Not much unlike the boy in childhood,
there comes a time when in the rapid evolution of puberty the girl
becomes for a while more than the equal of the lad, and, owing to her
conscientiousness, his moral superior, but at this era of her life she
is weighted by periodical disabilities which become needlessly hard to
consider in a school meant to be both home and school for both sexes.
Finally, there comes a time when the matured man certainly surpasses the
woman in persistent energy and capacity for unbroken brain-work. If then
she matches herself against him, it will be, with some exceptions, at
bitter cost.
It is sad to think that the demands of civilized life are making this
contest almost unavoidable. Even if we admit equality of intellect, the
struggle with man is cruelly unequal and is to be avoided whenever it is
possible.
The colleges for women, such as Vassar, are nowadays more careful than
they were. Indeed, their machinery for guarding health while education
of a high class goes on is admirable. What they still lack is a correct
public feeling. The standard for health and endurance is too much that
which would be normal for young men, and the sentiment of these groups
of women is silently opposed to admitting that the feminine life has
necessities which do not cumber that of man. Thus the unwritten code
remains in a measure hostile to the accepted laws which are supposed to
rule.
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