Milford chronicle., 1888-02-10

toiled under a tropical sun for poor, old,
HELPLESS Naomil-or Of Mrs. Adolnrain judi
son, who klAdled the lights of salvation amid
the darkness Of Burmahl-or of Alra Hemans.
who poured out her holy soul in words
which will forever be associated with
hunters horn, and capt. IS chain and
bridal hour and lute's throb, and curfew's
knel at the dying day2-and scores and hun
dreds Of women, unknown on earth, who have
given water to the thirsty, and bread to the
hungry, aud medicine to the sick, and smiles
to the discouraged-their footsteps heard
along dark lane, and in government hospital,
and in almshouse corridor, and by prison
gatel There may be no royal robe-there
may be no palatial surroundings. She does
not need them; for all charitable men will
unite with the cracking lips Of fever struck
hospital and plague blOtched lazaretto in
greeting her as she passes; 'Hall! hal!
Queen Vashti.n
Among the queens whom l honor are the
female day school teachers of this land.
nut upon their brow the cOronet. They are
the sisters and the daughters of our towns
and cities, selected out of vast number of
applicants, because of their especial intel
lectual and moral endowments. There are
in none of your homes women more worthy
These persons. some of them, come out from
afluent homes. choosing teaching as a useful
profession; others, finding that father is older
than he used to be, and that his eyeslght and
strength are not as good as once, go to teach
ing to tighten his load. But tell you the
history of the majority of the female teach
ers in the public schools when say; "Fauher
is dead" After the estate was settled, the
family, that were comfortable before, are
thrown on their own resources.
1t is hard for men to earn living IN thls
dav, but it is harder for wOmen-their health
not SO rugged, their arms not so strong'
their opportunities fewer. These persons,
after tremblingly going through the ordeal
of an examination as to their quallncauohs 70
teach, half bewildered step over the sill Of
the public school to do two thlngs-lnstIlcU
the Young and earn their own bread. her
work is wearing to the last degree. Inc
management of forty or fifty tdgety and IN
tractable children, the suppression OF
their vices and the development OF
their excellencies, the management OF
rewards and punishments, the sendiiS
of so many bars Of soap and hne toouh
combs ON benignant ministry, the breaking
of so many wild colts for the harness OF lie,
sends her home at night weak, neuralgia, un-
I
vour cities for five nights Of the week, there
are none more weary than the public school
teachers. Now, for Gods sake, give them a
fair chance. Throw no obstacles in the way.
If they come out ahead in the race, cheer
them. If YOU want to srnite any, slnite the
male teachers: they can take up the cudgels
for themselves. But keep your hands OIL OF
defenseless woman. Father may be dead,
but there are enough brothers left to demand
end see that they get justice
Within a stones throw Of this building
there died years ago one of the principals Of
our public schools. She had been twenty-five
wears at that post. She had left the touch Of
refinement on a multitude of the young. She
had, out of her slender purse, given literally
thousands of dollars for the destitute who
came under her observation as school
teacher. A deceased sisters children were
thrown upon her hands, and she took care OF
them. She was kind mother to them, while
she mothered the whole school. Worn out
with nursing in the sick and dying room Of
one of the household, she herself came to die.
She closed the school book and at the same
time the volume of her Christian tidelityi and
when she went through the gates they cried;
.sTbese are they who came out of great tribu-
lation, and had their robes washed and made
white in the blood of the Lamb"
Queens are all such, and whether the world
acknowledges them or not, Heayen acknoWl-
edges them. When ScaTron, the wit and
ecclesiastic. as poor as he was brilliant, was
about to marry Nine. de Maintenon, he was
asked by the notary what he proposed TO
settle upon mademoiselle. The reply was:
Immortality The names of the wives OF
kings die with them; the name OF the VIE OF
Scarron will live always" In higher ana
better sense, upon all women who do their
duty God will settle immortality! Not the
immortality of earthly fame, which IS NOR
tai, but the immortality celestial. And they
shall reign forever and everl Oh, the Opportu-
nity which every woman has OF BENG queen!
The longer live the more admire good
vvomanhood. And have come to form my
opinion of the character of man by his ap-
nreciation or non-appreciation of woman.
! If n man have a depressed idea Of a womanly
character he is bad man, and there is no
execution to the rule The writings OF Goethe
can never have any such attractions for me as
/ Shakespeare. because nearly all the womanly
characters of the great German have some
kind of turpitude. There is his Mariana,
with her clandestine scheming, and his
Mignon, of evil parentage, yet worse than
her ancestors, and his Theresa, the brazen,
and his Aurelia of many intrigues, and his
Philina. the termagant, aud his Melina,
fine tarnisbed and his Baroness, and his
Countess. and there is seldom a womaly
character in all his voluminous writ
ings that would be worthy of resi-
dence in q respectable coal cellar, yet
pictured. and dramatized, and emblazoned
| till all the literary world is compelled to see.
No. mol Give me William Shakespeare's idea
| of woman. and see it in Desdemona, and
Cordelia. and Rosalind, and Imogen, and
Helena. and Hermione, and Viola, and Isa-
belta. and Sylvia, and Perdita, all Of them
with enough faults to prove them human,
but enough kindly characteristics to give us
the authors idea of wOmanhood, his Lady
Macbeth only dark background to bring
out the supreme loveliness of his other female
characters.
Oh, woman Of Americal rise to your OPP
portunity. Be no slave to pride, or worldli-
ness, or sin. Why ever crawl in the dust
whan YOU can mount a tbronef Be queens
unto God forever. Hail Vashtil
Again: 1 want you to consider Vashti the
yelled. Had she appeared before Ahasuerus
and his court on that day, with her face un-
covered, she would have shocked all the deli
cacies Of Oriental society, and tho very men
who IN their lntOXlcatlon ueinahueu tnao sue
come, in their sober moments would have
despised her. As some flowers seem to thrive
best in the dark lane and in the shadow, and
where the sun does not seem to reach them,
so God appoints to most womanly natures
a retiring and unobtrusive spirit. God
once in a while does call an Isabella
to a throne, or Miriam to strike the tim
brel at the front of a host, or Marie An
toinette to quell French mob, or Deborah
to stand at the front Of an armed battalion,
crying out, "Upl upl This is the day in
which the Lord will deliver Sisera into thy
bandsn And when women are called to such
outdoor work, and to such heroic positions,
| God prepares them for it; and they have iron
in their soul, and lightnings ia their eye, and
whirlwinds in their breath, and the borrowed
STRENGTH of the Lord Omnipotent in their
=. -. n. LI......a.l. l.l....ncna ae