The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 1630-1880, Vol. IV, Part 45

Author: Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897, ed; Jewett, C. F. (Clarence F.), publisher
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Boston : Osgood
Number of Pages: 760

USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 1630-1880, Vol. IV > Part 45

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I must indulge myself in speaking of one teacher whose influence has been far-reaching in society, as well as in education, - Mrs. Anna Cabot Lowell, - born Jackson. When suddenly reduced from affluence to pov- erty, she refused generous offers of support from both her own and her husband's family, and chose to earn an independence for herself and her children by teaching. Her social position and fine education at once brought her pupils, and her school was a triumphant success. She made $3,000 the first year. She did not aim at having a fashionable school, and

1 [See Mr. Dillaway's chapter on this point. - ED.]

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discountenanced any pretensions of caste. Her great power lay in arousing the minds of her pupils to intense action, and awakening a love of literature which they never lost. Their enthusiasm for their teacher lasted through their lives. When the Civil War broke out, her sons gave their lives to their country, while she and her daughters labored in the sanitary and freedmen's work. Her influence has been to elevate the office of teacher, and no Boston woman can ever feel that she is lowering her social position by following in her footsteps.

The subject of a Girls' High School was not again brought forward for several years, when the demand for teachers had greatly increased, and Normal Schools had been established by the State. A city normal school for girls was founded in 1852, but the great general demand for high- school education caused its change, three years later, into the " Girls' High and Normal School."1 Colleges and professional schools being now largely open to women, a strong need of classical education was felt, and in prefer- ence to opening the old Latin School to them, a Latin School for girls was opened Jan. 1, 1878.

The employment of women as teachers gradually extended from the primary to the higher grades, and was very much stimulated by the exer- tions of Horace Mann, on the Board of Education. The highest positions are still closed to women, only one woman - Miss Baker - having ever been appointed head of a grammar or high school.2

The subject of co-education does not seem to have been agitated at an early period. When girls went to school at all, the arrangements were made rather from convenience than from theory. In 1830, however, a separation on the basis of sex was made in a few of the grammar schools. This movement was very unpopular in some sections of the city. In 1836 six out of ten of the grammar schools had both boys and girls; and the Committee of that year gave two memorable statements in their re- port,-one, "That the children of our own city have ever been distinguished for moral and upright behavior; " the other, " That the tendency of mixed schools is to demoralization!" Since that time the grammar and high schools in the old part of the city have been divided by sex; while in the suburbs, some of them are mixed and others are not.

The Boston University, established in 1869, has from the first opened its doors freely to women in all its departments. In 1879 it had in its colleges one hundred and forty-seven young women, to four hundred and fifty-eight young men. One female student was in law, two in theology, thirteen in music, and forty-eight in medicine. Two ladies serve on the Board of Cor-

1 [See Mr. Dillaway's chapter on this point. -ED.]

2 In 1880 one thousand and eighty-nine women were employed as teachers in the public schools, and one hundred and eighty men. Of the pupils in the normal and high schools, there are one thousand nine hundred and seventy-one girls, VOL. IV. - 44.

to one thousand and twenty-five boys; in the grammar schools, thirteen thousand four hun- dred and twelve girls, to fourteen thousand three hundred and twenty-two boys; and in the pri- mary schools, nine thousand five hundred and forty-two girls, to eleven thousand one hundred and eighty-eight boys.

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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

porators, and several as official visitors in the Faculties of liberal arts and medicine, and as managers of the hospital connected with the medical school. The aim of the Massachusetts Society for the University Education of Women was to found free scholarships at this university. It has sup- ported seventeen young women wholly or in part, but has as yet no endowed scholarships.1

The Women's Education Association, founded in 1872, has done a large and varied work. Among other good things, it has established training schools for nurses, diet kitchens, and cooking schools, the Harvard Exami- nation, the Women's Laboratory, and a summer home for working girls. Mrs. Ellen M. Richards was the first female student at the Massachu- setts Institute of Technology, which now admits women to all its classes. She is doing a great work in teaching science, as well as in her investiga- tions of adulteration in food. The Society for Encouraging Studies at Home, founded by Miss Anna E. Ticknor, extends its benefits throughout the land. It would indeed be tedious to enumerate all the opportunities for instruction now open to women in Boston. They are sufficient, if well used, to lead to a full recognition of her rights to education everywhere.

