defined when there is no attempt to mark it off by words, nor ready at command, unless the mind is trained to quickness; then, again, of what use to others is our inner self, except as it appears to them? If ladies were disciplined in logical reasoning, in literary taste, and capable of communicating their own thoughts with ease, clearness, and elegant propriety, how immeasurably would their means of radiating light be increased. We have alluded thus cursorily to a few branches which receive less than their proportion of regard; but, of the whole spirit and manner of the teacher, of all that quickening, refining, elevating influence, which should surround and pervade the pupil's mind, the length of this article forbids us to speak, as also of the direct effect of religious truth and experience upon the intellect. Finally, ladies, we must ourselves be made to see the object of our existence, and feel our own wants. We have been too stupid in our ignorance, and our brothers have been too well satisfied to let us take our own way; but, when we unitedly and strongly present our petitions for the means of a higher education, they will gladly aid us with money and mind, and find, hereafter, in return, a-help more meet. With high Christian purpose, let us strive to bring ourselves and our sex to that type of womanhood of which the Creator may say, "It is good."

XIII. PACKER COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE FOR GIRLS.

BROOKLYN, N. Y.

In the year 1844, a number of citizens of Brooklyn, New York, made a successful effort to found, upon a solid and permanent basis, an institution of high order, for the education of girls. The following extracts, from the articles of association, will sufficiently indicate the objects and plan of its formation.

1. The interest of this Institution shall be vested in the hands of a Board of Trustees, consisting of fifteen members, to be chosen out of the number of stockholders.

2. These Trustees shall be divided into three classes, one of which shall be chosen every year; so that each shall hold his place for three years.

3. The Trustees shall choose their own officers, and make their own by-laws, and should any vacancy occur, they may supply the same, until the next ensuing annual election.

4. It shall be the duty of the Trustees to submit to the stockholders, at the time of each annual election, a report of the state of the Institution and its finances, with an inventory of its property.

The Association was incorporated in 1845, and in the same year A. Crittenden, A. M., who had been for twenty years the efficient and successful Principal of the Albany Female Academy, assumed its charge. Two substantial brick buildings were erected the main one, in which were all the school apartments, was about 75 feet by 100 feet and four stories high: the other, devoted to the accommodation of pupils from abroad, being about fifty feet square and of a similar height. These were completed and formally dedicated on the 4th day of May, 1846.

In relation to the situation and objects of the Institution, Rev Dr. Sprague, D. D., of Albany, who delivered an address on this occasion, made use of the following language:

If we were ignorant of the purpose for which this edifice has been erected, and were left to conjecture it from the beauty of its situation, the elegance of its structure, or the extent and variety of its accommodations, we should certainly conclude that it ought to be some purpose of great moment; for it would seem incongruous that both nature and art should thus be laid under contribution in honor of any thing that does not deserve to be honored. Nor should we have reason to be disappointed, when the secret came out that this building is to be devoted exclusively to the interests of education. No, there is nothing here, within or around-nothing in these extensive apartments or these convenient arrangements -nothing in the bright heavens arching this eminence-nothing in the surrounding ocean, now whitened with sails and teeming with life, and now receiving into its bosom the glorious sun-nothing in this spot so quiet that the weary spirit might well come hither to rest and breathe, while yet it is almost embosomed in one of the largest cities upon earth-I say there is nothing in all this but what is in admirable harmony with the purpose for which this building has been erected. May the commanding eminence which it occupies, lifting it towards the fountains of natural light, prove emblematical of its yet loftier intellectual and moral position, elevating it into communion with the fountain of all spiritual light and blessing!

To what extent these anticipations have been realized will appear from the following extracts. In their second annual report to the stockholders, the Trustees say,

The enterprise can no longer be considered an experiment. The Academy, it is believed, is now firmly established; and the Trustees would congratulate the stockholders on the decided evidence of usefulness which the Institution has already furnished, and the promise which it gives of future and permanent benefit to our community.

We have now an Academy which will compare most favorably with any other Institution of a similar kind in the country. With an income sufficient to meet all its ordinary expenditures, and to pay off its debt within a reasonable period-with a corps of efficient and experienced Teachers, possessing high qualifications for their vocation-with ample accommodations of the best character, and every facility for furnishing an education of the highest order,-nothing is wanting to ensure the complete and permanent success of the Brooklyn Female Academy, but the continued good opinion and support of a liberal and enlightened community. Great anxiety was felt by the Trustees, that unavoidable embarrassments would cause a long delay before the pupils and teachers could be put into right positions, so that the pupils could receive that quiet and orderly instruction, which the patrons of the Institution, notwithstanding all these impediments, would naturally expect.

But we have the unalloyed satisfaction of knowing that the work was done, and in good time; the most gratifying results have been achieved; a mild, efficient, and paternal government has been established and uniformly maintained.

The reputation of the Academy for good government, ample means, and thorough instruction, has been continually growing up, silently but surely gaining the confidence of the community, till its good name is known, not only throughout our land, but in distant countries.

In proof of this statement, we are able to enumerate among the 1520 pupils who have sought the advantages of an education here, the representatives of 19 different States of our Union, the Canadas, St. Thomas, Trinidad, Cuba, Bermuda, the Sandwich Islands, and England.

The foregoing extracts sufficiently indicate the objects, progress, and success of this Institute, for the first five years. It continued to increase in favor until 1853, when its revenue, from tuition alone, amounted to $20,000 per annum, and its number of pupils to six hundred, in daily attendance. On the first morning of that year, the larger building with all its contents, including the large and well selected library, scientific apparatus and cabinets, was entirely destroyed by fire. But a calamity so sudden and disastrous even as this, did not interrupt the operations of the school for a single hour. Through the energy and promptness of the Principal, it was at once established in the neighboring rooms of the Brooklyn Institute, the use of which was tendered while the flames were yet raging.

Within three days after this disaster, Mrs. Harriet L. Packer, addressed a note to the Trustees of the Brooklyn Female Academy, in which she stated that her late husband, William S. Packer, had entertained the purpose of "devoting a sum toward the establishment of an Institution for the education of Youth. It was her desire, as his representative, to carry out his wishes." The recent destruction of the building of the Female Academy, by fire, offered her an opportunity which she was glad to embrace. "What I contemplate in this,” she writes, "is to apply $65,000 of Mr. Packer's property, to the erection of an Institution for the education of my own sex in the higher branches of Literature, in lieu of that now known as the Brooklyn Female Academy."

In answer to this proposition the Trustees resolved to dissolve the corporation of the Brooklyn Female Academy, and the consent of the corporators was obtained for the transfer of their interest to a school for boys, which is now in successful operation, under the title of the "Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute."

Application was made and granted for the incorporation of an Academy for girls, under the name of the PACKER COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE.

In a subsequent letter, after expressing her heartfelt thanks for the honor bestowed on the memory of her husband in giving the Institution his name, Mrs. Packer, to enable the Trustees to erect a building "with accommodations sufficiently ample to provide for the realization of our most sanguine hopes," "and in a style and general appearance which should be a token or pledge of the refined and elevated influences to be found within its walls," adds $20,000 to her former donation, making the whole sum $85,000.

Immediate measures were taken for the erection of such a building, and on the first of September, 1854, the edifice was completed and opened for the reception of its pupils, with appropriate ceremonies, and an address by Rev. Francis Vinton, D. D.

The present building is more than a third larger than the former, and with its grounds and boarding establishment attached, its cost is estimated at $150,000. It contains a chapel, of the Gothic style, which will seat one thousand persons, where the pupils assemble daily for religious exercises, and weekly for the reading of composition.