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126 minds of all a more intimate knowledge of each other would be beneficial."

A school, on much the same lines as those Mrs. Sorabji was contemplating, had been started at Ahmedabad under Government auspices in 1872, by the name of the Female Normal School, and its success was already assured. It was attended by women of all the better classes in Gujerat, and it was found that the intercourse of the pupils with each other did much towards overcoming their caste prejudices.

Ten years after its foundation it had sent out thirty-six well-trained teachers, and the work of the pupils, especially map-drawing, plain needle- work, and embroidery was such as to elicit the warm commendation of the Government inspectors.

In 1875 the work of the school was not as widely known as it has since become, but its success during the three years it had then been in existence, was sufficiently marked to encourage Mrs. Sorabji in the idea of establishing a somewhat similar institution at Poona.

The school she founded there, and which is known as the Victoria High School, was in many respects different in its working from that of the normal schools, being as far as possible on the same lines as English high schools, and its success has been so