70 Ellen Key Gradually she expanded the narrow sphere of the school, and began to give coiirses in history and literature for young women, at first for a small group belonging to Jewish families, among whose daughters she won friends for life. Towards the close of the year 1 890, the pupils had increased to one hundred in number, and came from all classes of so- ciety, some from the highest aristocracy, mar- ried as well as unmarried, many teachers, and others. Her lectures dealt with such subjects as The French Moralists, The Salons, Liter- ary Conditions in Russia, The Italian Renais- sance, America's Revolutionary War, etc. A former member of these private courses v/rites: "Through these lectures, which she kept up for a number of years, Ellen Key has made one of her great contributions to our cultural life. ... Of the many thousand times she has picked up a book to read, I doubt if she once did so impurposely, for, with this thinker more than with others, study goes hand in hand with development of a personal- ity. To one who has tried at all times to follow this development, every new production of hers, whether spoken or printed article, appears as a firm, logically connected link in her constantly broadening soul life. In small