prepared to carry this new influence into all her future life, even if a
large number of these women should eventually pursue special or higher
technical branches; for we are women before we are teachers, lawyers,
physicians, etc., and if we are to add anything of distinctive value to
the world by entering upon the fields of work hitherto pre-empted by
men, it will be by the essential quality of this new feminine element.

"The strain in all work comes chiefly from lack of qualification by
training or nature for the work in hand,--tear in place of wear. The
schools can restore the ideal of quiet work. They have an immense
advantage in regularity, discipline, time. This vast system gives an
opportunity, such as no private schools offer, for ascertaining the
average work which is healthful for growing girls. It is quite possible
to ascertain, whether by women medical officers appointed to this end,
or by the teachers themselves, the physical capacity of each girl, and
to place her where this will not be exceeded. Girls trained in school
under such wise supervision would go out into life qualified to guard
the children of the future. The chief cause of overwork of children at
present is the ignorance of parents as to the injurious effects of
overwork, and of the signs of its influence.

"The first step toward the relief of over-pressure and false stimulus is
to discard the pernicious idea that it is the function of the normal
school to offer to every girl in the community the opportunity for
becoming a teacher. This unwholesome feature is the one distinctive
strain which must be removed from the system. It can be done provided
public and political sentiment approve. The normal school should be only
a device for securing the best possible body of teachers. It should be
technical.