The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-10-23


ument to Tillman, to South Carolin;
or to Rock Hill it is a ''corker" ant
there is no mistake about it. Rocl
Hill will do her duty. dy the college
in the future. Rock Hill can poin
with pride to what she has done ant
with still greater pride to what sh'
will do. He predicted that before th'
end of the century this town will hav'
12 or $4,000 inhabitants. He hopet
that soon Rock Hill will be the great
est city and this institution the great
est school in the State. The trustee
have done their part. If the student
would do theirs success will have beer
obtained, and this will.be the creates
female college in our fair southland
GOVERNOR EVANS.
AT the conclusion of Mr.. Roddey
speech Governor Evans in reply spoke
in substance as follows:
In behalf of the State of South Car
lima and the board of trustees 1T is 9
pleasant duty for me to declare thi:
institution ready sor business. In do
ing so we have cause for pride in be
half of our State equal to that of Rocl
Hill. and in behalf of the State de
sire to thank the citizens of Rock Hill
for their energy in the upbuilding o.
their city and of this institution
When other cities were wranglins
from political motives as to which
should have the honor of building the
school Rock Hill said: 1T is for South
Carolina's jewels, and we will build
the school, ~
To the students of zoology it is in
teresting to note the evolution Of wo
man from the time she was a beast OF
burden till she became helpmeet fol
man and then beautiful hothouse
bud for the adornment of the parlor.
But that is not final evolution. That
was the old idea that she was fit only
to grace the parlor, and that educa'
ton of her in the industrial arts is
spending money for purposes
for which education was not
intended. This idea is familiar
to your mothers, who are the
greatest mothers that ever lived.
For this greatness, however, they are
not, indebted to your fathers or to
their fathers or to their brothers, but
to their Maker. When at the close of
the war the father returned home
without having aplough or a sword to
beat into a plough, it was the wife's
noble spirit that made him a hero in
as we'll as in prosperity. 1t
was her spirit that told him never to
put his hand to the plow and then
turn back. To our women we owe
this and more. They have contended
for their rights and have at last begun
to get them; she is developing into the
new woman-such a one as will 60
forth from the Winthrop Normal col
lege prepared to assume woman's du.
ties anywhere. That is the object OF
this school. Parlor butterflies are not
the mothers of statesmen, or the wo-
men who exert influence on their coun-
try.
The days when work was disgrace
to a woman are past. We are going
to teach woman to reason, and ex-
punge from her vocabulary her old
reason because" married men say
that though women can't reason in
work they always reach the right con:
clusion. We hope that graduates OF
Winthrop will be able to give their
mothers the reason why"
Turning to Senator Tillman, Gov.
Evans said: when you die, if no
marble slab covers your grave, or no
shaft is erected in your capital city the
people of the State will always point
with pride to this institution and say
ing behold his monument, will be in
the hearts of the people. The shaft
may fall, the marble may crumble,
but the heart of the woman is always
true"
Gov. Evans then announced that
the expected orator of the day, DR.. j.
L. M. Curry, had been unable to come.
His letter of regret was read by Mr..
J. E. Ellerbe.
Gov. Evans then in half of the trus'
tees turned the college over to
PRESIDENT D. B. JOHNSON
who spoke as follows:
1T is with a full heart and a deep
sense of the responsibility resting
upon me and my colleagues that ]
stand here at-the threshold of the work
assigned us and assume the sacred
charge committed to us by the board
of trustees. I feel that the opportuni-
ty for accomplishing good is unbound
ed, that here may be originated the
most telling and far-reaching forces in
the society of the State.
The idea, of artificial growth, that
woman was created for ornamental
purposes only that she had not the
of mind and purpose and
characte. to grapple successfully with
the highest intellectual problems and
the earnest practical questions of life
is rapidly passing, has passed away.
Such n idea could not withstand the
many successful demonstrations to
the contrary. Jane Austin, George
Elliott, Mrs. Browning, Miss Mitchell,
the astronomer, Miss Faucet and a
host of others have conclusively
proven in the field of literature, o1
science and in other fields that the as
sumption of intellectual superiority on
the part of the lords of creation was
unwarranted, and that all that women
needed to show their equal abilities
to say the least, was chance.
South Carolina proposes to give
them this chance in this noble institu
ton, and I feel confident as I look
upon the bright faces of the young
ladies before me that they will utilize
it worthily.
A civilization can be gagged by thu