INTELLECTUAL CINDERELLAS


When, some thirty years ago, the extraordinary young mathematician, Truman
Henry Safford, first attracted the attention of New England by his rare
powers, I well remember the pains that were taken to place him under
instruction by the ablest Harvard professors: the greater his abilities,
the more needful that he should have careful and symmetrical training. The
men of science did not say, "Stand off! let him alone! let him strive
patiently until he has achieved something positively valuable, and he may
be sure of prompt and generous recognition--when he is fifty years old." If
such a course would have been mistaken and ungenerous if applied to
Professor Safford, why is it not something to be regretted that it was
applied to Mrs. Somerville? In her case, the mischief was done: she was,
happily, strong enough to bear it; but, as the English critics say, we
never shall know what science has lost by it. We can do nothing for her
now; but we could do something for future women like her, by pointing this
obvious moral for their benefit, instead of being content with a mere tardy
recognition of success, after a woman has expended half a century in
struggle.

It is commonly considered to be a step forward in civilization, that
whereas ancient and barbarous nations exposed children to special
hardships, in order to kill off the weak and toughen the strong, modern
nations aim to rear all alike carefully, without either sacrificing or
enfeebling. If we apply this to muscle, why not to mind? and if to men's
minds, why not to women's? Why use for men's intellects, which are claimed
to be stronger, the forcing process,--offering, for instance, many thousand
dollars a year in gratuities at our colleges, that young men may be induced