Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1886-06-19
D MEANWHILE TENNESSEE SATURDAY, JUNE TO- 1886

ressive spirit. All agree that woman
should be placed in society to elevate
it; then if you give man higher ed
ucation than woman how is she to
elevate society more than man?
How is she to appear before those ac-
knowledged as her superiors simply
because they have better intellectual
development? She will only try to
make q display, which is the most
absurd of all performances, and will
fail.
Let the estimate of woman be
changed, so that she shall be valued
for what she is in herself. Let her
training be changed so that while she
retains every grace and charm of the
feminine nature, nor lose one attri-
butte of womanlihess, she shall have
character and ability to stand above,
enriching the society of which she
forms an integral part. Woman is
rising with the sun of civilization to
a height of queenly strength and
beauty, whence her beams may
brighten the night-tide of mans per-
ception, as the rising moon clears up
the darkness when his majesty has
retired behind the piling clouds. Yes,
when mans spirit is sunk in clouds
of doubt and dependency, she may
brightly reflect the silver lining. Let
us then have woman educated. Grace
of mind will aid grace of form, and
purity of soul. Few women ever yet
failed to be stronger, and more influ-
entail for good, as a result of educa-
tional advantages, and higher mental
culture.
She the more clearly discerns the
difference between moral right and
moral wrong, as well as she the more
deity weaves into lovely whole,
the threads of secular life, and solves
the most intricate life problems, as
certaining paths of exact unerring
duty. Woman's sphere is widening
day by day, and her powers to meet
the increasing responsibilities of her
broadening field. should be expanded
and strengthened by all possible
means. Lands are to be civilized and
christianized, and women as well as
men are to be instruments in Gods
hands to perform this grand and no.
BILE work. How is she to go forward
in this work without an education ?
Women have watched through
long, sorrOwful years, for the dawn
ing of brighter tomorrow when they
shall receive the cultivation they so
justly deserve. They should let no
cloud again darken their. spirits, or
weight of sadness Cypress their hearts.
They should arouse ambitions smol-
dering fires for the laurel may yet
be wreathed destined to grace their
brows. They must burst the tram
mels that impede their progress and
cling to hope. Woman is receiving
higher education in the present than
in the past, still her progress is too
slow. Although l am not an advo-
cate for Strikes" / think it would
be well for woman to strike for higher
education, if she cannot obtain in a
better way. If she strike and fall,
she is not compelled to lie still and
make no further effort to rise. 1t is
bad to fall, but it is worse to remain
in the dust or mud and wait for man
to help her up. Many distractions
are thrown about tOpreventthe high
er education of woman; and such inn
pediments cast a mist before woman,
which when cleared away by giving
her an education equal to man, will
cause her to eXclaim:
"Dawn is fair because the mists fade slowly
Into day which floods the orld with light
Twilight's mystery is so sweet and pleasant
Just because it ends in starry night"
The army of women whOh toll.
ed within the walls of cottages, and
who today are exalted throughout
the length and breadth of the
country, are living witnesses to the
utility and worth of female education
Such education stands today a mon
ument to the progressive spirit of the
PRESENT age, and takes woman from
her low ideal, her petty theories Of
life, from dim cropping and blind
struggling in the dark, into a cleal
atmosphere, up to higher outlook
And then begins the slow but steady
march to that Infinite Perfection
which on Bonded knee and with fer
vent lip, we call God.