. No other
civilization, ancient or modern, has been thus generous.

The practical equality of woman to man was recognized in the fact, among
others, that women had a distinct and honorable part in the sacerdotal
functions and rites, though they could not participate in sacrifice. The
priestesses undertook the education of the girls, the schools being a
part of the temples. Here the girls were taught the feminine
accomplishments peculiar to their culture as well as those of more
general use, such as weaving and embroidering the rich draperies used to
cover the altars of their gods. The strictest morality was inculcated in
these schools; for the Aztecs were essentially a moral people, and the
girls were brought up in habits of the straitest decorum. This they were
not likely to exceed, at least while under the tutelage of the
priestesses, for offences were visited with the greatest severity, even
death being occasionally meted out as punishment for the most marked
transgressions. The system of these schools was to some extent
conventual, and reverence for religion was instilled as an integral
portion of the system.

The education that was received by women among the early Mexicans may be
illustrated by a reference to the story of _The Lady of Tula_. Among the
Tezcucans, at least at one time, concubinage was recognized as a
legitimate appanage of royalty, and the Lady of Tula was one of the
concubines of Nezahualpilli, son of the great monarch Nezahualcoyotl and
his successor as ruler of the Tezcucan nation. The son of this latter
king entered into a correspondence with the Lady of Tula, and, as the
offence was capital, the youth was slain by royal command; but we are
not concerned so much with the sadness of his fate or with the Roman
severity of his father as with the characteristics of the woman who
tempted him from his allegiance to his royal sire. It is told of her
that, though of humble birth, she possessed most remarkable endowments
of mind, that she wrote beautiful verse, and that she was often
consulted upon grave matters by the king and his ministers. She was
given a separate establishment, and maintained almost regal state. The
information that we have of this woman discloses a very high feminine
status among the Tezcucans; and as the chronicler of her powers
expresses little or no surprise concerning them, we may assume that such
education and standing as she enjoyed were not uncommon among Mexican
women, ev