Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1888-06-22

patton of woman and her restoration to her
fitting sphere. She who was last at the
Cross and first at the Sepulchre, has found
the reward for her loving faith when His
disciples forsook Him and fled, in the
bursting of her servile chains and her re 70
storation to that position where she is, as
she was created to be-man's helpmeet.
But while the way is open to woman for
distinction and development, still her
ways are not mans ways. While she may not
bear the banner inscribed excelsior up the
rugged heights Of Ambition, because the
cumbersome fashion of her skirts is not
suited to such an ascent, and loving peace
and quiet she has put all hustle behind her,
and because she can neither endure nor
enjoy the surroundings. For
HE who ascends to mountain tops shall find.
The loftiest peaks most wrapped in clouds
and SNOW;
He who SurpaSses or subdues mankind.
Must look down ON the hate of those below.
Though high above the sun of glory glow,
And far beneath the earth and ocean spread.
Round him are icy rocks, and loudly blow
Conteuding tenDeStS on his naked head,
And thus reward the tolls which to those
SUBMITS led"
But as for her
"Her sober wishes never learned to stray.
Along the cool sequestered vale Of life,
She takes the noiseess tenor of her way"
And the path grows brighter that she has
trodden 1.-THE Lilly of the Valley re-
I doubles it sweetness, the Rose of Sharon
burdens the air with its fragrance, and
"e'en the slight Harebell rears its head
elastic from her airy tread"
Yet, there are fields where they may strive
for supremacy, and the Literary field is
one of these, and in that part of it devoted
to the tongues as may readily be supposed,
she is no mean competitor, and woe to that
luckless wight who refuses to take this
on trust, but must cen learn in the hard
est of all neutrality-suspicious. 'Twere better
for him ito wake the rafting terrors of
the vengeful snake"
While such terrors dwell within this
little member, tits said it can be as soft as
sharp, and can upon occasion pronounce
the monosyllable Eyes," with sweetness
and pathos that would make Master of
Elocution die of envy, and the sentence
go ask papa" like a symphony in G
minor; and am told in confidence by the
boys, that while it comes natural to girl
to con jugate Amare in all its moods and
lenses, that she finds no less difficulty in
declining Amator in any number and in
all cases.
She, whom we come to honor tonight,
has proved her excellence in the gift of
tongues, but she has taken Portia rather
than Xantippe, as her model. Nor should
we while we award her, her well earned
need, discourage her rivals. A rose by
any other name would never smell as
sweet, and when we come to wrestling
with an ancient tongue or interpreting
hoary writings on the academic walls,
who could expect to contend against a
Daniez.*
But the prize is rightly hers. Not be-
cause she is q woman and has the gift of
tongues, nor because she bears name that
has come down to us embalmed in the lore
of the ages, but because she has diligently
applied herself to study; because in the
Hortus Siccus-where she delved among
Latin roots-she'' knew no such word as fail.
Because she landed with Caesar on the
shores of Britain, and fought with Pompey
at Pharsalia. She has sung of arms and
the. man who bore the aged Anchises amid
the topping walls of Troy to his vessels, and
sailed with him DER seas roseate with the
funeral fires of Dido. She has walked with
Virgil along the shady banks of the Arno,
and learned the love of the fields from his
lips in measures sweet as the honey of
Hybla. Stretched at noon-tide under the
wide spreading beech she has watched the
AuoeLSo LII UiO NiohSO w eAO AUS
civious pleasing of the tuneful reed.
With Horace and M8cenas she has walk
ed the courts of Augustus and basked in
the sunshine Of Roman learning. With
Juvenal she has explored by night the
dangerous streets of Rome. and moralized
upon the vanity of human wishes. With
the terse Tacitus she has plunged into the
dark depths of the German forests and in
the camps of his loved Germanicus, seen
that devastation, ''where man makes
solitude and calls it peace.'
She has listened in rapt wonder while
Cicero Numbered at Verres, and trembled
as amid the conscript fathers he pointed
his prophetic finger at Catalina. She has
followed Ovid through all his meta NOR
phoses, and rejoiced while Jugurtha failed
in his Macchavellian schemes, and then
having whetted her sword upon the pre-
face to Livy, she has cut her bright way
through the annals, and now emerges like
Minerva from the brain of Jove armed
cap pie in Latin lore, and we'll worthy the
prize [ now bestow upon her.
I*The recipient of the prize was Miss Mary
Daniel of Louisa,]