The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-05-26
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gOFIF1ENgEF1ENT DAT9.

clude that 1 sympathize with what, II
| my judgment, has been justly charac
erized as a symptom of the dfsinte
grafton of Christianity known al
"Womans Rights" whose aim Bishol
Spalding asserts is to make woman al
strong and intellectual as man, Whllt
the result must be to make her protant
and vulgar. If she ape the man she vii
lose the heart of love and yet not gair
the commanding mind. L quite agree
with the gentle bishop IN his opinion
that the political women of our day
who speak from our public platforms
are sharp and unlovely simply because
| they are displeased with themselves,
nor would l venture a dissent from his
| conviction that to live in the hearts OF
those who make the laws is more than
to have a vote. The emancipation of
women, as it has been called, has a
deeper significance than to have a vote.
| 1t has, it is true, laid heavier burdens
upon her: it has driven her from Sc
| cluded sheltered homes out into the
| open where storms beat and tempests
rage; it threatens to destroy the ideal
we have accustomed ourselves to ad-
mire and love; it has thrust before us
types to which we cannot at once re-
concile ourselves and which we cannot
find it in our hearts to either admire
or love. All this we may grant; and
yet one who has confidence in humanity
and in that providence that shapes our
destiny ought to be permitted to be-
lieye that these things are not without
their compensation. We have had eX-
amples near home: The amazons, who
a generation ago crossed these plains
to cast their lot in this then wild and
barren region, were not our ideal type
of womanly grace and loneliness; ply
steal endurance and masculine
strength and courage were their char
acteristics and there were many OF
them more accomplished in handling a
rifle than in interpreting Shakespeare
or rendering Beethoven. But were it
not for them the refinements and
graces of civilization that today are
ours in this western land would be i'm
possible. They were of the stuff of
which heroines are made; and today
in every garden spot in this western
empire statues in everlasting bronze
should rise to do honor to the woman
pioneer.
Although her changed status has in |
many ways made the lot of woman
harder, yet, on the other hand, new !
possibilities and new opportunities |
have opened up before her, and she is
becoming factor and power in the /
worlds development such as has not !
been until now. nj the end she will
rise equal to her observation-disclosures her
FOR that.
But whether you agree with me in
this optimism or not the main fact -
which have adverted remains to con-
front us. The position of woman has
changed and is still changing. You
nay hail it as progress or you may de-
olore it as repression. Be it one or the
)ther, it is at bottom a matter of no
for my present purpose.
need only ask you to agree to main
contention that so far as woman is
'the old order changeth. Civ
ng place to the new" The needful
hing in either case is that woman be
to meet the demands of her
lew position. The new tendencies need
o be directed if they are in the main
God; to be restrained if they are at
ottom bad. And who is to direct or to
estrain these tendencies if not woman
erself? For surely man has made ]
o such striking success in managing
ne world as to justify him in insist {
lg upon a retention of his monopoly
the role Of philosopher and guide for c
9th halves of the race. In these new g
sndencies I find consolation because 1
m confident they contain much of the i
oirit which actuated women in the V
ges of faith The need then of the o
omen of the generation in which you c
We is education, education in its deep "
1t and broadcast sense. You have here
id the foundation for such an educa- A
on and you have laid it deep and Sc
Ire. You have had unusual and UNI
,celled opportunities under the guild
ice of skillful and learned teachers ii
this academy. Teachers to whose n
orth it is an exceeding pleasure to 81
" compliment on this occasion. You h
I've here cultivated your moral and f;
'ur spiritual as well as your intellec- ri
al natures and you have thereby Of
lined that without which all further B
tempts at true education must be but OF
attempts to rear fair and enduring n
uctures upon shifting sands 1 would HI
dicate to you today some of the pos P
oilities, merely, of your present fit k
IS. Every high minded girl has the G.
sire to be at some future time a al
BILE, predetermined, sympathetic pc
'man. A noble purpose, the doing, ef
ID tn edoing with ones whole soul. fl
nat that purpose calls you to do will 7,
IN make you the woman that all
ankind respects and reverences. GIor- G
are the children of hardships and
Gods favor. 1t is not by dreaming -
eat deeds, but by doing them that =,
obtain the measure of perfection a.,
. all long to possess. After the bene- ee
ial effect upon her mental powers.
ch as years of stimulating and re- ~
riding occupation as you have pur- -
ed within these halls it cannot be. ~
r was it intended that girl should Gt
tile down to a humdrum existence II
d butterfly way of life as in the or n
larry social round. Her training in
ntal poise was given her for a M
cher purpose. Every gifted woman lie
" have an avocation as well as sci
cation What your avocation is to to
is for you to choose. If it be not do
lr lot to seek the higher realms of vo
ought, then it should be your blessed an
ocatlon to do your share towards we
nging about the kingdom of God sh
IN earth hV feeding tho h,,,,e. l..