ly-perfected plans. But, notwithstanding
the mistakes of inexperience, and the restrictions of poverty, the
result has been, on the whole, satisfactory--at least, those who have
tried it do not hesitate, in after years, to send back their own
children.

No "inherent difficulty in adjusting, in the same institution, the
methods of instruction to the physiological needs of each sex" has been
found. It should not be overlooked, that there is a large Preparatory
Department, composed of hundreds of boys and girls, in connection with
the college, so that the experiment at Oberlin has not included a small
number. Last year there were in the various departments 1,371 students,
648 of whom were girls.

The excuse of sickness for an absence is never questioned. This is
well-known by every girl in the school; and yet we have never heard a
Professor in the College, or a teacher in the Preparatory Department
complain that girls were oftener absent than boys. The Professor in
Physiology has kindly sent me the following:--"An examination of my
class-book, in all my recitations for the last five years, shows but a
very slight difference in the average number of absences from
recitations, for all causes, excused and unexcused, of women and men,
viz.:--for each man, 35.31, for each woman, 36.76."

There is another fact which ought to be mentioned. Many of the girls who
have completed a course of study at Oberlin have, at the same time,
supported themselves. This they have done mostly by teaching, which has
left them little time for rest or recreation even during the short
vacations.[53] Of course this would have been impossible, if the
expenses here were as great as in our eastern colleges; but reduce them
to the lowest minimum, and, at the present rate of women's wages, the
meeting of these expenses in addition to regular college-work is no
slight consideration. Is it any wonder if some who might endure the one,
fail under the weight of both? Several years ago, some benevolent Quaker
ladies of Philadelphia gave a few hundred dollars for the benefit of
this class of girls, and within the last few months others have added to
the sum. It is now proposed to secure a permanent fund of $10,000, the
interest to be used in helping those who are helping themselves.

Noticing one other point, we are done. There is an intimation by our
author, that boys educated in schools like Oberlin become effeminate,
and girls masculine.

If such men as