a
brilliant past in the field of higher education. Donna Galinda was the
Latin professor of Queen Isabella. Isabella Losa and Sigea Aloisia of
Toledo were renowned for their knowledge of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew;
Sigea Aloisia corresponded with the Pope in Arabic and Syriac. Isabel de
Rosores even preached in the Cathedral of Barcelona.

In the literature of the present time Spanish women are renowned. Of first
rank is Emilia Pardo Bazan, who is called the "Spanish Zola." She is a
countess and an only daughter, two circumstances that facilitated her
emancipation and, together with her talent, assured her success. She
characterizes herself as "a mixture of mysticism and liberalism." At the
age of seven she wrote her first verses. Her best book portrayed a
"liberal monk," Father Feque. _Pascual Loper_, a novel, was a great
success. She then went to Paris to study naturalism. Here she became
acquainted with Zola, Goncourt, Daudet, and others. A study of Francis of
Assisi led her again to the study of mysticism. In her recent novels
liberalism is mingled with idealism.

Emilia Pardo Bazan is by conviction a woman's rights advocate. In the
Madrid Atheneum she filled with great success the position of Professor of
French Literature. At the pedagogical congress in Madrid, in 1899, she
gave a report on _Woman, her Education, and her Rights_.

In Spain there are a number of well-known women journalists, authors, and
poets. Dr. Posada enumerates a number of woman's rights publications on
pages 200-202 of his book, _El Feminismo_.

Concepcion Arenal was a prominent Spanish woman and woman's rights
advocate. She devoted herself to work among prisoners, and wrote a
valuable handbook dealing with her work. She felt the oppression of her
sex very keenly. Concerning woman's status, which man has forced upon her,
Concepcion Arenal expressed herself as follows: "Man despises all women
that do not belong to his family; he oppresses every woman that he does
not love or protect. As a laborer, he takes from her the best paid
positions; as a thinker, he forbids the mental training of woman; as a
lover, he can be faithless to her without being punished by law; as a
husband, he can leave her without being guilty before the law."

The wife is legally under the guardianship of her husband; she has no
authority over her children. The property laws provide for joint property
holding.

In spite of these conditions Concepcion Arenal did not gi