Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 65.djvu/357

Rh one other fact remains to complete this record of vital statistics. In the first decade 63 members, or 19.19 per cent., have died. Of this number 36 were married and 27 unmarried, a ratio of four to three. This might indicate that matrimony is slightly unfavorable to longevity, as the ratio of those marrying to those not marrying is 14 to 11. But this impression is corrected in the following decades.

In the second decade the number deceased is 39, or 10.31 per cent. Of these 16 were married and 23 unmarried, a ratio of about two to three. As the number of married and single women in this decade is about equal, the death rate is decidedly in favor of the married. In the last decade 16, or 2.66 per cent., have died, four of them married, making the rate one to three, whereas the marrying rate is about seven to 18. This again shows a small balance in favor of the married. The whole number of the graduates who have died is 118, or 9.06 per cent.

Next to matrimony the profession that claims the greatest number of the alumnae of Vassar is teaching. In this schedule are included all those who have recorded themselves as teaching, if only for a year. This may give an exaggerated impression of the number following teaching as an occupation; but I know of no way of establishing a definite professional record for a woman, because all roads, sooner or later, are likely to lead, if not to matrimony, to the domestic circle. From my own observation I should say that probably two thirds of every class at Vassar, immediately upon graduation, experiment more or less with pupils. Members of school boards will probably say that fully three thirds seek positions. My estimate may be more nearly correct, however, and of this two thirds, I doubt if more than one sixth, or one ninth of the whole, follow the profession for a considerable length of time, say ten or fifteen years.

Here are the records: In the first decade 128 of the 323, or 39.62 per cent, of the whole number, are recorded as teaching or having taught. Out of this list 46, or more than one third, have married, which in most cases, not all, has ended their public teaching. Several have resumed or taken up teaching on the death of their husbands, and sometimes when the husband is living. In the second decade there are 154 teachers, or 40.70 per cent, of the whole number. In this list 59, or again more than one third, have married. In the last decade, where we naturally expect to find the greatest number who have not severed their connection with the school-room, there are 304 teachers, or but 50.58 per cent, of the whole list, and even out of this half 52, or 17.10 per cent., were married in 1900.

A considerable number of these teachers have done advanced work. In the first decade there are twenty professors, officers and instructors in institutions belonging to the Association of Collegiate Alumnæ, an