Co-education

At tlie recent banquet In Vashiii;ton of the Alumni of tlie Üniversity a rcply to a toast on eocdueation was made by Mrs. Stowell whlcti we publish below: "Co-eiiucation In tlie university of BfiohlLan. The 'eo-eds' ppeak for tliemselves." Response by Mrs. Stowell. Akhough the term 'co-ed is purely a Üniversity of Michigan expression, coeducatlon is as old as the human race. For tchen the apple was plucked from the tree of knowledge and one bite taken froni it - and when witli trüe womanly instincts - the rest of the apple was given to the man - then co education began. That taste obtained by the one nibble from the side of tlie apple bas remained witb (roman ever since. And for nearly six thousand years, during all of the dark ages when woman was only endured tor her husband's sake, and taught to believe she could have no place in heaven exceptlng through her husband - she bas ever been trying for more fruit from the same tree. The prospects seemed bright for securing more when this uew country,through the instrumentalitie8 of a woman was discovered. And especially bright were they when the Üniversity of "Willlain and Mary" was established in the new country. 13ut wliat a disappointment when ouly the Williams and not the Marys were admitted ! Then to tliitik that Harvard college was establishe.l nver one hundred and lifty years before Muss. made any public provisión for the girls. The girls were not allowed even to go to the grammar schools in the city of Boston until within seventy years, and they were not admitted into the high schools iintil within about forty years. The c.ultured city of Boston with such a record!! Michigan, as usual, was In advauce, though for about the same time with the opening of the Boston high school for girls, a woman in Michigan, Miss A. C. Hogers, with much zeal and determination was trying to have establishetl at Lansing a üniversity for women, Idéntica! with the one at Ann Arbor for men. To this truly noble woman probnbly more is due from the women of Michigan for their educational advan'ages than to auy other one person. About this same time a petition asking for the admission of women to the universlty, was sent to the Board of Regenta. Thia petition was the result of earnesl fffortson the partofMissIlogers. The most serious objections then seemed to be on theground of the ways and means. It was auppoaed that new buildings, - new recitation rooms, - an entire newfaculty, - and ere a new library would necessairly have to be secured to accommodate the women. And as one man is reported to have said, "The recitation rooms would all have to be seated witb rocking chairs. But they were admitted, thanka to the board of regent?. Two of the regents wbo have always advocated hlgher education for women, are with us to-night. Gen.Cutcheon and Jmlze McQowen, and let me say, sub rosa, that Judffe McGowen's tirst vote as a regent was for the admission of women to the university. Tltey are there now, over 300 ofthem, right, royal girls too. Three hundred taken by themselves would inake a good sized ladles' college, hit a success? I wish time would allow me to enumérate the present position of responsibillty and honor oceupied by so inany of the women vvho have received their training at our beloved university. One of Hiem at the head of the misslonary work in Athens, Greece, is doing a noble work. One of them at the head, for so many years, ot ihe gr:indest educational institution tbr women in this country, if not in the world. One ofthem, so honored in a foreign land that the empeior sends his Imperial banje to convey her through his country, and then loads her down with presents for the good which slie bas done to the einpress. She beinr the first foreigner to ever seu the face of the empress. One of them called to Vassar to take a chair especially esublished for lier. One, whose examinatiou was such that she was the first woman ever appointed to do seientitic work for the government. Miss Southworth who is with us to-night and many more could be given if time allowed. Kight of our ilumnae have been in the faculty of Welleslej' College, and seven out of twelve fellows at Bryn Mawr were at one time U. of M. girls. Formerly, people went to the Athens of the IVrsi to look with admiration on the classic halls wheru Minister Palmer, Senator Dayls and Gen. Cutcheon gained thelr laspiration, and where Cooley, Ford, Friezp, Watson, Oluey and Winchell gave in?piration to tho student8. Now they go to see what one of the grandest educational institutious of the new world is doing for co-education. If there are any gentlemen present who have not vlsited the nniversit.y ivcently and whc 83 id a s f law.order, and decorum are drawn front the reeitntion room of many years ajio, they would realie a chance much more than I can posslbly describe. There are now no inore rushes 111 the halls and on the stalrways. There Is no looger any jumping out of the windows immediaU-ly af ter the class-roH is called. There is no more playlng foot-bull In the rear of the recitation room during a lecture. There is 110 more passing around the class in the place of geológica] specimens, coal from the coal-hod, or a shoe from sonie unfortunate freshtnan's foot. These disorders antidote the admission of women. The greatest objection of the present ilay to co-education seems to be the fear that our girla will become masculine; tliat they will lose their love of home and ts divinely appointed duties. If any one here entertains such fears I wish they could vislt with me - as I have visited so niany times - the rooms of our college girls. You see there pictures on the walls, fancy needle-work strewn around, little touches of bright color here and there, fiowers blooming in the Windows, frequently a pet canarry bird warbling forth its sweet songs. The very atinosphere of the room is thiit of home and shows the inmates are t'ull of home ltfe. What a contrast to this are the rooms of the young men. Their rooni3 are only where they work ; where they stay by force of circumstanccs, with no thought of its being their borne. A large proportion of all the girls from the unlversity liave happy homes of tlieir own and in future years the roll of students at Michigan University will be greatly increascd by representatives from these liappy homes. The greatest needs of the university to-day are unmistakable. SCnOLARSHIPS AND FELLOWSHIPS. Fortunntely two fellowships liave been establbhed, and gt range to say both of these were glven by women. The firat by the Western Association of collegiate alumnac and the otiier by the widow of Prof. Elisha Jones. But much more than either, new buildings, money, scholarships or fellowships the University of Michigan to-day needa waman in its faculties, both in the literary and medical departments. Our university is regarded from all parts of tliis country as the progressive institution, which is taking lead in all educational reform. 'Tis almost marvelous tliat such vvonderfully progressive strides have been accouiplislied n its iif ty years of existencc, and yet the old staid University of Bologna with its weather-beaten front, and its grey hairs, the result of its eight hundred years of life, has a woinan in its law faculty as well as a Mrs. Prof. of mathematica. There is much yet to be accomplished for the cause of co-education. The doors of Johns Ilopkins University sliould swing open. johns Hopkins University, prldlng tself on its high grade of intellectual advantages saying to all other American universitie?:' Come here and complete your edueatlon. Jane Bancroft, professor of French hlstory and literature, and Deun of the Woinan's College of the North -Western University, and the only lady ever allowed to attend a course of lectures in the University of I'arl?, was refused ttie privilege of attending a course of lectures in French history at Johns llopkins University, and with the polite note of refusal they sent to her a list of the text books used in this saine course of lectures. The list included u work on the rights of the French parliament which she herself liad written. But, sisters, what we need the most to-day is the establishment here in Washington of a National Unicersity, which shall say to all the world: We as a nation believe In co-education.