The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-02-04
Ladies' Literary Club.

An interesting programme was given
at the meeting of the Ladies' Literary
| club on Friday afternoon. Besides the
routine business, a discussion took
place upon the advisability of a change
| in the next years work. 1t was de-
cided to try the sectional plan as is
generally followed by all large clubs.
! The paper on Higher Education" was
well received 1t commenced with the
| importance of small colleges in the land
as a means of inspiration to greater
end. The large institutions; of the
growth and increase of the latter in
the United States; of the advantages
of the university over the college; and
| of the origin and development of uni
versity extension in England and our
own country. The education Of women
was made the particular feature; their
three marked stages of progress; as
lco-education as at Oberlin in 1888. sep
arate colleges as at Vassar in 1865, and
recent admission to degree examina-
tons in large institutions of Great
Britain and our own country. Germany
has done little for the advanced edu-
cation of women. America, England
and France have done much to pro-
mote her higher mental development and
opened to her the examinations at Har-
ward, Cornell, Cambridge, Oxford and
l.
this training is shown by the vast
numbers of women earning independent
incomes and by the varied employments
engaged in by women college grauates.
The Woman's congress at Chicago
was her latest and greatest victory; it
entitled her to recognition by the civil
liZed world. Only one step remains,
universal suffrage, and then will be
assured, in the words of Miss Susan B.
Anthony, that perfect condition. when
womanhood and not its attributes will
be recognized first
Then followed an able discourse on
the comparison of modern and stand
ard novels. The word novel, is of the
Eighteenth century, while lyric and
epic are 1000 years old. The word
standard, as here used, will not be
the dictionary definition, a model of its
kind but rather refers to works of old
time writer's, while modern is used in
reference to works Of present day writ
ers.
Standard novels were not always of
an elevating nature, nor possessed of
the high moral tone which should have
characterized them. Some critics held
that novelists should be Indifferent to
their created characters. Zola's works
were considered superior because he
was enamored of his creations, he pre-
sents wonderful pictures of life, use
full to mature minds but unfit for
childish Imagination. Fiction partakes
of history and the NOVELIST is in a sense
a historian in his portrayal of life with
its human weaknesses and passions.
Under classic fiction were cited
Sterne's "Tristram Shandy,' Jane
Austlin's elegant and refined books, old
but true to all that is good, and Gold
smiths Vicar of Wakefield Ro-
mantle literature embraces the writ
ings of Dickens. Thackeray, Hugo and
George Eliot.
English and American critics are ac-
cused of prudishness in discussing the
literary merits of certain books. To
the honor of American publishing firms
be it said that they refuse to publish
sentiment which appeals to low tastes.
Newspapers cannot make such fine dis
tinctions as the people demand true
facts, and thus retribution follows the
wrong-doer in public denunciation.
The Norwegian writer Bjornson's
works are advanced and belong to a,
future time. The present tendency is
towards short stories, the novel in
sugar-coated form for society. In its
development it may be compared to
amateur music, at first discordant but
later producing a harmonious chord
and will prove a means of purifying