The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1884-10-01

Christ babe the sinleSS Gust stone;
Are we not sinners. too?
The Awakening.
ny JENNIE JUNE.
Human nature is very much the samt
everywhere, and among persons Of ever,
degree. Circumstances modify, but they
do not alter the inherent quality Of any
thing. Thus the awakening process
which is going on among women finds it,
subjects in all classes: those who have
been delicately reared, who have been
surrounded from birth by species o.
eastern seclusion and luxury, as well as
those whose unwontcd exercise of faculty
seems to have been provoked by the
pressure Of hard necessity.
The key note of the modern woman
movement is unity and all the efforts
tend to it. Solid armies of women move
in battle array for the furtherance of the
temperance cause. Clubs of women and
society for literary purposes exist every.
where, and have changed small villages
and dull towns into bright, intelligent
awakening work. The "Woman's Con-
gress" has done much to draw out the
intellectual interpretive thought which
has been garnering up the results of ex-
perience in many hooks and obsure cor
ners, and brought them to the light Of
day; and though they can never be col
lected or put into form and shape, and
were not perhaps. in every instance,
suitable for preservation, still they make
noble addition to the. evidences of
awakening life, and possibly exercise a
broader influence than if the literary
form had always been strictly and Sc
verely correct.
These efforts have many of them pa
thetic interest. They are made by wo-
men who have no future, whose lives
have been struggle with hard circum-
ssances, whose one thought has been,
and Is, to make the world a little easier
for their daughters, for those who come
after them. These daughters are the &C.
cupants Of our colleges, the graduates Of
our high schools. They do not under
stand the lives their mothers have led,
the sacrifices they have made. They
were born to another life. They have
no recollection Of How it was when the
opportunities they enjoy did not exist,
when freedom for women was believed
to mean the sacrifice, rather than the re-
demption of the race.
1t does not surprise us to hear Of the
doings of these college girls, their clubs
and their coteries, their regattas and
their "Alpha Beta" societies. They were
emancipated before they were born, and
they live in IN atmosphere of exhalta-
ton, in which high and active endeavor
is applauded, and only idleness and stu
pidity are at q discount. But it is some
what startling to old.fashioned notions
to find the "club" idea. and the congress"
idea, and the associative idea generally,
breaking out in the most exclusive socie-
ty. and obtaining an entrance into circles
supposed to be sacred to tradition and
the most absolute conventional forms
and prejudices. Out of such society as
this. however, many gratifying evidences
have come that the new life is not limit
ed in its scope or operation, but that the
divine or awakening spirit touches some
souls wherever it rests, and inspires them
with the same desire, the same reaching
out for truer and better life.
Nineteen young girls, the flower of
New York's finest, most exclusive, and
wealthiest circles, we're recently found to
have formed themselves into q modest
and retired association, for the purpose Of
self-culture and general development.
They voluntarily subjected themselves
to the strict discipline of parliamentary
rule; elected chairman at each meeting
proposed questions, and had debates, in
which the speakers were limited to time
and keep to the question by the chair
man. But there is nothing original
about these methods, it lisa fact that they
voluntarily placed themselves under
parliamentary restrictions, and the char
acter of their questions and discussions,
which makes them noteworthy. Two of
the questions given for discussion were
as follows:
First-"Ts true courtesy consistent with
perfect sincerity"
Second-"What two qualities are most
essential to the development of noble
womanhood p
These questions are very significant
and very curious as the suggestive utter
ances Of a group Of young girls just enter
ing life ignora, Of its dangers, accepting
as true the things that are told them by
authority, willing to do their duty if they
can only find out exactly what that duty
is.
These girls do not know exactly what
they will be called upon to do in the flu
ture, but whatever it is they will be
ready for it, and the better, more exact,
more thorough their methods now, the
more responsible the places they will be
able to fill hereafter. And this is the
main point after all, the awakening
which is pouring flood-tide of brilliant
light over the world will be of little use
to US individually, if we do not arise by
it and fit ourselves for the coming duties
of the day.
The tendency nowadays, and espe-
cially in this country, is simply to make
a demand for the place, to grasp at the
power without reference to fitness: but
the advent of woman in the fields of
broader life and activity will serve
very poor purpose if their efforts are dir.
ected toward selfish ends, by such I'M
means a. ignorance is obliged
to use. Every boy is to aspire to be
President, not to be great and good
enough for President; and the principle
permeats every department of public and
social life, until our whole scheme has
resolved itself into one huge striving for