THE GIRL OF TO-MORROW
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—If I may be permitted to criticize Miss Magdalen King- Hall's unjustifiable condemnation of the utility of Latin, algebra, and geometry to the majority of girls in after life, I should like to enquire what subjects she proposes to introduce beyond European languages and literature (a very wide term which requires some definition) possessing qualities as invaluable for developing the mind.
To take Latin, for instance, one would have thought that such a keen student of European languages as Miss Magdalen King-Hall would have discovered before now that a great many European languages—and indeed, the majority of those most commonly spoken—are based on Latin, and that there- fore the learning of Latin must facilitate the learning of European languages. One would also have imagined that she would have found much in classical literature to interest her.
'Nor can I agree with her unqualified statement : " Even in the realm of sport, a great deal of time and energy are wrongfully spent. Girls are made to play cricket (a game that
women can never hope to excel at) . , . " Here (at a co- educational school) I have had many opportunities of watching girls play cricket, and I can truthfully say that girls can play cricket, even though Miss Magdalen King-Hall cannot.
And finally, when she states : " I, for instance, spent many fruitless and painful hours (both to myself and to my form mistresses) struggling with Latin and 'mathematics, while all, my inclinations were towards literature," one suspects,
ngfidly, I hope, that the fault lies with her and not with 'the subjects, and that had she really struggled her experiences would have been of a more happy nature.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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