The Life of Mary Lyon

of Britain," briefly discusses the "conveniency of she-colleges."" Nunneries also were good she-schools wherein the girls and maids of the neighbourhood were taught to read and work; and sometimes a little Latin was taught them therein." But nunneries had gone out of fashion in Protestant Britain; and as even a limited knowledge of the classics appeared unnecessary in housewives, the thrifty founders of this country did not propose to give it to them. Thereby they made no unkind distinction in intellect; they believed in learning for a boy only when he meant to use it. Harvard was established because, as the Massachusetts settlers quaintly phrased it, they " dreaded to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches when our present ministry shall lie in the dust." Their point of view coincides with that of many people who queried two hundred years later, " When girls become scholars, who is to make puddings and pies ?" The idea of a woman preacher, lawyer, or teacher of an... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.