by the Committee appointed for that purpose, were thought worth listening
to. The variety of topics considered was very great. The young ladies of
the village and the Institute had their favorite subjects, the young
gentlemen a different set of topics, and the occasional outside
contributors their own; so that one who happened to be admitted to a
meeting never knew whether he was going to hear an account of recent
arctic discoveries, or an essay on the freedom of the will, or a
psychological experience, or a story, or even a poem.

Of late there had been a tendency to discuss the questions relating to
the true status and the legitimate social functions of woman. The most
conflicting views were held on the subject. Many of the young ladies and
some of the University students were strong in defence of all the
"woman's rights" doctrines. Some of these young people were extreme in
their views. They had read about Semiramis and Boadicea and Queen
Elizabeth, until they were ready, if they could get the chance, to vote
for a woman as President of the United States or as General of the United
States Army. They were even disposed to assert the physical equality of
woman to man, on the strength of the rather questionable history of the
Amazons, and especially of the story, believed to be authentic, of the
female body-guard of the King of Dahomey,--females frightful enough to
need no other weapon than their looks to scare off an army of Cossacks.

Miss Lurida Vincent, gold medallist of her year at the Corinna Institute,
was the leader of these advocates of virile womanhood. It was rather
singular that she should have elected to be the apostle of this extreme
doctrine, for she was herself far better equipped with brain than
muscles. In fact, she was a large-headed, large-eyed, long-eyelashed,
slender-necked, slightly developed young woman; looking almost like a
child at an age when many of the girls had reached their full stature and