The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1876-05-11
Women of the Old Time and the New.

Mr.. George William Curtis gave an
exceedingly enjoyable lecture, harrington
his subject, Women of the Old Time
and the New" Mr.. Curtis said Til
past is always the golden age. The gla
NOR of distance makes beauty more beau
tiful and valOr more heroic. While we
read history for poetry our own expert
ence is full oft. The gunnerOf Gettys-
burg was no less a hero than SIR Philip
Sydney. He fell wounded by his gun,
and cried % For the love of God, Jimmy,
give me some water" Jimmy answered,
"There is not drop in my canteen; if
leave the gun the enemy will take it."
No matter then, Jimmy; stay by
the gun" and when the army moved it
was over the poor gunner's dead body.
The heroism and poetry is in the deed.
not in the distance. All that was best in
the old time we have now. We see LO-
reno and ShylOck in the counting
houses we see Romeo; and afterward
we see him cutting off his wife's head
with unkindness. We are appalled, by
the extravaganza and luxury of the
time. The dress of fashionable woman
costs her husband thousands of dollars.
3" 1t was not so in Olden time" we say.
Softly, softly; there is Queen Elizabeth
300 years age, who was the happy owner
of 5000 dresses, and who issued her sol
emn proclamation against extravaganza
in dress. We see political corruption all
around us, and we justly fear that itmay
consume the very moral foundations
upon which our government rests. l
have seen man in the lobby of the leg
islature holding out handful of bank
bills and brandishing them, and saying
triumphantly, "That makes the law"
and while l wondered I remembered
/ century ago the British king bought
members of parliament as he bought
meats in the market But within six
| years 1 have heard Mr. Mundella, who
represents one of the largest constituent
cies in the British parliament say that
| he had no more influence in appointing
| clerk in the British custom house than
| they who heard him, and never shall we
! lay our hand at the root of our political
/ corruption till every American reprcsen-
! tative can truly say the same thing.
/ (Applause). Let us remember that the
! greatest glory of the old time was the di-
| vine discomfort within our fOrefathers
that drove their children to find better
! times. The past was a good time; the
| present is better; the future is best of
| all. The position of women is always a
test of civilization and the greatest IL
| lustratiOn of that advancing sentiment
/ is the opening of every opportunity for
! the education of women. In the Olden
days educated women were an Outlawed
class. Periclcs said the greatest glory Of
woman was not to be talked of among
men for her virtue or otherwise. Had
Pericles lived to-day he would know
that to- be talked of as are Florence
Nightingale and Maria Mitchell is glo-
ry The Puritans founded schools for
boys, but the girls were not generally
admitted. But forty years ago the in
cautious city of BOsten, after a discus
sion of three years, heroically resolved
that there should be a high school for
girls as well as boys, and there were i'm
mediately $50 applicants, whereas, the
boys school had never had over ninety,
and the rush continued so great that
after eighteen months the school was
closed lest the Boston women should
know more than the Boston men, At the
beginning of this century education for
women was not Thought necessary, but
toward the end of it it is thought that
the more knowledge a woman has, the
better wife and truer mother is she, and
all the gates of education begin to open.
It is the swell of the tide of humanity
that bears us forward, and we go forward,
God helping us, to find the true woman
in free American homes.