On this page
-
Text (1)
-
346 TO MY COUSIN I/AUREBTCE AT MELBOUBNE...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
. * . Dear I Laueence Lad To , See In Le...
ment , Dean Milman in the chair . There was a little uncertainty as to the time when her paper would be readwhich prevented her
, audience _frorn being so large as it would otherwise have been ; stillthe Department was fairly fulland thoroughly intelligent and
attentive , . Herewith I send you the , pamphlet which Miss Faithfull published immediately after , so that you can judge of its merits
yourself . It seems to me written in the clearest , cleverest , happiest styleand it was read with a charming ease and vivacity , but
perhaps , hardly with the elan of last year at Dublin , when , being in the midst of her own people , she carried her delighted audience
with her at every word . That paper related to the Care of Incurables in Workhousesand as there will probably always be 100
, incurables for one woman who takes a University degree , there is some reason for the predominant sympathy accorded to the former paper .
Little or no discussion took place on this paper at the time , though Dean Milman paid her a very pretty compliment ; but in the evening
at Burlington House the subject was gone into at considerable length . It appeared to me that the majority of speakers ( all of whom were
gentlemen ) were not in favor of granting the admission of women to candidature . They were willing to see the acquirements of
women " tested and attested" by an examining body ; but were opposed to this office being performed by any of the Universities .
Some took their stand on the original restriction of the constitutions of the said bodies ; others spoke on the differences between the
highest kind of training to be desired for men , and that to be desired for women . Mr . Smith Osier said that the real reason
why several members of the Senate had voted against female candidature in the late vote taken on the subject was , that they
were persuaded that more lurked behind than met the ear , and that certain people wished to do away with all the distinctions
of sex . Altogether , I was rather sorry for the debate . It was
comparatively useless , unless a few sensible and moderate women could have entered into it , explaining on what grounds they considered
the request a fair one ; and as there were reporters present , taking _, down every word everybody saidit was not to be _exjDected
that any lady would like to speak . , Reading a paper in a section is quite a different thing to entering into a debate with the dread
of a reporter jotting down every unconsidered word . It ended in a modified resolution being passed , to the effect that some sort of a
testing examination as to the higher class of female attainments was desirablebut all mention of the Universities was carefully
, omitted . My own idea is , that it would be very well to have * freedom in this matter , for the sake of aiding a few women to be
up to " concert pitch , " _bixt I doubt if the world would get on much better for many women devoting themselves to the required
specialities As to of the study Social . Economy Section on the next day , Wednesday
346 To My Cousin I/Aurebtce At Melboubne...
346 TO MY COUSIN I / _AUREBTCE AT _MELBOUBNE .
-
-
Citation
-
English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), July 1, 1862, page 346, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01071862/page/58/
-