The Indianapolis journal., 1890-08-17
EDUCATION OF WOMEN.
IL Has Robbed Them Of None Of Their Fem
I'M Graces q Modesty.

inine Graces or Modesty.
Philadelphia Record
The eminent distinctions which have
been won by women of late in English uni
versities and the increased educational Op-
pOrtunities given to the sex in our own
country are OF the most gratifying charac-
ter to all persons who are interested in the
grow tn of intellectual culture in the whole
body polite. This widening and broaden
ing of opportunities. which promises to
bring about many social changes, is un-
dOubtedly partly due TO the greater en-
lightenment which the law has thrown up
On the relationships between the two sexes
and upon their rights and responsibilities.
The state of women even less than half q
century ago was anomalous and painful;
scanty provision was made for their well
iected to flagrant and shameful Injustice
hardly credible to modern ears. But one
by one their disabilities have been removed;
and in proportion as laws have been en-
acted by States enabling them to make
contracts, to hold property, and to act as If
they were entities and not chattels, it has
been realized that in order to live up to
this newly bestowed liberty they must be
fitly prepared and equipped for it. Hence
the movement for their elevation need not
be regarded as mere chivalrous sentiment:
but rather as something which would nat
urally follow what statute law had decreed.
A few weeks ago Mr.. Gladstone made an
address to the pupils of the famous Burl-
lnRtOQ ScDOOl OlTlb, III LOnuOU, III tuc
course of which he said some things that,
although they may not be acceptable to
those who would wish to see women
launched on the stormy sea of politics and
working in every field of human action.
will doubtless. be accepted by all who are
looking to the advantages of the commu-
nifty. and not to the triumph of some wild
and impracticable idea. Speaking of the
changes which have taken place in wom-
ans position, and of the still greater
changes that are now being discussed and
to which so many are looking forward with
eager anticipations. he refrained from un-
dertaking to say whether these movements
would ultimately result in the good of So
ciety. But he did say, plainly.
or affects to alter the fundamental
relation which the Almighty Himself has
established, and the designs which He
has marked out In our constitutions
and capacities, to draw woman out of her
own sphere, and to expect her either to
exchange it for the sphere of man, or to
act in both with the presumption that
she can act in both with efficiency--that
schemes that involve changes of that kind.
with apprOval-if may speak of anything
so insignificant as my own approval of so
great a scheme-nor with q sanguine ex-
pectation of happy results"
There certainly can be nothing extracted
from this which indicates want of SYM
pathy with the efforts which women are
making to become more useful in the world.
Mr.. Gladstone observed that an eminent
physician had said to him more than fifty
years ago that neither the Wings nor the
Tories, but the mothers of England,
would save the country; and he sup
plemented this remark by adding that
the value and Importance of the mothers
office is such that mo additions that
we can possibly make to q wOrnan's fune-
tions. can ever stand for moment in COM
parlson with it as regards the very vital
bearing upon the formation of character in
every one of us; and what Is the formation
of character except that for which God
sent us into the worldi 1t is the sum and
substance, the beginning and the end. of
the whole matter. and it is to the formation
of character that il is the bright and glo-
rious function of woman. partly as teacher,
and largely as teacher, but infinitely more
as a mother, to contribute"
So far there has been nothing disclosed in
the opening up of new avenue to women
to Justify the fear that wOmanly grace and
modesty, and those tender affections which
find their outcome in the glow of hearth and
home, are likely to suffer from
contact with sterner duties. True
education, while it elevates. at the
same time implaDts higher ideal of
individual responsibility; and woman, with
her sphere of practical usefulness yearly
growing. may yet fulfill the dream of the
poet, rising from one height to another,
Till at the last she sets herself to man,
Like perfect music unto noble words.