Seminaries

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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.