The Washington times., 1894-06-20
pRIESTESSES OF lDEALISM
DR.. Lyman Abbott Pleads for Higher
Education Of Women.
REALISM HAS TOO MUCH sWA1
All Matters Nowadays Measured by Ma.
tsrial standards-The Prevalent Desire
Of the Women Of the United States to
Crowd Into Active Life Deprecated.

BETHLEHEM, Pa, June 19.-Dr. Lyman Alb.
bott, Of Plymouth church, Brooklyn, deliv.
cred the annual address tonight before the
alumni of the Morsvian Seminary for young
ladies, the Oldest woman's college in America.
DR.. Abbott spoke substantially as follows:
''This seminary, founded IA years ago, Il
the earliest OF these institutions for the edu
cation Of women which have become a char.
acteristic glory Of America. The Moravians
were among the first to claim for woman an
education, not that she might better minister
to some man, but because she was child oi
God, and was entitled to her own best devel-
opment. This is the real end Of education
manhood and womanhood, not mere ability
to make money or earn livelihood. And
the highest education is not for this purpose
too high; the best is not too good.
ave are often told that we are living in a
materialistic age, and certainly naterialism is
characteristic of our time and Of our country.
We measure men by the wealth, ask what a
man is worth and answer in dollars and
cents. The science which we chiefly value is
applied science. We esteem it because it
makes our life easier and more luxurious.
We discuss the question, what knowledge is
worth, and we determine the answer by the
question, What knowledge most helps man
to get on in the world Even colleges are
popularity tested by the amount of their en-
dowment, newspapers by the weight Of their
editions. and churches by the wealth that is
represented in their pews. Such an age needs
above all else ideals and idealists.
MATERIALIsM CARRIED TO EXTREMES.
We need to be taught anew that life is more
than raiment; that nature is not merely ma
chine to grind out our grist, but a book
to be read and rightly interpreted by US; that
literature is not merely something to amuse
US for half an hour, but is real revealer of
noble and divine ideals OF life: that preachers
are not mere creed makers, but true revealers
Of the divine life, veritable prophets; that
craftsmanship is not winning party victory
and getting the offices for party adherents,
but helping the nation on to higher ideals of
brotherhood.
Even more. therefore, than the merchant,
the engineer, and the mechanic We need the
poet, the novelist. the preacher More than
all, We need the offices of woman; for woman
is by nature an idealist, and by her ideals in
our homes she keeps up the standard Of life
for her husband and her sons. Just now q
considerable number Of women seem desirous
TO exchange this function for the less impor-
tant one of doing things. They are going
into all manner of professions and employ
ments, endeavoring TO clean the streets, close
the saloons. administer justice. govern cities,
reform political parties, and shape and curtal
legislation.
WHERE WILL BE THE IDEALIsTs?
"And 1 wonder if all our novelists became
realists, writing only to tell US what is. and
all our poets men of affairs, and all our
preachers political reformers, and all our
women administrators of business and poll
tics. what is going TO become OF ouI ideals.
and where shall We look for our idealists?
I'm past times the architect has rarely been
carpenter. mason and hod carrier. II we all
go TO hewing the timber and laying up the
stone. who will design for US? Possibly
women can do both, but certainly we cannot
afford TO lose out of life the idealism which
her hope and faith and love have furnished
in the past. And it is equally certain that she
cannot furnish these ideals for the future
without receiving and proiting by the best
broadest. and highest education which the
age can afford"
The speaker concluded by appealing to
the Morayians to revivify and enrich this
seminary. and TO give to DR.. Hark their cor
dial support in his Indefatigable work to keep
the college at the top of the ladder. At the
alumn! meeting previous TO the address sew
eral hundred former scholars from all parts
Of the country were present. The following
officers were chosen for the ensuing year:
President, Mrs. Eugene A. Rau; vice presi-
dents. Miss Elizabeth W. Rondthaler. Miss
Lillian Graham. Mrs O. P. Luckenbach, and
Mrs. c. B. McClain; recording secretary. Mrs.
William II. Woll; corresponding secretary,
Miss Emily Meyers, and treasurer, Mrs. J. W.
DetWiller