St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1894-02-08

afternoon is all that she was in the
morning, only more abundantly.
Then she goes to her boarding place
and her beefSteak tor supper. | 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 il reached the
| table Its muscles propelled cow
over the dizzy heights and through the
| rocky Businesses ola Verm ont pasture
| for twelve years. 1t had to be tough in
order to fulfill its mission. 1t is the
nature OF Vermont lite to be tough.
That accounts for the fact that the
sons of Vermont are ruling the rest
of the world to so great an extent
as they al re today. Well, after sup
per that schoolma am can talk to
you in a most charming way about
| art, music. literature, science, theOl
ogy 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 character and thus making
history. We have erected statues of
Ethan Allen and more Vermont sol
dlers and statesmen than | am able
to name. but | have never seen a
statue of the Vermont SchOOlma am
She needs none. If you would see
her monument look around YOU.
All, gentlemen, we are good and
great; we know it. and we have as
scmbled in this place to cOngra tulate
ourselves and these ladies upon the
htIf hat hax
without the Offices OF the Vermont
schoolma am? Without them not
one of US would be better or greater
than the average New Yorker. OF
course l do not insist that all the
Vermont women of a genera ton ago
were either housewives or school
ma'ams; nevertheless the typical
woman of the state had qualities
fitting them Tor the one station or
the other, or both, since the house
wife was often the schoOlma' am
translated from the schoolhOuse to
the home. Nothing better than the
symmetrical union of the excellencies
OF the two types is needful for any
earthly sphere. If the best type of
Vermont women could be made uni
yersal throughout the country, and
perpetuated to the end OF time, our
future would be safe Anarchism
would die, socialism would be born
again, and even the tariff would be
adjusted to the needs of the people
rather than OF the politician. We
are happy IN the faith that the wom-
en- of Vermont are holding their
own. While visiting the state last
summer | remarked to a physician
on the east side: The character of
the population is changing, | under
stand. Quite a large foreign element
coming IN. is there not ?" well, |
yes" he replied, some foreigners
coming in, but upon the whole the
character of the people is improv-
ing" That puzzled me at first, but
alter a month of observation | had
read the secret. While IL is true that
many of the bright boys leave the
state, most of the girls stay. That
accounts for the fact that Vermont
can give to other states the cream of
her population without depicting
the energies of the home stock AL
though a pretty cheap fellow may
come from Canada or MaSsa chusetts
and marry Vermont girl, the aver
age OF the new family is higher than
the family average of any other state
in the Union. The bride brings it up.
She brings the bridegroom up, too.
She exercises over him All influence
like that of Lorenzo Dow upon the
musician at a country dance. 1t APP
pears that the eccentric preacher had
stopped for the night at rural
tavern where a dance was to be held
He was invited to participate and
consented, but just as the exercises
was to begin begged the privilege OF
saying a few words, told the COM
pany that it was his custom to be-
gin all new undertakings with
PRAYER, dropped to his knees and
began to pray. After some general
supplica ton tor the company he con-
centrated his attention upon the
fiddler. He depicted that persons
sin and danger and finally cried,
Convert him, Lord, convert him or
kill him" Not being prepared to
die, the fiddler accepted the other
alternative. Now, when Vermont
damsel marries an ordinary individ-
ual from some other region, she
either converts him into credita bic
Vermonter, oT-the survival of the
fttest adds another person to the
list of charming widows. The
women of VermOnt-nothing is too
good for them. They could safely
be trusted with anything that man
holds dear, even with the ballot
Bnt of how small Importance is
woman suffrage one way or the
other in comparison with woman
hood. To barter the bloom OF the
latter for the politics Of the former
would be bad aesthetics, worse
economies and a more miserab
bargain in every way than Yankees
have yet made. But we may dismiss