The Address of Charles E. West, A. M., on Retiring from the Office of Principal of the Rutgers Female Institute, Which He Had Held Twelve Years Delivered by Request, July 11Th, 1851 (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Address of Charles E. West, A. M., On Retiring From the Office of Principal of the Rutgers Female Institute, Which He Had Held Twelve Years: Delivered by Request, July 11th, 1851

It is natural that we should glance at the past, and look at the memorials we have seen reared as we passed along. I regret that we have so little time for so pleasing a service. The history of Rut gers Institute is written on the tablets of my heart. I have watched its rise and growth; have sympathized with all that related to its honor and prosperity. It was the commencement of a new era in the cause of Female Education in this city. Not that its system of instruction is peculiar, but because of its extent. With the exception of the dead languages, its course is quite as extensive as that of our best colleges. It fixes no limits as to time. It has no four years' course. The pupil's graduation depends on her attainments. It is no patent system, guaranteeing perfection in any particular art or science by a course of six lessons of an hour each! It begins at the foundation, and leads the pupil along, step by step. It seeks for the healthy development of mind. It takes in the whole being, body and soul, and requires that both be developed together, and not one at the expense of the other. It holds out no Arcadian bowels of ease to the indolent or fashionable young lady. It demands labor. If she would drink at living fountains, and breathe the bracing air, she must leave the couch of sloth and scale the mountain tops. She must look upon this glorious world, and study its matchless beauty;she must look within herself, and see a miniature of Deity - a living soul, and train it for the skies. This is education - selfeducatz'on, and in truth there is no other. All that schools can do is to hold out the hand of encouragement, and point the way.

Fears were entertained, at the organization of the Institution, that it might prove a failure. Some desired that such might be the result. It was called sectarian, although all denominations, both Jew and Gentile, had part in it. It was thought such large numbers as at tended it could not be properly instructed, little reflecting that here, as in the Universities and Gymnasia of Europe, thousands can be taught where the proper classification of pupils and studies, and the requisite supply of teachers, exist. Some thought private instruction more favorable to the scholar than public; that the manners would be injured by mingling with plebeians. But the question at once arises, Who in a democratic country are plebeians Do they exclu sively belong to the humbler walks of life? Does wealth or birth confer exemption from this term of obloquy and reproach? Must we not look elsewhere for the right application of this distinctive and opprobrious appellation? Ought it not to be applied to the vicious and degraded, whether they are dandled in the lap of luxury, or fam ish on the crumbs of a stinted charity I am happy to state we have made no other distinction here than what is founded on respectability of character. Our doors have been thrown open to the daughters of the virtuous and the good, and I will venture to affirm that no where, in any similar school in our country, can there be found young ladies more meritorious and deserving, or who have higher claims to respectability.

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