to help look out for meteors, I could consider
only _one_ of them not already overworked, and she was the
post-graduate, who took no honors, and never hurried, and has always
been an excellent student.
"... We are sending home some girls already [November 14], and ---- is
among them. I am somewhat alarmed at the dropping down, but ---- does an
enormous amount of work, belongs to every club, and writes for every
club and for the 'Vassar Miscellany,' etc.; of course she has the
headache most of the time.
"Sometimes I am distressed for fear Dr. Clarke [Footnote: Author of "Sex
in Education."] is not so far wrong; but I do not think it is the
study--it is the morbid conscientiousness of the girls, who think they
must work every minute.
"April 26, 1882. Miss Herschel came to the college on the 11th, and
stayed three days. She is one of the little girls whom I saw,
twenty-three years since, playing on the lawn at Sir John Herschel's
place, Collingwood.
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