The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1891-09-02
IN W0MAN'S BEHALF.
THE MODERN GRADUATE.

The time was when the young grad
uate received her blue-ribboned diplo-
ma with the blissful consciousness that
her education was finished Her name
in the catalogue, in the list alumne,
was an indication that she had ''gone
through" the prescribed four years
course and had triumphantly passed
successive examinations in history,
sciences, languages, mathematics
and belle lettres If she be-
longed to well-to-do family
there was little interval of travel, and
she returned, having received the fin
fishing touches, ready to take her place
in society.
After year or two of society she
married and settled down, her home.
husband and children comprising all
the career she hoped for, or for which
she had time or inclination. If this
was not the legitimate result of her So
'cial experience it was considered more
or less failure, and there remained for
her nothing but to remain, dependent
upon her parents, or, in the event of
their death, to find a place where she
was made more or less welcome under
the roof of a friend or relative. 1t was
not a cheerful existence, and it is not
much wonder that this joyless and pro-
tected spinsterhood seemed very somber
and dismal after the hopes and aspira-
tions of girlhood. Of course, among
her classmates there were those who
knew that they must be self-support-
ing, that the knowledge acquired as
pupils they must in turn impart as
teachers, and that they had no reason
to expect in purely worlS-a-day life
much recreation. ease or admiration.
If to them came the blessings of home
and the love of husband and children it
was fortunate accident, unforeseen
and regarded as something in the nature
of miracle. Between the girl who
had to make her way and the girl
whose way was made for her there was
an almost impossible chasrIi. It was
widened by a proud sensitiveness to
patronage on one hand, and an indiffer-
ence and passive selfishness on the
other
But times have changed with the
girl graduate as with all other classes
and conditions, and the change has
been vastly for the better. The rich
girl nowadays is not content with lux
ury. She wants to know life as it actu.
ally is, as it can be learned only in the
midst of affairs; by thinking and doing
and by coming in contact with the
world. She has an affectionate admira-
ton for the classmate whose circum-
stances will give her this privilege, and
between them there exists u strong
feeling of comradeship which is one of
the innovations of these better days.
1t is hardly probable that romance is
dead or dying, or that the young grad
uate does not dream her dream and evoke
from her fancy or experience hero that,
to her, is the one man of all the world.
But before she capitulates she wants to
test her individual powers; to see what
she can accomplish unaided; to apply
her knowledge and use her gifts in
making some separate place for her
self which she shall owe to no one.
This is the distinctive spirit of the
century-whose greatest power, VIM.
Baker has avowed is to be the influ.
ence of educated women. 1t is much
more than probable that two-thirds OF
the young women who graduated from
the schools and universities of the coun
- try last June will marry, but few o.
them will marry Immediately.
If they were interviewed it would be
ascertained that most of them have un
der consideration some interesting pos-
graduate course. Others look to the
professions, to medicine journalism, t.
art or music, or even the law, for which
they will prepare themselves first, ant
let destiny manage the rest, and they
are in no hurry.
Instead of uniting them for domes
tic life, professional training, ex
perience with the world, ought tt
broaden the mind and the sympathie
and make the woman all the better ant
the stronger for her place at the heat
of family. Furthermore, it should ad,
to her value as wife that she has beer
able to earn her own livelihood, and il
renouncing her financial independents,
she makes u sacrifce-no matter how
freely and generously--that demand
an equivelant in devotion and affec
ton.
There is no danger that taste of in
dependence, the testing of moral AM
mental strength, of practic al and valu
able requirements will make her les
womanly, less wifely, or less motherly
Nature has taken care of all that an,
has planted these instincts in her sou
beyond the power of custom or environ
ment to etface them.
Of course this applies only to one an
the larger class. There is another O
which preachers, writer's and teacher
of ethics make no record-a elias
which, however, includes such wome
as Harriet Hosmer Rosa Bonheur an
Harriet Martineau, those who desire t
devote all their mind and strength t
the work they have chosen, who find
sufficient and are too content and happ
In that work to ask anything beyond il
1t must be confessed that they are tn
minority and, since the home must b
the unit of society, the fountain sourc
of civilization, the origin of pure, ration
al life, there is wisdom in the deere
which has ordained that they shall be
minority.
But it is vast gain, an incalculabl
improvement over old conditions ths
the girl graduate of to-day need not /
coereed, but may choose which life sh
will have, and if she is true to her higl
est nature NAV attain equal honor