“From inquiries made in various quarters and through personal observation and experience I have come to the conclusion that the romantic and emotional attachments formed by girls for their female friends and companions, attachments which take a great hold of their minds for the time being, are far commoner than is generally supposed among English girls, more especially at school or college, or wherever a number of girls or young women live together in one institution, and are much secluded.

“As far as I have been able to find out, these attachments—­which have their own local names, e.g., ‘raves,’ ‘spoons,’ etc.—­are comparatively rare in the smaller private schools, and totally absent among girls of the poorer class attending Board and National schools, perhaps because they mix more freely with the opposite sex.

“I can say from personal experience that in one of the largest and best English colleges, where I spent some years, ‘raving’ is especially common in spite of arrangements which one would have thought would have abolished most unhealthy feelings.  The arrangements there are very similar to a large boys’ college.  There are numerous boarding-houses, which have, on an average, forty to fifty students.  Each house is under the management of a well-educated house-mistress assisted by house-governesses (quite separate from college-teachers).  Each house has a large garden with tennis-courts, etc.; and cricket, hockey, and other games are carried on to a large extent, games being not only much encouraged, but much enjoyed.  Each girl has a separate cubicle, or bedroom, and no junior (under 17 years of age) is allowed to enter the cubicle, or bedroom, of another without asking permission, or to go to the bedrooms during the day.  In fact, everything is done to discourage any morbid feelings.  But all the same, as far as my experience goes, the friendships there seem more violent and more emotional than in most places, and sex subjects form one of the chief topics of conversation.

“In such large schools and colleges these ‘raves’ are not only numerous, but seem to be perennial among the girls of all ages, from 13 years upward.  Girls under that age may be fond of some other student or teacher, but in quite a different way.  These ‘raves’ are not mere friendships in the ordinary sense of the word, nor are they incompatible with ordinary friendships.  A girl with a ‘rave’ often has several intimate friends for whom affection is felt without the emotional feelings and pleasurable excitement which characterize a ‘rave.’

“From what I have been told by those who have experienced these ‘raves’ and have since been in love with men, the emotions called forth in both cases were similar, although in the case of the ‘rave’ this fact was not recognized at the time.  This appears to point to a sexual basis, but, on the other hand, there are many cases where the feeling seems to be more spiritual, a sort of uplifting of the whole soul with an intense desire to lead a very good life—­the feeling being one of reverence more than anything else for the loved one, with no desire to become too intimate and no desire for physical contact.