The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-07-11
HIGHER EDUCATION.


And make her free and equal, don't you know!
Irene G. Adams in Woman's Journal
HIGHER EDUCATION.
The Effects of Accrued Knowledge Upon
the Life of Woman.
The higher education so freely offered
to women at the present time, together
with increased opportunities for voca-
ton, have led many to ask with no lit
tie seriousness what effect these social
ed advantages will have upon women
and whether, on the whole, the result
will not be to detract from those finer
qualities which are considered essential
ly feminine. If the necessary result of
broader intelligence is correspond
ing loss of refinement and. delicacy,
writes Caroline X. Sherman, in Chicago
Post. women, as well as men, should re-
gard with anxiety this intellectual de-
velopment, for no amount of learning
can compensate the loss of tenderness
and grace, and qualities Of mind alone
are poor substitute for the warm in
stincts of gentle heart
But those who are studying the prac-
tical solution of the problem do not as
yet find occasion for alarm. They see
no necessary contradiction between the
activities of the head and those of the
heart. On the contrary, they have
reason to believe that wise intelli-
gence adds immensely to the value of
the affections. They are ready, also, to
admit that the grace which comes from
strength is far more graceful than that
which comes from languor; that the ten
derness which comes from efficient SYM
patty is no less tender because of its
efficiency. And that the trust which is
based on a full recognition of all that
love and trust and self-surrender imply
is certainly apt to be more permanent
than the trust that is based upon igno-
rance.
If the more rational life now offered
to women shall lead them to more ra-
tional views in regard to the affections
incalculable results for good must inev-
itably follow; for there is no truth that
men and women need to see moro plain
~ than the fact the emotions are to be
kept under wise control; that they are
of value only as they are under control,
and that the infallibility OF love is not in
proportion to its intensity, but rather in
proportion to it's clear sightedness. e.
The illusions are very attractive
which cling to the idea of chivalrous
devotion on the part of man and help
less dependence on the part of women,
and this might be we'll enough perhaps
if men were always strong and women
were always young and beautiful. Yet
even here it is question whether a
woman could find lasting happiness
merely as a passing recipient of loving
admiration, however ardent, for as long
as woman has rational and spiritual
nature, so long she fails of highest hap
piness if these are dwarfed or lost sight
of. Furthermore, the fate of the Juli-
cts, the Desdemonas, the Margarets. and
countless hosts of other women. who
were all that is gentle and sweet and
confiding, does not lead to the belief
that the fate of such women is at all en-
viable. Shakespeare knew this we'll.
While he portrayed every phase of the
emotions, and with all the allurements
and attractions which passion and I'M
disciplined srdor know how to offer, he
has not failed to show the evil results
where feeling, and not reason. obtains
control. The Ophelias and Desdemonas
perish, the victims of their own undisci-
plined instincts, but Portia, the woman
OF wise intelligence, whose wealth Of
feeling was not under the sway of pas
sion, lived not only to her own advan-
tage, but that Of her husband and house
hold.
Nor has Shakespeare failed to show
that the clear Judgment and calm re
Election of women like Portia do not in
any wise lessen the intensity of their
affection. We find her the genuine
woman, with all womanly instincts
happy in the self-surrender to hus-
band who is worthy of her. No submis-
sion could be more womanly than is that
of Portia to her husband; but it is the
submission of strength, not of weakness.
Goethe, who knew women well, testifies
to the same effect
1t is the disposition of most women to
live in their feelings; and. perhaps,
lEOIu hAciI pHl oiSaA SOhobLbullOu IAtJ
are compelled to do so to greater or
less extent Still the tendency need
not be cultivated. as it certainly has
been in times past. And, above all
things, the emotional state need not be
considered the ideal condition for wom-
en-. for in whatever way women is re-
garded. whether as an individual of and
for herself or as helpmeet for man, in
either case it is the rational life that
gives permanent worth to the emo
tional life. 1t is to be hoped that the
ardor and zeal with which women have
entered upon Intellectual opportunities
will moderate somewhat when the nov
city has passed. A feverish haste for
knowledge is apt to defeat its own end,
and mere attainment is often mistaken
for development. There is that in
sound, patient scholarship which acts as
sedative to the nerves and gives the
calm repose that is based on con-
seriousness of intellectual vigor and
strength. 1t is this kind of scholarship
that meets the needs of the women of
to-day. -
In several towns of South Dakota,
where women are not disfranchised by
the city charter, women have been
nominated and elected upon the school