The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-09-08
THE INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT
OF WOMEN.

In surveying the intellectual devel-
opment of woman thus far in her his
tory (but particularly in England,
where she has had perhaps the fairest
field two questions present themselves:
1. What intellectual capacities has
woman manifested? III. What are
the indications in regard to her future
literary achievementsp
Let us consider these two questions
in their order.
l. What intellectual capacities has
woman manifested thus far in her
history?
In the production of the modern
novel women have had their share, and
a very important oIe It has been. Their
best work in liteltare has been ac-
'complished as n@sss gslaaGs. Iane
Austen, Charlotte BronJe and George
Eliot will stand we'll when measured by
any equal number of masculine novel
lists; and they rank high in greatness of
conception and execution, and in sus-
tanned power.
The two most successful writers of
realistic novels in England have been
Jane Austen and George Eliot.
In poetry, women have always mani
Tested three remarkable tendencies: the
acceptance of pure and ideal love of
man and woman as the basis of their
work, the Interpretation of daily life
with sympathy and affection, and the
giving their singing an emotional rich
ness and beauty of the highest type.
In the fragmentary remnants of that
greatest of lyrical poets, Sappho; in the
sonnets Of Vittoria Colonna, the friend
and inspirer of Michael Angelo, and in
the poetry of Mrs. Browning, we find
the same characteristic features of
pure and consecrated affection for a
great man, tender and yearning inter-
est in human beings, an intimate SYM
pathy with the beauties of nature, and
lofty moral purity. These are quail
ties which women have embodied in
some of the most delicate and sympa-
thetic poetry we possess; and they are
qualities which women are more and
more, with each generation, adding to
the poetry of human existence.
In the fields of general literature
women have shown talent, courage and
skill. Such women as Madame de
Stael and Harriet Martineau have
shown that genius is not confined to
the masculine sex, and that intellectual
industry may go hand in hand with
womanly graces of refined and deli
cate type.
The intellectual influence of women
has been shown, not so much by the
number of great thinkers and authors
which have appeared among them, as
by their general influence on the life of
the last three centuries. They have
been Of the utmost importance to liter
ature in creating a reading public, and
in giving to authors that sympathy
and appreciation which are necessary
to the best results. AS soon as women
were educated in considerable numbers,
a great reading public was created, and
authorship became an independent and
self-respecting profession.
Women are now everywhere, in civ
ilized countries, the chief sustainers of
the intellectual life; they form the great
body of church goers, lecture attend
ants, readers of books and teachers of
the young. Women as mass now
give to literature and to ideas far more
of time and appreciation than do the
mass of men. If they have not as yes
become the intellectual leaders of the
world, they exercise a very great inAu-
ence in giving tone and direction TO the
literary spirit of the time.
Before the education Of women was
such that their influence could be felt
on literature, nearly all literature was
affected by the coarse and brutal; and