Seminaries

Last year, lurid flames lit Rock Ridge, back of Greenwich, Conn.; 175 scant-clad girls responded perfectly to their fire drill, as the dormitories of Rosemary Hall, famed boarding school for young ladies, burned to the ground. Last week, it was announced that students of Rosemary Hall (i.e., their parents, old Rosemarians, friends and philanthropists) had bought nearly all of a $300,000 bond issue to enable Rosemary to rise phoenixlike from its ashes, more attractive, modern and efficient than ever, and this time fireproof.

Rosemary Hall was founded in 1890 by its present headmistress, Dr. Caroline Ruutz-Rees, at Wallingford, Conn., moving to Greenwich in 1900. Miss Ruutz-Rees (Democratic National Committeewoman for Connecticut) is English by birth and education, and her school has something of the English temper. Its physical and intellectual life is robust, "not for weaklings."* The diploma requirement is admission by examination to Bryn Mawr, Vassar or Smith College. Field hockey, basketball, self-government and brains are the things for which Rosemary has become noted. Associated with Miss Ruutz-Rees are Miss Mary E. Lowndes, who rides horseback and thinks vigorously at 70; and Miss Margaret Augur, a Barnard graduate and old Rosemarian.

Other young ladies' schools in the U. S. that have achieved some prominence:

Bradford Academy, Bradford, Mass. "Oldest institution in New England for the higher education of women," founded 1803. Long an active inter est for Alice Freeman Palmer, famed poet-president of Wellesley College. Principal: Marion Coats, Vassar graduate. Specialties: Music, Fine Arts, Expression.

Dana Hall, Wellesley, Mass. Founded 1881 as an incubator for Wellesley College matriculants. Headmistress: Helen Temple Cooke. Specialties: "The highest ideals of womanhood, Thorough Scholarship, General Cul ture." In the college town of Wellesley, Dana Hall girls can be distinguished from the Welleslilassies by the hats they are oibliged to wear when walking out.

Miss Porter's School, Farmington, Conn, (commonly called "Farming-ton"). Founded 1843 "in a small way" by Sarah Porter, sister of P'resident Noah Porter of Yale University (1871-1886). "She gave to hundreds of the best-born women of the land that poise and stability of character, that combination of learning and good manners, which is a mark of the noblest American womanhood." Farmington, whose course is indefi- nite in length and character, has a reputation for distinction of dress and deportment. It caters to "the finer families." Its product is rather the perfect lady than the trained mind. Mr. and Mrs. Robert Porter Keep are in charge.

Westover, at Middlebury, Conn., is active, modern, out-of-doors and "horsy." The girls wear uniform costume, are more "school girls" than "young ladies." Mary Robbins Hillard, headmistress, who founded Westover in 1909 with the aid of wealthy friends, "has a passion for imparting spiritual truths individually to her girls in private and has almost uncanny genius in understanding what girls are thinking about and gaining their confidence." The school offers "a well-rounded training for social requirements"; but relatively few prepare for college. Unconsciously on Miss Hillard's part, the school has gained a reputation for exclusiveness and most of the girls naturally come from families of wealth.

The Masters School, commonly called "Dobbs Ferry" from its location on the Hudson River, was founded in 1877 by the late Sarah Masters (who is said "never to have attended the theatre"), is now maintained 'by Mary C. Strong. It has "high social prestige" and an "exclusive atmosphere." The character of its training is somewhere between that of a school and a finishing academy, much like Westover. Neither scholarship nor athletics take precedence. Discipline is strict. Dobbs girls wear uniforms, observe an honor system, may prepare for college.

The Spence School, just off Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, and The Finch School, farther uptown, lead the U. S. city finishing schools. A year or two at either is thought good for Western girls, but Spence has also a large Manhattan clientele. Both offer preparation for college, but are attended rather for their adjacence to the theatre, the opera, the Metropolitan Museum. Both are considered "ultra."* The headmistress of Finch is Mrs. John O'Hara Cosgrave. Clara B. Spence, strong and gracious of personality, died last spring.

The Baldwin School, at Bryn Mawr, Pa., is the oldest and most widely known of the many girls' schools in and about Philadelphia. Elizabeth Forrest Johnson, Vassar graduate, "maintains the wholesome and sensible ideals of the founder," Florence Baldwin. Her girls take their studies seriously, are taught well by a large staff, usually enter Bryn Mawr College.

Miss Madeira's School, in Washington, D. C., is another college pre- paratory, smaller and more fastidious than Baldwin.

Foxcroft, in the Piedmont Valley near Middleburg, Va., keeps its pupils much in the saddle, gives them hearty, simple country life, teaches soundly if not extensively.

*This and following quotations are excerpts from Sargent's handbook, American Private Schools.^

*Finch was once selected as an exalted antithesis. Said the Yale Record, in verses illustrative of womankind's universal sorority: "The girl from Finch and the Chapel Street ginch Are sisters under the skin."