Women and the Alphabet

Women and the Alphabet: A Series of Essays is by Thomas Wentworth Higginson. The prefatory note says the first essay in the volume, Ought Women to learn the Alphabet?, appeared originally in the Atlantic Monthly of February, 1859. The note adds that the remaining papers in the volume formed originally a part of a book entitled Common Sense About Women, made up largely of papers from the Woman's Journal.

The text says that the career of eminent men ordinarily begins with college and ends with fortune and fame, while woman begins under discouragement and ends beneath the same. The text says women, being denied not merely the training which prepares for great deeds but the praise and compensation which follow them, have been weakened in both directions. The text names religion as one of the stronger forces, one that should train men and women to a far higher standard than society alone can teach. The text quotes Sir Philip Sidney as saying The wolf asketh not how many the sheep may be.