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402 VASSAR FEMALE COLLEGE.
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.
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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.
Being At The 1 Largel Present Y Discusse...
MR . VASSAITS STATEMENT . To the Trustees op VassaeFemale Co : l : lege .
( _jeisttiemen _, —As my long cherished purpose to apply a large portion of my estate to some benevolent object is now about to be
accomplished , it seems proper that I should submit to you a statement of my motives , views , and wishes .
It having pleased God that I should have no direct descendants to inherit my propertyit has long been my desireafter suitably
providing for those of my , kindred who have claims on , me , to make such a disposition of my means as should best honor God and
benefit my fellow-men . At different periods I have regarded various plans with favor , but these have all been dismissed one after another ,
until the subject of erecting and endowing a College for the education of young _zvomen was presented for my consideration . The novelty
grandeur , and benignity of the idea arrested my attention . The , more carefully I examined it , the more strongly it commended
itself to my judgment , and interested my feelings . It occurred to me that womanhaving received from her Creator
, the same intellectual constitution as man , has the same right as man . to intellectual culture and development .
I considered that the Mothers of a country mould the character of its citizens , determine its institutions , and shape its destiny .
Next to the influence of mother is that of the Female Teacher who is employed to train young children at a period when impressions
are most vivid and lasting . It also seemed to me , that if woman were properly educated ,
some new avenues to useful and honorable employment , in entire harmony with the gentleness and modesty of her sexanight be
opened to her . , It farther appeared that there is not in our country , there is not
in the world , so far as is known , a single fully endowed institution for the education of women .
It is also in evidence , that for the last thirty years , the standard of education for the sex has been constantly rising in the United
States ; and the great , felt , pressing want has been ample endowments to secure to Female Seminaries the elevated character , the
stability and permanency of our best . And now , gentlemen , influenced by these and similar
considerations , after devoting my best powers to the study of the subject for a number of years past * after duly weighing the objections
, against it and the arguments that preponderate in its favor , —and the project having received the -warmest commendations of many
prominent literary men and practical educators , as well as the universal approval of the public press—I have come to the
conclusion , that the establishment and endowment , of a College for the
education of young women is a work which will satisfy my highest
402 Vassar Female College.
402 VASSAR FEMALE COLLEGE .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Aug. 1, 1862, page 402, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01081862/page/42/
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