The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-01-24

ton that he will not be likely to riot about
| anything. 1t must be confessed, however
that after few years subsistence upon such
| angel food it Is difficult for a man to fall
INTO the clutches OF Brooklyn cooks and SER
| want girls and continue TO be consistent
| member of the church. Again / turned TO
| that index and read the tonic Beech
| Seals - Beech Sealsl Certain intimaiions
of mortality and its pains from the recolec-
tons OF early childhood led to the SUPPOSE
| ton that under this head the exploits of
women would certainly be recounted. But
| alas the page indicated presented nothing
| more important than an account Of the
chastisement of New York justices and
other officials by Green Mountain BOYS
| NOW, unquestionably, there is an opportu-
| nifty for some writer to win terrestrial i'm
mortality by supplying a long felt want
| History used to be little more than the story
| OF a few persons possessed either of great
| parts or great pedigree. Now IL is under
stood that the people have something TO do
| in making history, and it is being written
from new point of view. We shall soon
take another step in the right direction and
| write history with the idea that women are
| one-half OF the people, do One-half the work
| OF the world and inspire threefourths OF the
other half OF the work. A few men NAV
work Tor country or fame, but the average
| man WORKS Tor some woman at least three
iourths OF the time, or, in other words, in
| three-fourths of his work he is seeking the
love, happiness and well-being of some
woman"
Mr.. Frost then paid glowing and tender
tribute 10 the mothers OF Vermont; and, i'm
speaking for the schoolmarms, said: al
use the word schoolma'a am advisedlv. in
stead of calling her school mistress, school
teacher, or school dame. The person is as
unique among the tribes Of humanity as the
word is in the vocabularies of the lexi-
cographers. The word is not found in
TIa fttr. Lat,
it in labeled rural New England Well,
anything that is rural New England is good
enough for us tonight. | may be permitted
to say that have been under the uninter-
rupted influence of the Vermont school
ma am since | was five years old. She
taught, inspired and chastsed me in child
hood. Later | went coasting, slegh-riding
and skating with her, escorted her to pic
MICS, donation parties and singing-schools,
and climbed some of the Green Mountains
with her. | had the honor of being SUPER
intendent of schools in two Vermont towns,
visited every school as often as the law al.
lowed, and was paid by the state for those
attentions to schoolma' ans. Nor is that all;
| had the good sense to woo a Vermont
schoolma'am several years, and the good
fortune to marry her at last, and have been
under her genial sway for eighteen sum.
mers and eighteen winters, and in such cir
CumstanCeS December is as pleasant as
May If any man is prepared to render
just verdict upon the schoolma' am am,
and pronounce her to be the handsomest.
brightest, wittiest, sauciest, wisest, firmest
provOkingest bewitchingest, kindest pur-
est noblest gift ever bestowed upon man.
She is not yet extinct, | am happy to say.
Evolution stands aghast when it encounters
a Vermont schoolma'am. 1t may be posi-
BILE to evolve something better, but the thing
has not yet been done. She is equal to ali
labors and emergencies. She can board
around, and not only survive, but grow in
grace every day She can arise in the
morning in a room where the temperature
is thirty-hve degrees below zero-more or
less-smash the ice in the water pitcher,
make her toilet and say her prayers without
bitterness of spirit. She can breakfast upon
cold cornbread, fried liver and baked DO
tatoes, and be thankful that it is no worse
Then she goes to the fray. She is patient
helper to the dull mind, an inspiring genius
to the keen mind, and an avenging angel to
the evil mind She teaches various branches
and flourish s another kind of branch:
watches all the rOgues and extracts some
music and dancing from the worst of them
She refreshes herself with mince-pie and
doughnuts at noon, and in the afternoon is
all that she was in the morning. only more
abundantly. Then she goes to her board |
ing place and her beefsteak for supper 1t
is tough, but she does not murmur She |
knows that it is not the fault of the steak |
That steak saw much faithful service before |
COW over the dizzy heights and through
the rocky Businesses of Vermont pasture |
for twelve years. 1t had to be tough in |
order to fulfill its mission. 1t is the nature
of Vermont life to be tough. That accounts
for the fact that the sons of Vermont are |
ruling the rest of the world to such an ex.
tent as they are to-day, Well, after supper !
that schoolma' am can talk to you in a most |
charming way about art music, literature,
science, theology or any other topic you
may be pleased to introduce. Then she re-
tires to rest with peaceful conscience, for
she has been doing her duty, building char.
acter and thus making history
After referring to the important part
taken by the girls and women of Vermont
in shaping the character of Vermont men,
Mr.. Frost closed with this eloquent perora-
ton: " The women Of mountaineering is
toe good for them. They could safely be
trusted with anything that man holds dear
even with the ballot. But of how small i'm
portance is woman suffrage one way or the
other in comparison with womanhoOd. To
barter the bloom of the latter for the poll
tics of the former would he bad aesthetics,
worse economics, and a more miserable bar
gain in every way than Yankees have yet
made. But we may dismiss all fears on
that score. Such bargain never will be
made, for the simple reason that American
women never can be persuaded to consum-
mate their part of it. They need neither to
be patronized nor regulated by men. The
man who exerts himself to keep women in
her sphere is getting out of his own sphere.
w omen need no advice nor assistance from
men to keep them in their sphere. They
are abundantly able to keep themselves in.
So to all those men who are either advo-
eating or deprecating so-called reforms in
the female department of the universe it
may be said
'Ye fearful saints fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head
That womanhood which is the guiding star
If the home life of the American people has
n it the purity and power for its own pres
srvation. 1t will accomplish its appointed
course. No man will see it fall like light
ming from heaven. And if any man would
bring his manhood to its highest possible
ties, he must hitch his chariot to that star
From the Land of Oranges.
In a pleasant letter from Winter Park,
Florida, Mr.. @. III. Ward says:
We are having an old-fashioned winter
lere so the old settlers say. We have had,
70 far, only one light frost. To-day we had,
resh from our garden, new potatoes-both
common and sweet,-green peas, tomatoes,