The Saint Paul globe., 1903-04-07
WOMEN AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Miss Mary c. Lowell is one of the sue
cessful candidates recently admitted to
the Massachusetts bar. Miss Lowell
IS q modern Portia- 1t is doubtful If
she doesn't out-Portia Portia, for she
has taken a degree both in medicine
and law, being the first woman so to
do, 1t is said. She was graduated from
the Tufts College Medical school, then
took a supplementary course at the
Women's Medical college, of New
York. After studying in European
hospitals and teaching in Mount Hol-
yoke college, she decided to abandon
medicine for the law. Miss Lowell
expects to take two more degrees be-
fore she gets through.
President Taylor, Of Vassar college,
in a recent lecture in Rochester, de-
plored the drive and hurry of the age
in its effect on liberal education. The
drive and hurry Of modern life have
added much to the material phase Of
existence" he said. Whether they
have added the same to the moral and
the spiritual side of life may we'll he
questioned. It may be that the fussing
and fret of the time have resulted in
q lessening Of the values placed upon
the more unobtrusive phases of life to-
day. 1t may seem that we have for
gotten that it is by gradual approaches
that manhood and character are form
ed In the realm Of education,
ideas and methods feel the influence
of this spirit, and in considering edu-
cation the spirit Of the age must be
borne In mind" And now Percival
Chubb speaking before the Ethical
Culture society, of Philadelphia, makes
an urgent appeal to women for a SIM
plified life. I'VE are a nation in a
hurry" he says. He especially de-
nounces the petty dust collecting bric-
a-brac" which most women love to
have around them, exhorting them not
to lumber life with such trivalities or
make museums of their houses. Every
body is like President Taylor and Mr..
Chubb. Everybody agrees with them
that life Is too complex, too f1ustered,
too hurried. All cry out with admira-
ton for the simple life, the leisureful
life, but no one lives more simply or
banishes their fid-fads or stops being
in hurry.
Many a woman would enjoy being
simpler If she only knew how. Having
been brought up on DO the duty that
lies nearest you," and Never put off
till tomorrow" ETC., she Is mentally
incapable of letting things-anything
go. She must be about her own busi-
ness or some other persons business,
or she will not feel comfortable. That
IS why she tries to include in her one
little life mothers congresses, home
sanitation, Browning classes, child study,
hygienic cooking, the chemistry of
foods, teas, morning bridge, the civic
club and all the other uplifting and
dutiful things she can think of. 1t
takes considerable resolution not to be
drawn into the VorteX-one must be
either in it or else out of it. In the mat
ter of dust collecting bric-a-brac, how
ever, it ought to be comparatively
easy to please Mr.. Chubb for one can
lay violent hands on ones "old blue or
ones collection of samplers or colonial
silver coffee pots, with much less diff
fculty than it takes to down the
mothers clubs, for instance. A woman
who will take her courage In both
hands can in one morning make a
complete clearance in a house. The
real difficulty would begin in remov-
ing those other objects which had
dear, underlying associations. The
vases that other people selected for her
Christmas presents, the pin trays, ta-
BILE covers, letter racks, burnt wood
trays, etc, that represented the intel
lectual or affectional life of others,
might go; but the objects that mark
her own experience, travels, discover
ies-these are not easy to Danish.
One woman has a house crowded
with mementos Of her parents and SOU
Venirs of her own travels, has hit on
a servicable method. She gives her
bric-a-brac turns. That is to say, keeps
q statuette or vase out for q few weeks.
then puts it away and replaces it by
some new article from her trunk or
closet. In this way there is always
something fresh to see, and she her
self does not get tired of her ornaments
as one often does. Best Of all, perhaps,
her house, though free from petty
clutter, is interesting and full of ap-
peals to the imagination.