The Lowell Institute has done a great deal for women, by simply open- ing its fine courses of lectures to the citizens of Boston without distinction. It was once. thought improper for ladies to attend lectures, and even as late as 1838 the Lyceum audiences were so rude as to make it disagreeable for ladies to gain admission. Mrs. Lowell, the wife of the founder of the In- stitute, was herself a fine scholar, studying even the higher mathematics with her husband.

In the first half of our century the ladies of Boston were more literary in their tastes than scientific or artistic. They read much, and were familiar with modern languages. Sophia Dana (Ripley) had classes in history, which were highly enjoyed by her pupils. The lectures of the "Society for the Diffusion of Knowledge," and afterward those of Richard H. Dana, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and other eminent literary men, were largely attended by ladies. Miss Sarah Freeman Clarke, the first Boston woman who excelled in landscape painting, and one of the few persons who had the benefit of Mr. Allston's instruction, writes : "In 1827, I think, the first Athenaeum exhibition of pictures was announced. A joyous whisper went about that ladies might go to this exhibition unattended by a gentleman. Advanced womanhood will smile at this concession, granted by I know not what social power." This marks a great difference in social customs.

Until within forty years no decent woman entered the pit, now raised into the parquet, of the theatre, and an insulting regulation made the third row infamous. Now ladies go freely into all parts of the theatre, with or with- out gentlemen, and Kean riots and the rule of the pit are things of the past. Two Boston women - Mrs. Snelling Powell and Miss Charlotte Cushman - have proved that the position of an actress is not inconsistent with the

1 [See Mr. Dillaway's chapter. - ED.]

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THE WOMEN OF BOSTON.

noblest private virtues and the purest reputation. On the fifth of May, 1852, ladies were for the first time invited to a public political dinner; it was given in honor of Hon. John P. Hale.

Few women have received professional education, except in medicine. As the courts decided that a woman could not even be appointed justice of the peace, the law held out little attraction to those seeking occupation. Few have sought to enter the Church, although one woman has attended theological lectures at Harvard, by favor. But many women have become religious teachers without professional preparation, and it is no unusual thing for a Boston pulpit to be occupied by a woman. The Boston Daily Advertiser of Nov. 1, 1880, says: "Pulpits in Boston, in the suburban towns, and in cities as far distant as Lowell, were occupied by delegates to the Women's Temperance Convention to the number of twenty-four; and prayer-meetings were also led by them." The "Women's Industrial and Educational Union " hold a service on Sunday afternoons, conducted entirely by women. The city of Anne Hutchinson does not find them to be disturbers of the peace.

The Woman's Board of Missions, incorporated in 1869, has done a large work. Its President, Mrs. Albert Bowker, and its leading Vice-President, Mrs. R. Anderson, as well as many of its officers, are Boston women; but its work is not confined to the city. The Home Missionary Association has also done a good work.

The advancement of women in the profession of medicine during the last · forty years has been so great, that it must have more than a passing word.

The work of women in caring for the sick began very early in the history of the colony. Anne Hutchinson was physician as well as preacher. The practice of midwifery was mostly if not entirely in women's hands. But, as years went by, provision was made both for the elementary and pro- fessional education of men, while that of women was neglected; so that as the city progressed in knowledge and prosperity, the demand for the edu- cated and scientific physician drove the midwife, who had only learned her business in the school of experience, out of practice. The most remark- able midwife was Ruth Barnaby, who practised her profession forty years in Boston, dying in 1765, at the great age of one hundred and one years. Mrs. Alexander, a highly-educated Scotch physician, well known in the city in the early half of the century, was probably the last midwife whose skill was recognized by the higher classes in Boston, although many still find employment among families of moderate means.

