To all whom it may interest, the author dedicates this brief summary of the events which have wrought a peaceful revolution among us during the last fifty years. Among the many changes of the half-century, the great transformation in the education of women surely deserves a record. The workers have been many, the help given of various kinds, yet no event is isolated, for all are links in one chain of progress. Fifty years ago a few far-sighted men and women gave the impetus; we who harvest where they sow may like to be reminded, in this season of retrospects, of the great debt we owe them. What has touched the lives of so many women is the concern of all, and though the author shall be proud indeed if my book proves welcome to teachers, the author should wish most of all to address herself to that old and long-tried friend of literature, the general reader. If he, or she, can be persuaded, to spend an hour or two, learning the past and present of the education of our girls, then the author's purpose will have been accomplished.
