Again, referring to the earlier chapters of this autobiography, he writes, on December 13, 1860:
My dear Miss Zakrzewska:
I received yesterday a volume which I supposed, certainly I hoped, came from you. I read it at once, and with the deepest interest. I have a right, therefore, whether it came from you or not, to thank you for it. Neither can I let the opportunity escape of expressing the admiration and sympathy with which I followed you in the long struggle you endured, and which you maintained with so much of that energy, courage, perseverance and fortitude, which we are apt to call manly—as if they were our peculiar possession—and yet without any infringement of that womanly delicacy, which we certainly cannot claim.
You know perhaps my doubts about the medical education of women. It is not because I do not think well enough of women that I entertain these doubts, but rather, I suspect because I think too well of them, to be willing they should go through with a medical education, or endure a medical practice. I have put it to myself whether I could be willing that one of my daughters should go through the discipline and lead the life that I have done myself. The idea is intolerable. That you have accomplished what you have with success and honor does not satisfy my doubts—how few of either sex could do the same.
I may be mistaken, for it is very hard to be sure that we are not influenced by early impressions and the prejudices of society, and I am quite willing to find myself in the wrong, for I have the most earnest desire that every possible avenue should be opened for the admission of women, not only to places for labour, but of honor and profit. I sympathize not only with every attempt to enforce “Woman’s Right to Labour”—but to think, speak, act and enjoy.
With sincere regard, I am your friend,
John Ware
To Marie E. Zakrzewska, M.D.
Drs. Henry I. Bowditch and Samuel Cabot regretted to refuse all aid so long as I was connected with such an inferior school as they considered the New England Female Medical College to be.
Dr. Cotting, of Roxbury, was the most cordial; he expressed himself as favorable to having women physicians as auxiliaries to the professional men. He sent me more patients than any one, and they were rich as well as poor. The latter were the most desirable, as our dispensary practice was small, lacking material for the benefit of the students.
This was the great difference between New York and Boston. Within three months after opening the New York Infirmary dispensary, we were obliged to close the doors for admission after a certain hour, so full became our reception hall; while in Boston we kept open all the forenoon without getting all the patients we wanted, and we even attended to them the whole day.
This may have been due to the fact that the college and hospital were located in what was then a demi-fashionable quarter of the city, the South End, where not many poor lived; and distance was not then annihilated by street cars, of which none existed. But it was also due to a greater prosperity among the poor of Boston, this creating a prejudice against free dispensaries in general, and women physicians in special.
To all these reasons was due the very hard work which we had to do, because if a family in the distant poor quarters inclined to favor us with their patronage, we had to rejoice. And the disadvantage of such events because of walks of two or three miles in the midst of winter nights was overcome by the enthusiasm of having gained another foot-hold among the poorest of the poor. Thus we had our clientele not only, though chiefly, at the North End of the city but also in the suburbs, where not even omnibus travel was possible, there being none to South Boston, Dorchester, Roxbury, Jamaica Plain and other outlying districts.
What would life be without the enthusiasm of the young! And how much or how little would be accomplished in the evolution of reforms and progress, if the young were not ready and happy to live up to the fullest inspiration of this enthusiasm! Reasonable or unreasonable, let us not stint or discourage any enthusiastic young person in the ways and means of living up to its fullest extent! Youth will always meet with more or less success in realizing its ambition, and even if premature death should be the consequence of such efforts, it does pay to have favored and encouraged the activity of such aspirations.
The happiness which is enjoyed by enthusiastic workers is impossible to describe in words, for, though ever so little be gained from the opposition, or by perseverance, this gain gives moments of joy which cannot be outweighed by many a disappointment or by any amount of fatigue. Oh! the single hour of happiness which victory brings! Even in humble aspirations, it is worth living for. It is not the quantity of anything which satisfies a noble heart—it is the quality, and the feeling of conscious satisfaction that the best of which the person was capable has been done.