St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-11-08

2-The Oriental theory of woman
makes her toy. 1t is her mission to
dress and dance-tO lisp and languish
and amuse mans idle hours; and then
when youth and beauty are gone, to be
tossed aside, weak and silly thing
worn out and worthless for life's deeper
and sterner duties. Under this theory
when the great seasons of thought and
achievement and sorrow come, she has
no part with mau-nO illnesses to walk
with him in life's grander and noble1
ways. So life sinks down to a low
level, and men are as bees drowned in
their own sweets. The Lord of sensual
pleasure is the God of Death
3-The masculine theory seeks to
make a man-wOman. 1t asks for woman
essentially the same place and work
and culture and standing that man has.
1t is IL natural reaction from the evils
which woman has suffered from other
false theories. 1t will fail as the lily
would fail in seeking to he dandelion
or suDfiOwer-as dove would fail in
attempting to be fish-hawk. You
can make old women out of some men,
but you cannot reverse the process and
make useful n.en out of uneasy women,
and have this still an inhabitable
planet. There are never two objects
in nature to serve the same end.
4-The Bible gives lis the true theory.
When we get at Gods idea in the
creation and use of anything, we get
the true idea, and it is final. She is
mans companion and equal-made to
walk by his side, to be Il helpmeet in
all his tolls and achievements, and to
share his privileges, his opportunities
and his progress. She was taken not
from his feet to be under him, nor from
his head to lie over him but from his
side, according to pleasant fancy, to
be held near his heart-to lie sheltered
by his arm, aud to move with him, one
in sympathy and effort and aim all
along lile's journey. Under this Chris
| tian theory alone does woman rise to
her true dignity aud worth. And as
the evil which man inf1icts upon woman
results in his own degradation. SO every
boon of privilege which he confers upon
her reflects benefit back upon himself.
The word of God settles every diff
ficulty of speculatists and reformers
here. 1t makes her mans bright, guild
ing star; ready in all gentle ministries Z;
keen in her appreciation of whatever is
true and beautiful and good; quick in
her sympathy with suffering and sOr-
row helpful in every trial and exi-
gency the being whom God has given
to be mans good angel in all the vicis-
situdes of life. When society is built
on the foundation of Christ and the
apostles, and is kept full of divine life,
woman becomes mans glorious CO.
worker, and there is no more question
as to what she shall do and be than
there is concerning the mission of the
morning star. There it shall be in the
atmosphere of purity and beauty shin
ing; every path shall he gilded by its
ray-every eye cheered by its beams.
In my text Inspiration has drawn a
picture of society in its ideal state, set
ting forth what, under right education,
it should he us to woman: 'That our
daughters may be as corner stones,
polished afterthe simiitude of Il palace. -
| Two things are here indicated as be-
longing to the training of our daugh-
| ters
by very opposite figure woman
Is compared to ''cOrner stone" 1t is
noticeable that daughters, and not sons,
are, in the mind of the king, the corner
stones of community. At first thought
he would seem to be wrong, but he is
not. 1t is "a suggestive and beautiful
aphOr-ChriStian woman, the cor
ner stone of national prosperity and
public good. The corner stone de-
termines the size and character of the
building. Upon the corner stone de-
pends the permanence and stability of
| h l.lI Il
you raise the whole building or, de-
press it, and the whole builuing settles
and falls apart.
Woman is the corner stone of society
in the sense that with her elevation the
entire nation is lifted up. With her
decline the nation goes down. Her
faith faculties are greater than mans,
and she receives the doctrines of Chris
tianity quicker than man, and holds
them longer. Were Christianity to
perish, it would die last in the heart of
woman. She endures prosperity better
than man. and holds up under hardship
more cOurageOusly. She is better
conductor of good than man, and diff
fuses her own inspirations more readily
and effectively she is better con
servator and dispenser of beneficent
home influences she is natural
teacher-imparting her intellectual ben
efits and moral bracing like the air 4;
and, being in the household, where ali
good institutions and influences lie in
the germ, she sheds dew upon their
roots and fills the young bOughs with
moral health. And so she is the real
foundation stone in society, and rising
| herself she carries up the whole struc-
ture.
What France needs, said Napoleon,
is mothers. 1t had statesmen and phi
lOsOphers enough. 1t wanted daughters
who should be as corner stones. 81
have never known an instance" SAYS
Giradin, "where a mother could read
and the children not" The hand that
rocks the cradle holds the scepter bv
| forming the minds that rule the world.
The idea of the Psalmist here is as
wise as it is gracefully expressed. A
| corner stone is fundamental to the
buIldlng-there can be none without it,.
1t may be highly ornamental it must
be useful it lies ut the foundation and
is necessary to the very existence of the
superstructure.
SO woman Is tO be the corner stone
in society; not simply an element of
| beauty added to it after it is built, but
a builder of it with man not merely a
solace and comfort to man in his work,
but co-builder with him side by side,
from the bottom to the tOp-most stone,
equally giving and receiving, and slar-
ing in all the tolls and trials and tri-
umphs.
The first idea then of life for the
daughters is usefulness faith
fully and honestly to build up all that
is good. She is to use her gifts accord
ing to her dowry from God. She is to