Art and Handcraft in the Woman's Building
of the World's Columbian Exposition

EVOLUTION OF WOMEN’S EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. WHILE the people of Massachusetts were still living in log huts, the school had its separate home, and as early as 1642 the selectmen of every town were “ required to have a vigi- lant eye over their brethren and neighbors, to see that none of them shall suffer so much barbarism in their families as nöt to endeavor to teach, by themselves or others, their children and apprentices so much learning as may enable them to read the English tongue and obtain a knowledge of the capital laws, upon penalty of twenty shil- lings for each neglect therein,” and one man must be spared from the plow and the gun, “ to teach, in every township whose number had increased to fifty households.” This led to the district school, which served the early scattering communities well, but was a hin- drance at a later period. The principle that the education of the people is the safeguard of the State was at once recognized, and also the right of the State to compel the attention of parents to it. Religious and industrial instruc- tion were provided for, and thus the great questions which are now taking the lead in our country were anticipated in the beginning by those whom Macaulay calls “ the men illustrious forever in history, the founders of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.” And equally with the firm foundation for rudimentary instruc- tion, the higher education was kept in mind, and provision made for the high or Latin school, leading up to the university. But, provident as our fathers were, they did not foresee the part which women were to take in the future life of the Republic, and failed to provide for their public education on the same broad basis as that of men. And yet Mary Dyer and Anne Hutchinson intro- duced the woman question into the councils of the colony, and so opened it that it has been kept open till this hour, when it is still awaiting an answer from the justice of the State. But while the colony macle little provision for the education, of women, yet, as many of them came from the best class in England, much attention was paid to the private instruction of the daughters (121)