Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-06-21

Mr.. Kelly said: 2
Mr.. POSTMASTER: Standing here to-
day in the midst of this educated as
semblage to speak in behalf of co-educa-
ton, while 1 regret that this pleasant
duty did not fall to one more able than
I to do justice to this occasion, educated
myself in college where boys and girls
studied the same lessons on a plane of
perfect equality, l can but express the
regret that l feel at the absence of the
ladies and wish that my voice today
could reach every woman in Alabama,
and especially that grand woman to
whom the subject of womans just recog-
milton in the educational interests of our
state has been SO dear and who, as l am
informed, is detained by sickness from
attending this commencement. | am,
Sir, strong believer in the co-educatlon
of the sexes.
OF 1.-THE University and Her Daugh-
tiers" what shall 1 say? Well, sir, she
has two daughters now and If they were
the only women in the world and were
yours and | owned the whole world eX-
cept them, and could not get one of them
l would consider you rich, while ! would
be poor indeed. Speaking of women, did
it ever occur to you how many different
kinds of women there are?
There are women who are comely,
There are women who are homely,
But be careful how the latter thing you
say;
There are women who are healthy,
There are women who are wealthy,
There are women who will always have
their way.
There are women who are truthful,
There are women who are youthful
Was there ever any woman that was old?
There are women who are sainted,
There are women who are painted,
There are women who are worth their
weight in gold.
There are women who are tender
There are women who are slender,
Ihere are women very large and lat ana
red;
There are women who are married,
There are women who have tarried,
There are women who are speeehless-but
they are dead"
There is another kind of woman about
whom much has been said and written
of late-the new woman. We haven't
many of this kind here, though, thank
goodness. For to incorporate into the
social and political functions of the
state all the demands of the advocates
of woman's rights would unsettle the
very foundations of human culture and
human happiness, throw society into
chaos and derange the worlds ciViliZa-
ton. Woman would then cease to be a
woman; she would be simply female
a queen without crown or realm,
planet without an orbit a star that has
ceased to twinkle.
man, the real, the ideal woman. Pure
and modest, gentle and refined, cultured
and educated she is the brightest, the
sweetest, the most beneficent and the
most cherished of Gods gifts to man.
He is her king and she is his queen.
"As unto the bow the cord is, so unto man
is woman.
Though she bends him, she obeys him;
Useless each without the other.
Consider for moment her power Listen:
DO you count it as nothing, this great thing
a trlle call?
Why, nfes trines are its great things, and
its great things are its small.
She who knows the power of small things
holds the greatest power OF all.
IT'S not angels we are wanting on this busy,
restless earth,
1t is noble, earnest women. who truly prize
Women who are looking upward, knowing
well what it is worth
And although their life is hidden, just con-
tent to work away -
Till the last great task is ended, till the
daWning of the day,
Knowing they shall stand exalted when the
mists have cleared away
The ideal woman is the product Of no
SPECIAL cline, Indigenous to no soil. But,
sir, | have thought that we have more
of them than they have anywhere else.
If you doubt it look around you. To
what shall we compare this old-fash-
toned, ideal woman? Like Gods golden
sunlight, that drives darkness back and
scatters life and light, she shines every
where, and blessings follow in her wake.
Like His mellow moonlight that tints
the darkness with white, she softens the
hardest heart and wakes 1t with human
sympathy
Like His twinkling starlight, that
beams through silent skies like angel
eyes, she radiates with sweet content
the troubled heart and teaches 1T how to
hope and how to trust.
Like His gentle dews, that silently fall
with refreshing when tired nature sleeps,
she encourages the strong and invigor-
ates the weak, melting both to nobie
deeds
Like His reviving rain, that falls upon
the just and the unjust to replenish the
ocean and refill the rivers, which bear
upon their bosoms in floating palaces the
commerce of the world, she draws down
from heaven for you and me, Mr.. Toast
master, to buoy and bear us up ON llfes
tempestuous sea, the strongest influences
that sustain our splendid social struct-
ure, and will extend our magnificent
civilization wherever human hearts
have passions" or human lives have
woes to earth's remotest bounds
Her purity ennobles all, her influence
affects all. REFRESHING the bold, she re-
assures the timid; uplifting the fallen,
she inspires the courageous; consoling
rowing, she animates the lifeless ana
cheers the faint. Her consecrated life,
lovely as the tinted blush of morning, is
a benediction and blessing. She makes
the world better. she repeoples heaven:
And earth and heaven alike are vocal
with her praise. Yes, it is indeed true
that
"There are voices in the world and hearts
that teach us how to love,
And forms that fill our souls with dreams
as sweet as thoughts of heaven above,
And names we have not heard before, ana
eyes that sparkle mid a crowd,
Whose radiance warns our hopeless hearts
like sunbeams breaking through a
cloud.
Who lift us upward from the life that
makes a man clod,
Who lead us on to higher hopes and very
near the throne of God"
This. sir, is woman's mission. Oh,
woman, woman, be not unfaithful to thy
trust! How shall she be equipped for It's
performance? Woman asks not for polit-
ical nfranchisement-for that means the
enslavement of man; but for intellectual
Improvement, which means the ennoble-
ment of mankind. In this institution,