The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1884-07-02
WOMAN's MISSION.
Extracts from Graduating Essay Of Miss
sallie E. Wolfe, st. Margaret's Hall,
Jackson, Miss:


W her own acts, but also for the infueE
it which they exercise upon her family a
~ the community at large
You teach your sons to be brave-fh
ie- life is but little thing as placed agaiI
d, honor; ease and luxury a delusion al
!, snare, as placed against honesty. VI
- not teach the girls the same? If WON
as will only cling with loyal trust 10 hon
er and duty, nothing can really harm thel
:. and they become a nations dependence
a. an hour of peril. If the Republic wou
er guard its ideals, and preserve its sanctitis
OF it should acknowledge the existence of
NJ daughters, as we'll as its sons-not nece
sarily in the same way, but in some va
"a that would give them the foremost plac
D. Then, o, woman of to-day whether yc
r. walk in light or darkness, be brav
"What is worth living for is worth dyir
for"
Women must be cheerful and patien
We cannot be- sick, we cannot be selfsl
we cannot be impatient without injurin
= others. On the other hand, we cannot
:, healthy, and cheerful, and self-forgettint
Z without being a conscious or unconsciou
e blessing and comfort to others, every hou
Il and moment Of our lives.
|, "No stream from its source flows sewari
How lonely soever its course,
But what some land is gladdened;
u No star ever rose and set, without lnhuenc
? somewhere,
e No life can be pure in It's purpose ant
strong in its strife,
And all life not be purer and stronge
thereby"
Do any of You stop to think what life il
to woman, after her youth is past, anc
! how long and dreary is the prospect tha
stretches out before her? What is to save
her from ennui, and the wreck and ruin
that steals into your Preside? Give hel
something to do. Work immortalizes
and excites respect. A girl may be belle
for a few years; she may be invited to
dance, receive bouquets and boxes of can
dy, from perhaps seventeen TO twenty-five
but after this her place is taken. She begins
to be neglected; but workers never grow
old mean the work that ennobles and
makes US worthy of our great destiny.
There are certain kinds of work that are
less fitted for woman than other, and these
women very properly avoid. There are
others, however, for which women are
extremely well fitted, and these women who
are wise will fit themselves for and try to
secure. Work is memorable 1t has no
regard for weather, for nerves, for head
aches, for backaches, for rumpled rufnes,
for tight sleeves or tight shoes. There is
no royal road to work, and if women are
weak and unable to sustain themselves,
they share the fate of weak men-they go
to the wall Give the girls all the chance
that is given to the boys; let them go out
| if need be to seek and make their fortune,
and trust them to give good account of
themselves. If you have not fortified
them against evil and temptation, you can
not do it now and both will find them at
your own Preside as early as elsewhere.
| Whatever fulflls its functions must be
made or trained to its functions. Life is
not easy. On the contrary, it is often pitt
| lessIy cruel to those who love it most.
Like the great bell IN the temple of
Buddha, it cannot be moved; it is dark,
fixed and stern, and implacable. But face
| it boldly, strike it strongly, and the sounds
are deep and of wonderful sweetness; their
echoes are carried afar off on every breeze,
and are signals of hope, faith, patience,
and eternal love.
Women should be neat and pretty.
Ruskin says, "Girls should be like daises,
nice and white, with an edge of red, if you
look close; making the ground bright
wherever they are" Can there be such
thing as a slovenly lady? 1t is a woman's
d,tty to look just as pretty as she can al
ways. Women must be loving-I do not
mean to love her sweetheart or husband,
but the love that includes all loves. For
our life is bat love. You point your boys
to Washington as a model. All right. Great
men are the models of nations. "For
what is a state but the many confused imi
tations of one?"
Who moulded Washington's character?
Who planted the seed in the heart that
moulded this glorious country? The mother
of Washington. Did she not love her
country? Aye, with love that mans heart
can never know--a love like that which
flowed from the Infinite heart when He
gave his only son-the mother love-the
only love that beats with throb Of immor-
tality. This country, the world, has never
known but one Washington; but can
point YOU to many a woman as pure. as
noble, as grand in her glorious woman
hood as the mother of Washington. Women
who are brave and true, women who, no
longer Young, are more beautiful than ]
can imagine an angel can be, for that dear
face beams wi. h what an angels face can
not have-the great lore of a human soul.
Oh! you mighty man, to whose hand is it You
cling from the time you come into the world
until you GO down into the dark waters =?
Who can twist you around her finger, as
she twists her ribbon? Who can teach you
to love all things good and noble, and who
can turn your life to bitterness and make
YOU course God and diet"
Woman cannot cut down the tree or
build the house, but she can make that
house as beautiful as ian angel vision" or
more than a cyclone for the man who built
it. It is true she is afraid to go out after
dark without your protection, simply
because you have made it so she cannot go
without it. She cannot go in the
field and plough the ground and |
reap the harvest lat least she ought mott
but 1t is her duty 10 prepare the food
mon which the health and life depend. |
Woman has her mission-Man his; the two
are separate and distinct. l have nothing
to say about intellectual equality, woman's
rights and all that ] plead for that
training which will fit my sex to bear with
out murmur the burden that is surely to
rest on all earth's children. That which |
will first make us fit to dwell while on
earth, forever in the ideal presence that Is alto
qetheY lovely. That which will give US
physical strength, to save usfrom becoming
mere dependents, and last, that which
will make us content to ill the place
God has assigned US, knowing full well
that silently but surely we rule the desti-
mics of nations.
You talk about woman's weakness and
woman's needs and woman's rights. do |
not acknowledge any needs. do not ask
for any more rights. hope to take my
credentials in my hand tonight and start
out on my LIES journey, as brayely as any |
boy in this house. It Is hard to say good
bye to dear old school days. / know that
many a time I shall wish ! was back at
dear old st. Margaret's. I viii not say
farewell to my dear teachers, because /
hone to see them often, and still learn OF
them many things that need to know.
am sure they will always be as ready to i'm
part instruction as they have been. Judge
their, love by their lives.
To those OF my school mates who live in
distant states and who / may never see
again. / ask here in the presence Of our
teachers and these kind friends to unite in
= pledge with me to night-to try, Oh 80
hard, not to forget how often we have
knelt together around the bowed form
praying for rs to be kind and true, not
only in the school room surrounded By all
our school mates, but in our own private
chambers, when she thought that We were
sleeping. We are armed and equipped for
our mission
ssThe mission Of woman, to watch and to
wait,
TO purify, to redeem, and to regener-
ate,
When with the martyrs we stand By the
throne,
And case on the Face that makes glori-
Gus our own
He win know this, surely, st last."
The Judge got home rather late fhe
other evening and found young fellow
citing IN the rnfa with tfha enln