Page:Some Account of a Proposed New College for Women.djvu/4

 does not propose to be a female University, standing on its own basis, and undertaking to confer degrees by its own authority; it will aspire to no higher position than, say, that of Trinity College, Cambridge.

3. In order to carry out the project, there must be students, and there must be money. Evidence can be brought forward of there being a fair prospect of both.

The steady annual increase in the number of girls offering themselves as candidates for the Cambridge Local Examination, the wish expressed by them for further means of improvement, the opinion of superior schoolmistresses who have kept up acquaintance with former pupils, all tend to show that, though from the circumstances of the case there can be no loud-spoken call, there does exist a real demand for such an institution as is proposed.

As regards funds, it is to the wealthy members of the class whose daughters will hereafter benefit by the institution, that the appeal is made for funds for the foundation. The actual students will do their part in paying the current cost. It has been decided to build, as the expense of adapting any house that might be purchased would be great, and the result not satisfactory. The building will be the only endowment of the college proper. Exhibitions and scholarships will no doubt be added, as soon as the institution gets into work. The Schools Inquiry Commissioners have already recommended the application of some of the old charities, now wasted, if not mischievous, to this purpose. There is good reason to expect that public bodies will give their aid when the college is no longer an experiment. There are at present no considerable endowments for the higher education of women, but there are indications that the tide is turning. It is for the friends of education to take the preliminary steps. Every contribution made to such an undertaking will have a reproductive power; the work they aid in its beginning will, by-and-by, be carried on to far larger issues.