Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-03-31
IN BRIEF.

Purpose in life: In the present onward
movement of woman there is one serious
drawback, and one for which women are
solely responsible. It is want of a fixed
aim, of an abiding purpose.
Scarcely does boy leave of knee-pants
until he begins to talk of what he will be
and of what he will DO when he is a man,
while the little girl, even in pinafores, is
100 apt to plan only what she viii do when
she is married, and little later how she
will enter rand lead society, the girl in
neither instance looking at even this future
from the higher plane.
II is equally true of women as Of men
that they are largely the moulders of their
lives, and true also that unless the aim is
high and the effort to attain it persistent
and brave even an approximation to the
higher is impossible. No young woman
can afford to look forward to a purposeiess
existence. It is not enOl Oh that she look
pretty and win admiration. Her de5tiny
ought not to be bound by ribbons, and for
her, life is a failure if Ahe frill and the
friZol satisfy bsr----E -
Women are charged with an anxiety to
obtain q purely literary education Their
ambition 10 excel in book knowledge is
well, but for what end is it sought When
girl spends Ave or six years in school,
skins the surface of arts and sciences, any
one of which requires years of study, she
may have modicum of information, but
she cannot be regarded Is educated. If,
however, the schools have taught her how
best TO use knowledge, and to choose wisely
some pursuit est adapted to her natural
gifts, then these gears have not been
wasted. The lack, however, among women
students, is purpose. "Why do 1 study?"
and 80 what eud?'
Women in this era need to appreciate the
possibilities of their lives, these lie thick
about them, but are never developed by
spasmodic effort One of the most en-
couraging signs of woman's progress is
that she is striving after literature and cul-
ture, but il there is divorce from the practi-
cal the result will be disappointing. That
women are pursuing technical studies, that
they are not all studying merely for the
sake Of literature is true and the more wo-
men learn in order that they may lead lives
Of useful activity the better for the sex and
the world. American women ought to
avoid a repetition Of the experience of their
couutrymen who have crowded the pro-
fessions until the workshop and the farm
IRE left in large measure 70 the illiterate
and the unslilled. There is much techni-
cal work that women can master, and TO
know how to do well one thing, is a boon that
every girl should crave, and its acquire
ment admits Of no vacillaton nor division
Of energy.
The Womau's exhibit at Chicago viii be
wonderful education in this Iiue. Not only
will women exercise their inventive talents
and use their skill more than ever, but the
object lesson furnished will open women's
eyes TO their capability Tor techinal in
struct;on and the benefits accruing from
such knowledge. -.
a revival; There is a qualification to the
lover Of healthy fiction in the growing
popularity Of Jane Austen's writings. Her
works have stood the test Of century of
readers and are now numbered among
English classics.
a few years ago the writer heard a
spirited discussion between a bright woman
ana an educated man on the comparative
merits Of writer's of English fiction in
which the lady SO stoutly maintained, in
the face Of sarcasm as well as of fair
argument, the merits Of Miss Austen as to
win a convert, and the listener straightway
sought her works, but mot in stock'' was
the disappointing answer.
Now young men in college are given
''Emma" to read as part Of their literary
nourishmeut, and ''Mansfeld Parks was
the novel NIisA Phnippa Fawcett read the
night she wonithe position above senior
wrangles" at cambridge. It was of this
90, il was sid that once in a small com
ny men, in answer to q request
ASnf of the book which had
9leasure, seven of them
rtnce fdr it
t graSAas.Sauaza Austen
"a VIII COM