Catt used devastating humor to show how recently women's education had been considered absurd. Before 1820, 'there had been much agitation in country districts concerning geography as a suitable study for girls. Many pronounced it quite inappropriate for young females.' The only argument in its favor was that a girl might marry someone who traveled. She told equally astonishing stories about later decades: when visitors discovered girls being examined in geometry, 'the news of this revolutionary proceeding spread far and near,' with one group declaring geometry 'quite beyond the mental grasp of any woman' and another fearing girls would 'desert the cradle and the kitchen in order to solve interesting geometrical problems.' When physiology was taught, 'thick pieces of paper were pasted over the illustration of skeleton and muscles of the body because their parents thought them too indecent to be observed by young girls.' These weren't ancient history — many of the women who had fought these battles were still alive when Catt spoke.