Harriot Keziah Hunt, born in Boston in 1805, gave a great impulse to the employment of women in medicine. A woman of great original vigor of intellect, warmth of heart, and strength of will, she was driven to the study and practice of medicine by her observation of the treatment of disease in her own family. She was educated at private schools, and her- self taught in one for a short time. Through the illness of a beloved sister she became acquainted with two English physicians, Dr. Valentine Mott and

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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

his wife. She lived with them for several years, learning all she could of the theory and practice of medicine. Miss Hunt was never strictly a prac- titioner of any school. A Swedenborgian in faith, she believed much in spiritual and mental influences upon health. Her object was to cure her patients, and she gave them whatever counsel and treatment she felt they needed. Her admirable good sense and warm sympathy often enabled her to " minister to a mind diseased." That she was not more scientifically educated was not her fault, for she repeatedly petitioned to attend the lec- tures of the Harvard Medical School, but without success. She took an active interest in all reforms, protested against paying her taxes without the right of representation, and being called to court as a witness, she refused to stoop under the chains placed around the court-house in the time of a fugitive-slave case. Full of oddities and humor, her ringing laugh was a tonic more refreshing to her patients than her bitter herbs, and she some- times recalled them to life by refusing to entertain the idea of their dying. If she failed to gain a good medical education herself, she appreciated its . importance, and tried to secure it for others. She aided in the formation of a society for medical education, which established a college in 1850.

I have not space to trace minutely the interesting history of this college. In 1859, Dr. Marie E. Zakezewska was invited to the chair of obstetrics; and by her wish a clinical department was formed, of which she took charge. At the end of three years she resigned her position, the clinical instruction was abandoned, and the "New England Hospital for Women and Children " was established. Dr. Lucy E. Sewall was its first resident physician. This institution still affords almost the only opportunity in New England for the clinical instruction of female medical students. In 1879 ninety-one resi- dent students had received their practical education here, and entered into practice. Several women came from Europe for the purpose of enjoying the educational advantages of the hospital. It has now nine women on its medical staff. The New England Hospital Medical Society numbers thir- teen physicians, resident in Boston, with a few from other places.

In 1873 the Trustees of the Female Medical College, by permission of the Legislature, transferred its property to the Boston University. As the Homeopathic Association was the only medical society ready to comply with the terms on which the funds could be transferred, the school was placed under its care. All its advantages are as freely opened to women as to men, and a good opportunity is here offered to study all branches of medical science, as well as the theory and practice of homœopathy. A small hospital gives opportunity for cliniques. About sixteen women of this school are now in practice in Boston, many of whom have recently graduated.

The fourth charitable society in Boston, and the first founded by women, was the Boston Female Asylum, suggested by Mrs. Hannah Stillman. The first meeting was held at the house of Mrs. Jonathan Mason, Sept. 26, 1800. The most wealthy and influential ladies of the

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city united in this work, and they were cordially aided by the wealthy citizens with money, and by the clergy, who helped to make their anniver- sary meetings occasions of public interest. Two curious provisions are found in their Charter: -

I. "That every married woman belonging to said society who shall, with consent of her husband, receive any of the money or other property of said society, shall thereby render her said husband accountable therefor to said society.

2. " That the treasurer of said society shall always be a single woman."

Miss Elizabeth Eaton, well known as a teacher, organized the first Moral Reform Society. The influx of foreigners of the lower classes, which in- creased very rapidly from 1830 to 1840, bringing so much of want, suffering, and vice in their train, aroused deeply the feelings and consciences of the ladies of Boston. Their exclusive and elegant lives looked to themselves selfish and unfruitful in contrast with the world of human needs brought to their very doors, and they began to ask themselves earnestly as to their duty in regard to it.

Dorothea Lynde Dix was much influenced by the preaching and life of Dr. Channing. She was a woman of delicate physical organization and sensitive nerves, but of fine culture, and was an accomplished teacher. In the midst of her pleasant literary labors she was suddenly impelled to a life of self-sacrifice for others, and turned her thoughts to the condi- tion of prisoners in her own city and State, whom she wished to visit. Every one discouraged her from pursuing her purpose, telling her that it would be at the risk of her life; but she persevered through the winter, and in the spring she saw signs that her labors had not been all in vain. From finding persons of unsound mind confined in the common jails, her attention was turned to the condition and treatment of the insane. In pur- suance of this object she visited Europe in 1834, and also travelled over all the United States. Her exertions have contributed largely to the establish- ment of hospitals for the indigent insane. She was appointed superintendent of nurses during the Civil War, and at its close resumed her philanthropic labors. In spite of her early feeble health she is still living, although she must be about eighty years old, and continues to be interested in her benev- olent work.

