The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1873-11-27


ture for others happiness, and finds it a
delightful pleasure TO contribute her mite
to social life around her.
Is it it not true that woman gives tone
and coloring to social life? Is not her
duty to give tone to the various enter
! prises of our State, and particularly to
the building up of the industries demand
ed by. these changed times? Your coun-
tenance, your aid, your support, can give
success to the Fair Association whilst
your Indifference, your condemnation,
| your frowns, can render futile the best
laid plans for building up its great OBJ
iects. Then be assured that the hopes
and the fears for its future success viii
very much depend upon the interest you
take in that success, and the efforts you
make to insure its fulfllment. Your in
fuence is priceless, and is derived in a
pre-eminent degree from the moral vir-
tues that so adorn and beautify the fe-
male character. Woman, acting cut in
| her devotion to principle, the sweeter,
| holier and sublime virtues taught by rev.
elation, is elevated IN her moral being,
and is thus fitted for higher social lite,
and to dispense its blessings by the mel
lowing influence she possesses.
We would engage some Of these senti.
ments of unselfishness that so eminently
adorn the women of enlarged benevo-
lence, in contributing to the encourage
ment of the various objects that come
within her province of usefulness. You,
fair ladies, have in the past, and Oh this
occasion, by your artistic skill, by your
ingenious designs and your cunning ham
dicraft, stimulated competition and crea-
ted enterprise very successfully in behalf
of those industries that come within your
peculiar field of labors. l would solicit
you to continue your efforts in this direc-
ton, until in every neighborhood in
the State there will be found contributors
to this great enterprise.
And let me solicit your influence in
another and highly important matter.
We are desiring to raise the dignity and
Importance of manual labor to high so
cial position to stamp with true nobility
our young men who are devoting their
lives to practical agriculture, mechanical
arts and manufacturers, in the field, in
the workshop, and in the factory. They
want your sympathy, your smiles and
your appreciation. There is not a fair
young maiden in my audience, who can
not, by the curl of the lip, the scornful
word or the idle jest, dishearten and dis
courage these noble sons of toll, who are
developing their true manhood in their
devotion to duty.
Men, young and old, look to woman
for comfort, encouragement and approval
in the walks of life and more especially
do our youth now want the public senti-
ment that woman, by her appreciation,
Yields in favor of their efforts. And see
what you have done by your presence
and influence in favor of this State Fair.
Annually, since its present organization,
you have contributed largely of your in
dustries. Your contributions have en-
braced everything within the sphere of
your usefulness. Your displays of ele-
CANT needlework and other cunning de-
signs have elected praise, and such mer-
tied and pecuniary rewards as have been
within the power of the Association to
give; and be assured that that the Off
GERS and friends of this enterprise appre-
ciate fully the important aid you render.
Be encouraged, then, to merit still fur
Their appreciation by renewed efforts for
the cause.
But woman in all countries, even in
pagan lands, has an influence in her So
cial life far superior to man. Her gen
tleness, trustfulness and compassion for
the suffering, distressed and the stranger,
has often been the subject of notice and
remark. Ledyard, the celebrated Afri-
can traveller, whose range of observation
embraced the tropical and arctic regions
of the globe, says of woman, "that while
he often found the male sex savage
churls, ready to repel all advances, he
never addressed woman in terms of
respect that he did not at once receive
words of kindness and sympathy"
There was once an American IRdian girl
who exhibited all the sympathy and de-
yotion of a true woman by shielding, in
the honr of peril, one-a stranger, a pale
face-from the jaws of death.
Woman constitutes one of the chief
elements in refinement and civilization.
And why is it +? Because she blends in
sweet accord the gentle tones of affection
and sympathy in all her intercourse with
society. She concentrates within her in
fuence the higher qualities of loving
and forgiving spirit.
Hugh Miller, that deep and profound
reader of nature, says of women that
''she in all her being resembles a musical
instrument of great compass, whose tones
sweep the whole gamut, from the lowest
to the highest note. The poet, paying
like tribute to her, exclaims:
Ye are the stars Of the night, the gems of the
The dewdrop whose lustre illumines the thorn; 4
And rayless that night, is the morning unblest,
When no smile in her eye lights up peace in
the breast.
|
In fondness lover, in frmness friend;
And prosperity's hour. be it ever confessed,
From woman receives both refinement and
7est.
Adorned by the bays or enwreathed by the
willow,
Your smile is our need and your bosom our
pillow.
And whilst it is one of the saddest of
fees of woman ''to bend Ger the couch
of misfortune" there Is no place where
she shines with more lustre than when
ministering to the suffering or giving her
kindly offices to the bereaved and broken
hearted. Her heart beats in responsive
sympathy to every tale of woe, and her
ear is ever attentive to every cry of
distress
| 1t is within her province to sweeten
whatever is bitter, and soften whatever
| is harsh. Politeness and courtesy, vir-
tues that have to be cultivated by men,
(and which he often neglects,) is natur-
al grace with women. 1t comes from
her quick discernment of the true and
beautiful, and education only gives pol
ish, ease, elegance and full accomplish
ment to what was an inbred virtue
How sweeay can an amiable temper in