, and thus brings its proper aim and
purpose into disrepute among those who judge of a theory by the
sub-theories of its disciples. A minor example of this error may be
found in the support accorded the axe-wielding termagant by women of
pure aims but misdirected energies and enthusiasms. That a crusade such
as that led by Carrie Nation could result in nothing but disrepute and
scorn for the tenets they cherished was beyond their scope of vision;
all that they could see was the attempted end. In the disregard of the
character of means so that the end be good lies a peril which, if not
subdued, may bring to naught all the noblest efforts of our womanhood in
the twentieth century. Unless the tendency to hysteria be eliminated,
the result cannot be that which the effort deserves.

Perhaps the most defined and significant feminine movement which
flowered it had long before blossomed at the death of the past century
is that which is generally termed "the higher education of women." While
this movement is not peculiar to America, it is in this country that it
first gave signs of florescence and has taken deepest root. Over the
length and breadth of the land are constantly springing up new
educational centres which are devoted to the culture of young women.
When Vassar began its career, it was, as Girton in England, looked upon
as a most doubtful experiment, both as to its permanency and the merit
of its aims; now it is but one of an ever-increasing many, while
coeducation is now an established rule in many of our greatest
institutions of learning. There are still dissentients from the theory
of classical and scientific education for women, and it is somewhat
singular that the movement should have obtained full headway at the very
time when there has been sharp and sustained attack upon university
education for men as an aid to future career; but in neither case can
the opponents of liberal education be said to have prevailed in
argument. That errors have been made in the progress of the movement for
broader feminine culture cannot be successfully denied; occasionally, as
in the adoption of the purely masculine badges of cap and gown, cause
has been given for more or less good-natured ridicule and charge of
fashion rather than earnestness in the movement. Nor can the
introduction of athletic contests into the female curriculum be heartily
defended; not only are such contests abrogative of the most cherished
theories of feminin