It would be impossible to name all the important benevolent institutions in Boston in which women have taken part, often originating them, although it is deemed wiser that both sexes should unite in carrying them on. Every sect has done its part. The Catholic Sisters of Charity are constantly engaged in works of mercy, and the Jews never allow their poor to beg of others. The same zeal is shown in the temperance reform, in the work of the North-End Mission, and in the North-End Industrial Home founded by Mrs. Harriet L. Clarke (Caswell), in the care of foundling and destitute chil- dren, in the prevention of cruelty to animals, and in many other ways. But it is alike impossible to separate the work of Boston from that of the Com-

350

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

monwealth, or of its women from its men. Yet the reflex action upon the life and character of Boston women is very marked : a lady hardly thinks her life complete unless she is directly aiding in some work of reform or charity.

The working women of Boston form a very large and important class, whose influence is too great to be overlooked. While the higher classes of work receive recognition and reward greater than in any other time or country, there are yet many evils pressing heavily upon shop-girls and sewing women,1 and those employed in serving others. Educated women and men are carnestly engaged in efforts to improve the condition of these classes by industrial education, by opening new avenues of employment, and by promoting a better understanding between employers and em- ployed.

While we cannot willingly admit that the social morality of our city is degenerating, we cannot deny the fact that the efforts of philanthropists and reformers seem as yet only to have revealed the appalling extent of vice, rather than to have devised any practical means of checking it. The question is too profound and too painful to be discussed here, but on its righteous solution depends the future permanence and well-being of our civilization.2

In literature, the progress of women has been so rapid that now a woman's name on the titlepage of a book hurts neither its acceptance with the publisher nor its sale to the public. The results of higher educa- tion are marked in the superior style and method in the writings of younger women. Of the many women who have contributed to this success, I can name only a very few of those who have most influenced the character of Boston women.

Lydia Maria Francis (Child), born in 1804, exercised a powerful in- fluence both by her character and her writings. An ardent lover of beauty and truth, she was also eminently practical in her work and simple in her habits. Her career was long and brilliant. She was the first (in 1821) to publish a novel, -Hobomok, -founded on the Pilgrims' history, and the first to edit a child's magazine. Her Juvenile Miscellany was the delight of the children, while her Philothea charmed romantic maidens, and her Frugal Housewife was the oracle of New England kitchens; it was published in 1829, and had reached its thirty-third edition in 1855. She consciously perilled all her literary success by entering upon Antislavery work, and her Appeal for that Class of Americans called Africans made a profound im-

1 By the last census of Massachusetts, in 1875, there were one hundred and seventy-nine thou- sand six hundred and fifty-seven women in Bos- ton, - an excess over men of nearly seventeen thousand. It is difficult to classify working women accurately, but it is estimated that there are now twenty thousand sewing women and shop girls in Boston, and twenty to twenty-five thousand engaged in domestic service of all

kinds. There are but twenty-eight governesses reported.

2 The latest authorities estimate that there are in Boston five thousand women who may be classed under the usual phrase of "lost women," - women who are lost to morality and happi- ness themselves, and who are the sources of evil to others. The deep interest on this subject should look to the prevention of its causes.

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THE WOMEN OF BOSTON.

pression upon the best minds of the community.1 Her History of the Pro- gress of Religious Ideas is also a work of great value, which has only been thrown into the shade by the great light shed upon the subject since she published it. The loveliness of her life and character was equal to her intellectual ability. She died in 1880.2

Although the influence of Sarah Margaret Fuller (Ossoli)-born in 1810 - was by no means confined to Boston, it was here fully felt; and it lingers in all the life and character of Boston women. Rarer than her great intel- lectual attainments was her power of vitalizing all knowledge, by bringing it into relation with life, not in its practical, but in its ideal aspect. * " Is life rich and full to you? " was the question she asked of her pupils; and the heartfelt answer was: " Yes, since I have known you." The Greek mytho- logy, German philosophy, the old English drama, Italian poetry, Beethoven's music, all became part of every individual, as of the universal, life. This transcendental elevation of common life stamped itself strongly on those who came within her influence. Her book on Woman in the Nineteenth Century is yet the high-water mark of thought on that subject. She was a leader in the great intellectual movement which introduced to us German literature and philosophy, and at one time edited The Dial, whose value has only increased with age. She died, by shipwreck, in 1850.3

