Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-03-27
IN BRJEF.

Purpose in life: In the present onward
slrawback, and one for which women are
solely responsible. It is want of fixed
aim, of an abiding purpose.
Scarcely does a boy leave off knee-pants
until he begins to talk of what he will be
and of what he viii do when he is a man,
while the little girl, even ii pinafores, is
too apt to plan only what she will do when
she is married, and a little later how she
will enter sand lead society, the girl in
neither instance looking at even this future
from the higher plane.
1t 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 purposeless
existence. 1t is not enough that she look
pretty and win admiration. Her destiny
ought not to be bound by ribbons, and for
her, life is failure if the frill and the
frivol satisfy her.
Women are charged with an anxiety to
obtain a purely literary education Their
ambition to excel in book knowledge is
well, but for what end is it sought When
a girl spends five 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 as 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 years have not been
wasted. Tho lack, however, among women
students, is purpose. 'Why do 1 study7''
and ..'to what end2''
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 if 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 repetition of the experience of their
countrymen who have crowded the pro
LESSONS until the workshop and the farm
are left in large measure to the illitetate
and the unskilled. 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 adm its of no vacillation nor division
Of energy.
The Woman's exhibit al Chicago will bea
wonderful education in this line 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 for techinal in
struction and the benefits accruing from
such knowledge -
\ revival: There IS . orr LITIGATION to the
lover of healthy fiction in the growing
popularity of Jane Arstan's writings Her
works have ssocd the test of century of |
readers ard are now numbered among
English classics.
u lew years dRu TIC WTltSE ucs.EO Z i
spirited discussion between a bright woman
and an educated man on the comparative |
merits Of writers of English fiction in
which the lady so stoutly maintained, in
the face Of sarcasm as well as of fair
3, Iment. the merits Of Miss Austen as to
win u 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 a part of their literary
nourishment, and ''Manstield Parks was
the novel Miss Philippa Fawcett read the
night she won the position 'sabove senior
wrangler'' at Cambridge. It was of this
novel, it was said that once in small com
pany of literary men, in answer to a request
to write the name of the book which had
given them most pleasure. seven of them
wrote their preference for It
Sir Walter Scott granted to Jane Austen
that quisite touch which makes the con- !