Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1891-09-10
IN WOMAN'S BEHALF.
THE MODERN GRADUATE.

She Is Not the Dependent Creature Her
sisters of Former Years Were.
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 alumn@,
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
ishing 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 place where she
was made more or less welcome under
the roof of n friend or relative, 1t was
not 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 work-a-day life
much recreation, ease or admiration.
If to them came tire blessings of home
and the love of husband and children it
was a fortunate accident, unforeseen
and regarded as something in the nature
of a miracle. Between the girl who
had to make her way and the girl
whose way was made for her there was
an almost impossible chasm. 1t 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 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 tC
test her individual powers; to see wha
she can accomplish unaided; to apply
her knowledge and use her gifts il
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 mucl
more than probable that two-thirds o
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 b
ascertained that most of them have un
der consideration some interesting pos
graduate course. Others look to tn
professions, to medicine, journalism, t
art or music or even the law, for whic
they will prepare themselves first, an
let destiny manage the rest, and the
are in no hurry.
Instead of uniting them for dome'
tic life, professional training, e1
perience with the world, ought t
broaden the mind and the sympathie
and make the woman all the better an
the stronger for her place at the hea
of family. Furthermore, it should ad
to her value as wife that she has bee
able to earn her own livelihood, and
renouncing her financial independents
she makes a sacrifice-no matter ho'
freely and generously-that demand
an equivelant in devotion and affe,
ton.
There is no danger that taste of il
dependence, the testing of moral an
mental strength, of practic al and vail
:. able requirements will make her lei
! womanly, less wifely, or less motherl,
I Nature has taken care of all that an
has planted these instincts in her so,
0 beyond the power of custom or environ
l ment to efface them.
y OF course this applies only to one ar
), the larger class. There is another ;
4 which preachers, writers and teache
e of ethics make no record-a ella
a which, however, includes such wome
as Harriet Hosmer, Rosa Bonheur ar
; Harriet Martineau, those who desire
~ utNObS Ill JlltlI anu bbItllRbH
the work they have chosen, who find
r sufficient and are too content and hapJ
$ in that work to ask anything beyond
= 1t must be confessed that they are Il
minority and, since the home must
a the unit of society, the fountain sour
a of civilization, the origin of pure, ratio
l. al life, there is wisdom in the deer
/. which has ordained that they shall be
n minority
IT But it is vast gain, an incalculat
e improvement over old conditions tn
Il the girl graduate of to-day need not
it coerced, but may choose which life S
will have, and if she is true to her hia
g est nature may attain equal honor
t. either Inter Ocean.
S, IT is the deliberate judgment of M
e Mary F. Seymour, who employs nu
v bers of women, that there is VIC
k enough in the world for all the perso
20 who know how to do it well, and Il