We still have with us Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, born in 1804, wittily and wisely called the " Grandmother of Boston," for what Boston woman cannot trace much of her best intellectual life to this fountain? The daughter of a scientific father and a mother who was an accomplished teacher, her whole life has absorbed and radiated education; and to her is due much of the highest religious, intellectual, and moral influence of Boston, as well as the wide-spread knowledge of Froebel's thoughtful and humane system of education. Her individual deeds of kindness and her zeal for humanity almost overshadow her literary merits, until we observe the depth of her historic and philosophic learning, the vigor of her thought, and the strength and purity of her style. Her little book-shop, in West Street, was at one time the resort of the most distinguished literati of Boston, as well as of eager school-girls, who bought more pencils than they could use for the sake of a chance word from its presiding genius.

Cornelia Wells Walter (Richards) took editorial charge of the Boston

1 [See James Freeman Clarke's chapter in Vol. III .- ED.]

2 [There is an appreciative sketch of her by Colonel Higginson in Eminent Wouren of the Age, 1868. Her novel, The Rebels, deals with events in Boston during the Revolution, and may be compared with Cooper's Lionel Lincoln, a story covering Bunker Hill and other events of the same time .- ED.]

3 [Colonel Higginson furnishes a kindly sketch of Margaret Fuller in Eminent Womeu of the Age, 1868. Her chief memorial is the

Memoirs, a joint work by R. W. Emerson, James Freeman Clarke, and William H. Channing. Some autobiographic memoranda, etc., of her later years will be found in At Home and Abroad, edited by her brother, A. B. Fuller, in 1856. Also see Horace Greeley's Recollec- tions of a Busy Life, ch. xxii .; his introduction to her Papers ou Literature and Art; O. B. Frothingham's Transcendentalism in New Eng- land, ch. xi. For her family connection, see the Fuller Family in N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., Oct. 1859. - ED.]

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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

Daily Evening Transcript immediately on the death of her brother, its first editor, in 1843, but the fact was not publicly announced until the first of January following, when her success was assured. This is believed to be the first instance of the successful conduct of a daily journal by a woman. Miss Walter was the avowed and responsible editor, taking that position at the request of the proprietors and publishers of the paper. The paper gained both in circulation and reputation, especially for the truthfulness of its notices, under her management, which continued until her marriage, in 1848.

Women have advanced very rapidly in the plastic arts. Miss Goodrich 1 took high rank as a miniature painter in the early part of the century ; her portrait of Daniel Webster is in the cabinet of the Massachusetts Historical Society. In 1851 a school of design for women was established, with the object of fitting them for practical work. Owing to various causes, the school was not a success; but a class in practical design, under the charge of the Lowell Institute, is freely open to women, who share in its honors and employments. The Normal Art School and the School of Drawing and Painting, at the Museum of Fine Arts, afford to women full opportunity for thorough study. William M. Hunt, for many years the, leading artist in Boston, formed a school of women distinguished for the energy and vigor of their work. He gave a great impulse to the pursuit of art, not as an amusement, but as an earnest vocation. In sculpture success has been quite as marked. Harriet Hosmer's fame is European, and Anne Whitney's statues 2 do not "fear the light of the public square." Decorative art has gone beyond all possibility of measurement. Warville " hopes the Boston women may never, like those of Paris, acquire ' la maladie' of perfection in music, which is not to be attained but at the expense of the domestic virtues." Education in music has come, but we hope without the pre- dicted loss of domestic happiness.

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The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 1630-1880, Vol. IV, Part 45

Author: Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897, ed; Jewett, C. F. (Clarence F.), publisher Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Boston : Osgood Number of Pages: 760

Author: Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897, ed; Jewett, C. F. (Clarence F.), publisher
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Boston : Osgood
Number of Pages: 760