The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-02-13
HIGHER EDUCATION.
WOMEN ARE ADAPTED TO IT AND ARE
RECEIVING 1T. 7

RECEIVING 1T. y
Let Us Not BE So Dull as to Ignore
the Gifts of woman-yaIue of an
Intelligent Wife and Mother-Ad-
dress of Bishop SpaIding.
Before a distinguished audience which
filed to overlooking the large lecture hall
: of Columbian university OF Washington
Right Rev. John L. Spalding of the Cath
Ollie church, bishop of Peoria, delivered an
address on the subject, woman and the
Higher Education"
Bishop Spalding began by reviewing at
some length the progress of mankind dur
ing the nineteenth century, which was
greater, he said, than during any previous
period of 1000 years or more. Continuing,
he said:
"But it is especially in the matter of
education that the superiority of our age
over all others is most manifest. In the
past knowledge was a privilege of the few
and the masses were ignorant, and hence
the state was monarchical or aristocratic,
even when the form of government was
called democratic. By the beginning of
the present century, however, a gradual
movement which had been in progress
from the beginning of our era, whose orr
,,;n imn,Iso and abiding force were
Christian, had brought the multitude to a
perception of their rights and powers, and
n copseonanca had sbarnened the sense of
tho moods of non,,1ar education.
"a learned woman still appears to some
If ne an abnormal being, We do not of
course agree with Fenelon when he says
+bot contact with learning wor,ld he alrnost
&c Fatal 70 yomanlv delicacv as contact
With vice nor with Leasing in the oninion
that the woman who thinks is as ridic,-
Ions as the man who p,ts ON rouge. that
tbora arc MANY sario1s minds who are NOT
without Grave misoivinps as to the result
of the higher education of women In
ranlv To whatever donbts and objections
~ +Iis E;nd "a ;s enonob To cav that the
adversaries of the highest intellectual Gull
tnre for women either do NOT understand
what education is or do NOT believe in its
divine efficacy -Educatid1 is simnlv the
PROCESS whereby the mowers which consti-
tnta a human heinp are STRENGTHENED. de-
yeloned and brought into action If these
endorsements are good education is good.
and the hest is best whether for man or
woman Women NOT less than men need
etrono end omen minds. the canacity to
form definite ideas and sound judgments.
to ded,,ce conclusions logically from prem-
iSes to WEIGH evidence and to estimate tbe
val,1e Of moot They more than men even
NAV he helned if tbev are permitted to live
in the high and serene world which the
stndv of philosophy. poetry. history and
SCIENCE will throw omen to them. for they
more than men probably dwell in the
nresent. are foo much dominated by the
senses. and a better education by enabling
them to live more in the mast and tho
fnt,lre will tranouilize deeper and purify
their whole being
ssWbat shall women learnp Whatever
axnerience and the INSIGHT of the wjsest
have shown tn have most efficacy in OMEN
ing stren otbeninD and sunniyinp the
mind whether literature or science or
,n~etanbvsics or history. Is NOT such
snnerficial a-couaintance with these
branchas If knoxvladc e as NAV he made in
orr academies and other secondary schools
for Girls snfficient for themp II is sniff
c;ent for those who care not or will not
take nm the work of intellectual culture
! in 2 serious snirit and with earnest pur-
nose and these unfortunately are the
many. whether there be Question of wo-
men or of men A faw only are urged nv
Enc ;mn,,lce tn crow coo selesslui in mental
nouer as but a few hunger and thirst for
riahteousness Tbev are the hest. their
val,,a IL greater than that of nurnber he
canse their life Is Of a higher quality and
potency II Is thew who uplift the ideals
in whose LIGHT the multitude walk. Il is
thev who onen WAYS to u-ndiscovered
worlds. II ia thew who show to the crowd
MAT :; obt banipo and rigbt doing Of hu-
man so11ls NAV achieve Wore a not for
them the whole neonle would sink to
lower nlanes Of tbo,rbt and asniration
Now. these chosen ones whom God bids
eIona
lscince tho close of o,,r civil war Amer
ice has entered on, the work of nrovidin1
for the higher education of women with