their stand-point as
reasoning beings, they are unable to accept its conclusions, the
premises being granted. And these adverse criticisms, these indignant
protests, are not solely from teachers, but also from mothers, from
those who have never taught, and the most candid and dispassionate one
of all, from a woman in no wise connected with schools, either public or
private.

But even supposing that they were all from teachers, does that fact,
except under a very narrow view of human nature, render them any the
less valuable? Does one profession blind the eyes more than the other?
Even in the narrowest view possible to the teacher, is it not for her
interest that her pupils should be healthy? How can mental work be
satisfactorily done without physical vigor? If it be objected here that
some teachers are interested only in present results, unmindful of
future consequences, I enter a counter statement that the same is true
of some physicians, and bar the line of argument which would compare the
poorest teachers with the best physicians.

The profession of teaching is not thus narrow in its views; is not so
led by present and temporary motives. Its members are not working for
glitter and show in the few years of school life; they do not aim at
showy displays at the risk of permanent injury. They work not for
to-day, but for all time and for eternity. Their greatest reward is in
seeing the development of mind, the correction of false habits, the
strengthening grasp of thought, and the growth of character. Are they
any less desirous than the physician that the delicate instrument which
puts the soul in communication with the external world, and by means of
which it must be developed, be in perfect tune? Do they desire any less
earnestly than he, that they may assist in forming from the effervescent
girl-life of America a gracious womanhood, fully able to bear any strain
which active life may bring, rejoicing to become in due time true wives
and real mothers? Is the future of American women any less dear to the
teaching profession than to the medical profession? Do they "care less
for human suffering and human life than the success of their theories?"
Are not the teachers seeking truth as well as the physicians? Are not
they, to use the simile of one able critic, also attentive at their
watch-towers of science and experience? A woman who has been teaching
for many years, and has been all the time associated with large number