St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-11-29
Ilte Galedunian.
For the CALIFORNIAN
Are Women Interested in Science ?

In times past this question would
have startled and amazed humanity.
Just a little way back in the past a
woman would have been called insane
who dared have an opinion of her own
on political or religious affairs. The
old dOgmas, born of the ignorance and
superstition of dark ages, were mys-
teries unfathOmable and unquestiOn-
able to her. Every avenue was closed
which might lead to her elevation and
advancement. Her physical condition
was that of a mental, and she was men
tally shrouded in gloom. The dark
ness of night eDveloped her on every
side. The chains which bound her in
relentless slavery were welded with
tears and suffering that met with no
sympathy, no encouraging words. No
ray of light penetrated the gloom. No
hope of future relief could she see,
naught but one long dark night of woe
and despair.
But the march of progress which
cannot be stayed has brought change
to woman. The chains that bound her
are severed. The shadows are fleeing
from her pathway, and she is awaken
ing from her forced slumbers to drink
in the sacred inspiration of liberty and
wisdom. She is rapidly emerging
from her dark and dreary confinement
to enjoy the blissful lays of light and
truth.
The gloom of benighted centuries is
vanishing in the distance, and the
grand and beautiful truths of life
are gradually unfolding her mental
vision, and she begins to realize her
own individuality, her wants and pow
ers. And the woman of today is being
born again into a grander plane of ex-
istence, and is each day becoming more
able to grasp and utilize the great
truths of her being to her advantage,
and is constantly giving to the world
those rare thong hts and deeds of love
and wisdom which elevate humanity.
And when the question is asked today
sis woman Interested in scienceT we
have only to point to the glorious
achievements won through her keen
Intuition, and her ability to investi-
gate beyond the surface of things.
Today her scientific investigations
have become the corner stone for the
upbuilding of mighty theories that
shall TevolutiOnize the world. Her
fine perceptions of truth and right are
not of slow growth, but come to her
insLinctively, and she stands shoulder
to shoulder with her brother man in
the pursuit of science, art and litera-
ture. The world is now looking at
woman with that respect and admira
ton which she has so nobly earned, "a
respect for which she has fought long
and arduously, and her Unborn love for
scientific research has raised her above
her rayless night of encouragement
and sorrow, and she now realizes her
own individuality, and firmly walks to
the front to assert her convictions of
truth, never more to be enslaved by
error and bigotry. Her path is onward
and upward, and the thOrns that pierre
ed her feet in the past have forced her
into the light of scientific knowledge.
There is a halo of glory surrounding
her pathway that ignorance can never
more dispel, and she is rapidly show
ing to the world her ability to cope
with the mOmentous questions of the
day whether scientific, political or re-
ligiOus. Mrs. LAURA CUMMINGS,
East Hardwick, Vt.