The Portland daily press., 1872-12-12


pure style formed by study of the EnglisI
poets, would necessitate a verbatim report
Even then the exquisite charm of manner, thu
kindly smile, the mellow music of the carefully
trained voice with its "rich melodious fretful
ness IN the sarcastic passages, would be en-
tlfely wanting. Mr.. Curtis has lost none of his
olo-time lire, yet the increased chartableness
OF opinion which age and much observation
almost inevitably brings, was apparent in every
sentence. The youthful impotence of custom
consecrated shams and folles. has given way,
not to acquiescence nor even to liberation, but
to a comfortable conviction that time, which
rights all wrongs, will eventually sweep them
away. The student of Thackeray has, like the
great satirist himself, become mellowed by
years.
Mr. Curtis began by saying, What q golden
age the old time seems to us! With what a
reverence we look at the figures that appear
there! Somehow everything, in the far-distant
time, wears golden tint. In looking at the
past our conscience and our knowledge are
wrestling with an imagination. We read of
the French Dunois and the cup of water given
q,
the very flower of English manhood. and we
say there are no heroes like them to-day. But
they have their counterpart in the gunner at
Gettysburg who refused, though diving of
thirst. to take his comrade from the gun lest the
enemy might capture it. Is an action like this
more heroic because it happened three hundred
years ago? We read how with tears and with
laughter the old Romans welcomed Horatius
at the bridge. But the Roman Horatius has
lii
neer. All that is best in the old time, the i'm
agination, we have now. We read with delight
the answer of the Spartan Leonidas to the
arrogant Persian, "Come and take them" The
Uniou commander in Missouri said in answer
to the summons to surrender, "Not much"
The scene is different and the phrase is slang,
but it is Leonidas again. We deplore our own
time, as all ages deplored their present, and
that it costs the husband to-day more to buy
his wife a single dress; that it is shameful
that it was not SO in the olden time. Softly,
softly, my friend. When Queen Elizabeth died
she left three hundred dresses in her wardrobe
Addison in the Spectator, speaks of a woman
skirt which when hung up formed a very vast
and splendid canopy, a kind Of siken rotunda
not unlike the dome of st. Paul's." The po-
lilical reformer declaims against political cor
ruption. A century ago the King of England
and his Ministers bought members of Parlia-
ment as we buy joints of meats in the market.
To-day Gladstone has scarcely more influence
in the appointment of clark in the British
Post-office than the lowliest man in the islands.
God hasten the hour when we can say the
same of America.
Antiquity is the youth Of the world, the
mumps and measles period of its existence.
In leaking back to it we are bathed in the
sweetest illusions of the past The progress of
civilization is the gradual emancipation of So
eiety from the errors of the good old times %
,rI1 hos Al
perpetual discomfort with themselves. The
past was good time, it is true, but the present
is better, and the future will be the best. The
good of the present is its development from the
past. l would rather, thousand-fold, be the
beast of the old fairy story which developed in
to the perfect prince, than the bravest of the
Trojan heroes. The man is a dreamer or a
rogue who PIRATES eff the good old times in place
of eudeavOring to make a good time of the
present.
Let me refer you to the rapid opening of the
avenues of education; the wonderful develop
ment of woman's faculty. In the golden age
of other times, educated women would have
been outlawed, for Percles did not hesitate to
say that the education of girls ought not to be
talked of. The old Greek feeling remains to-
day. In France, young girl who opened q
school for girls was bitterly opposed by parents
priest and friends, as teaching girls the works
of the devil. One hundred years ago Dean
Swift was askedSby young man how to choose
wife; his reply was, she must not read any
books except religious, for other books were apt
to turn women's brains; she is naturally light
headed and needs ballast, In 1910, Sidney
Smith said, in looking around English society,
he was surprised to witness the disparity be-
tween the, education of men and women Even
in that day they considered lighter studies only
fit for women, but not for men; men were fitted
for something greater. 1t was insulting to
woman to think her only fit to tend flowers in
the window, or scream when a. mouse runs
across the floor. I often wonder if Portia, the
wise young judge, was not described by Shake.
speare as character representing woman
studying for humanity. Is she less poetic than
Juliet on the balcony in the moonlight, breath
ing vows? The Pilgrims allowed but two hours
study each day for gir,s, except in the summer
when the boys were not at school. Forty years
ago they discussed for three years the question
of admitting girls to higher courses of study.
The council resolved to found high school fol
girls as well as boys. The girls came in such
flocks that the next year they became appalled,
and discontinued it. Two hundred and eighty
six girls came, to ninety boys in their schools.
They asked when this thing was to end. Phil
osophy and geometry might follow. Imagine
a Board of Aldermen composed of women in
stead of men; Board of Alderwomen, they
said, what would become of the good city Of
Boston? Public opinion has outstripped theil
views, leaving them far behind. 1t is asked
do women need education TO make good moth
ers; ask, do ignorant women make the bes
wives?
The voice is filling the air, open all the gates
to woman; then prejudice disappears; Monkisf
legislation cannot shut these voices out. They
say if women are not afraid of us, why SHOULD
we be of them. 1t is women who should say il
they can sustain the college course. If they
can stand the load of fax and horse hair on toT
of their heads; the mice in their hair, theil
burden of dress and tight lacing, then a little
latin and greek won't hurt them. Last veal
this question was raised in Edinburg, and thf
dean decided that it was not intended in Tho
original charter to exclude woman. In severa
of our western states she is admitted to the col
leges. The highest educational authorities art
being consulted as to her admission to all on
colleges. Like the Peri at the gates of heaven
woman stands waiting at the gates of oul
schools of learning. The bolts of prejudice arr
sliding back. Over the barred gates the good
genius of Harvard sweetly says, 81 will get you
your diploma if you will get your education
elsewhere" Harvard ought to be ashamed
and give both together. In the good old time;
the ignorance of women was unnoticed because
it was custom she should be So In the 1871
century Chesterfield advised his son tos f1atte
women if he wished to succeed with Them
Never consult with them. This was the idea o
the time. The man who flatters most, despise
most. The speaker related several Illustration
picturing the customs Of earlier times in Thu
respect The men of those times would have
ing educated. Theworst is, women themselves
accepted the position. Mrs. Barbour saying:
"Gay without toll;
Lovely withou art"
This is practically the sentiment urged upol
every slave girl captured in Circassa Among
ourselves this sentiment is disappearing, yet il
is to be found in unexpected quarters. The la
dies demand of the gentlemen a certain defer
ence. This is a relic of the past. The true
test of a woman's power as an artist, is to judge
her not by other women but by men. If amaI
paints picture with his toes would you Judge
the value of his production by the pictures o.
other men who paint with their toes? Let ev
erything woman does be tested by its OWL
merits according to the commonly accepted
standard. The question is, are women intel
lectually inferior to men? Give them the same
duties men have and judge them relatively
lence, is to say they are mentally inferior to
man. Why not let the sphere of woman dis
close itself as does mans? Byron could not
bear to see them eat. Charles the H. loved tt
see them make pies and buildings Mrs. Bar
bour thought they Should be toys for men. To
night in this hall Romeo holds little white
hand under the shawl, thinking his Juliet mus
be fed ON dainty food and sit on a cushion. All
now you withdraw your baud. You think homo
the sphere for woman. So do l, hand hear
and soul. believe a morally responsible being
has perfect liberty of choice in growth. Slave,
are not fit for the responsibility of manhood
ed for. The Grace Darlings, Nightingales and
Lewiss win their way to nobility. The class oil
grouty old men who object must move aside.
The speaker closed with thrilling and elo
quent peroration, declaring that for the true