The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1878-06-14
FEMALE EDUCATION.
Address by Hon. W. s. Fleming at tie
Female Institute Commence
ment, June 5, 1878.

YOUNG LADIES =
Youth has often been represented
| as the morning of life-its springtime
the season when hope is brightest
| when the heart dances with ioy, and
every pulse thrills with gladness
when no cloud overcasts the sky of oul
| eXistence-whenev every prospect pleases
and every object on which the mind
rests, catches the rainbow hues and
gorgeous tints which color alone the
| imagination of O gay and blithesome
youth.
1t is also the peculiar season for the
| acquisition of knowledge, as it is dur
ing this period the mind is fresh aud
most free from carping care, the mem-
ory most active and perhaps most te-
pacious, and the susceptibilities most
keen. No more readily does wax re-
ceive the impress of the stamp or seal
than does the mind at this period of
then in fact most preSSible-impress-
ible to good or evil, to the true or the
false, the beautiful or it's opposite,
whether in the walks of learning, the
fields of thought, the realms of fancy,
or in the deeper and more solemn
teachings of morality and religion
No doubt, thus far in your career types
of "the true, the beautiful and the
gOOd' have been constantly and thor
Oughly impressed upon your minds
and cOnScienceS.
But your whole work is not yet ac-
complished. Having pursued and
completed your scholastic course, and
having been trained in the customary
studies and exercises of an academic
career, you havebeen only preparing
for the conflicts and struggles of life;
for female life has its conflicts and
struggles as we'll as the life of man.
You are now standing upon the thres-
hold of new and untried mode of be-
ing and action. Like gaily barks well
freighted and with sails well trimmed,
.Teady to stem the broad ocean, you
stand, to-day, ready to venture out
upon the voyage of life. But ere you
go forth into actual contact with the
outer world with all its busy, bust
ling, changeful scenes, indulge me in
a parting word.
In the first place then, let me fore
warn you that life is not one long
summer day with a cIoudless sIly-nOt
all q calm, unruffled lake. That sky
will often be darkened and defOrmed
with lowering clouds-that lake be
la1hed with bowling tempests. You
will, most likely, find life checkered
scene, of joy commingled with sorrow,
of hope darkened by disappointment,
of gladness marred with gloom, of
sunshine alternating with storm. Be
warned, then, not to color your future
too brightly, lest should disappOint-
ment come, whatever be the shape it
assume, it come too unexpectedly and
crushingly. For let me say, many a
bright object in the distance will van
ish at your near approach, many r
golden vision will dissolve into thin,
impalpable air, many a glorious hope
be doomed to Disappointment, many
a precious promise never be fulfilled.
YOu will find painted bubbles burst
within your grasp, apples of SOdom
turn to ashes at the touch. These
things are said, not by way of discOur-
agement, but by way of preparation;
not to unnerve, but to strengthen; not
forewarning, forearm you.
The great aim and leading object of
education is to prepare each one for
his or her mission i'll life. Each of
YOU will have mission to fulfill, an in
fluence to exert, Il power to WELD in her
own peculiar and appropriate sphere,
wherever or whatever it may be. L
say in her own appropriate sphere.
That sphere is not mans. While |
these spheres are not the same, they |
do not iostle against or conflict with |
each other. His it to put forth his en-
ergies in the active walks and crowded |
marts of business-hers to cheer the |
homestead, govern the household and |
enliven the fireside. His to combat |
with the world in all its stirring, tur-
bulent aspects-hers to beautify and |
adorn by her CHAINS and graces, the |
domestic and social circle. His to
meet and endure the rude sufferings of
the outer world-hers to soOthe and |
and soften down the asperities |
of his rOugher nature. His to dig |
down mountains, construct railroads, |
build cities and carry on the varied !
arts of industry-hers to build up home |
and provide it with all the appliances
and appointments of virtue, happiness
and pleasure. He must move the !
masses and lead in all great move |
ments connected with religion, poll |
tics, civilization. He must carry for |
ward all the great material improve
mepts of the world-plOugh seas, |
sweep oceans, ,circumnavigate the globe |
and carry commerce to the ends of the |
earth. He must build up and sus- |
tain governments, enact and execute |
laws. Woman, on the other hand,
has far different mission to perform.
She has nothing to do with the ma
chinery of governments, at least, by |
any public demonstration. She does
not, or should not, occupy executive,
judicial or legislative positions, nor eX-
ercise any of the functions belonging |
to them, Nor, when in her proper |
sphere, will she be found in the pulpit. |
Hers is peculiarly mission of love,
charity, benevolence, of tenderness,
misunderstanding by her
smiles charm to prosperity and by |
her tears solace to adversely. Man |
must be bold, aggressive-wOman |
modest, retiring; his nature rugged |
and seVere-hers soft and gentei he Is
the Gothic structure-she the ivy ems
bracing; he the gnarled oak-she the
vine that clings to and entwiDes it. !
Yet, while it is not her province to |
take lead in great movements and bat
tie with the outside world, she Is not
without her influence, an influence,
too, most potent. The power behind
the throne is often mightier than the
throne itself. In her quiet, unobtFu~
sive way, she wields a wand, at whose
magic touch empires have been shak-
en-, and crowns lost and won. In her
hands and under her supervisiOn,is of
fen and most generally, the earliest and