The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-07-31

AAIANNH hfHNANINHa
/ pass abruptly from the week Of com
mCmoration Co the week of anticipation
from thoughts suggested by the prospect
fram your windows 90 thoughts suggested
bv The faces into which i look.
Ia what sense It Is open TO you sir
graduates Of this passing year, dreaming
your early dreams OF what success IN liiC
may signify, Iu what sense Is it possible
for you to attain ladyship iorCvery Before
attempting TO answer The question. let ~
clear our mind5 as completely as may be OF
prejudice and misapprehcnsoh.
The word lady has fallen Of les years
(she mores the pity somewhat into dis.
repute Claimed as a right by the many,
the title has come TO be lightly esteemed
as a privilege by the few In fact, 30
cheap Is 1t accounted nowadays that TO
discard IL altogether, carefully avoiding
the use of 1t Ia common COny rs0ton, ls
not seldom taken to be a mark of good
breeding An do not go 20 this extreme
and. yet the number of those who would
prefer 10 be spoken Of and addressed 90
women" rather than as "ladies,' has
been steadily increasing for the past TWEEN
ty years and this increase, / thinl, AN
safe in saying, has been ia fixed ratio to
our progress as a people IN cultivation and
refinement ] venture TO account this an
unfortunate state of things, since lady
is q word which the language cannot lose
without sore Impeachment end one for
which the vocabulary Of every day inter
course has no synonyms.
LADY" be it observed, is title, not
generic word. necessarily covering an the
members Of one sex; and as a title it be-
longs only to those who have a right TO
claim it, Now, wlo arc they who, IN
point Of fact, have a righo to claim ity In
Il 80
in finding an answer to this question. In
England, for example, the Heralds' Ot-
fee, to which such matters are intrusted.
can and will give you a definition in black
and white, c.ear-cut -ld unmlstakabc. A
'lady," by English law, may be the wife of
a man above the rank Of knight and below
that Of duke. The title also belongs to the
daughters OF noblemen not below the rank
ef earl and is given by courtesy to the
wives of knights.
Let that pass for ngiand, but what OF
iadyship in America, where no such sharp
divisional lines ar, drawn by the pencil OF
authority? Here, thank God, we have a
much worthier definition of the word and
more satisfactory Interpretation OF the
thing. Ladyshp, under a democracy,
means and can mean only one thing,
womanhood at its best. Not all woman
hood IS womanhood at its best any more
than all manhood is ma God at it's hest
would that it were And what are the
characteristics of womanhood at its best?
What are the tc zee by which it is au-
thenticateds We cannot greatly differ IN
opinion upon this point. Surely OF these
characteristics dignity is one, geIteness Is |
another, forhtude Is a third and SYM
patty completes the cluster 1t were I'M
reasonable, of course to expect the full
ness of each one of these four traits in
any single personality, no matter how rich
ly endowed by inheritance or carefully
matured by training. And yet it is beyond
question that some tlncture of each one
must be found present in a woman before
Ender democratic conditions, her claim to
ladyship can be accounted valid.
Dlgnlty--there are a thousand lmlta-
lions of it, counterteits beyond number,
bub how wholly admirable is the genuine
article, what 'an excellent thing in wom-
AM" Not by aplng dignity do we become
dignlhed. Aloofness is not dignity, hau-
teur is not dignity, stiffness is not dignity.
a pDmpOus manner and a brocaded style
Of speech-bhese are not dignity. True dig
nifty IS not of ice, it is of flame. A certain
deiicwtC and fiery nimbus which circles the
sanctuary of personality to safeguard it
from intrusion and encroachment. Their
dignity" exclaims an old Hebrew pro-
phet,, giving us the whole thing in a nut
she'll, their dignity shall proceed of them
selves" Dignity is Fecnncilable with all
forms of occupation. even the most men
tai. 1t consorts with many qualities, al
though with vanity it is reluctant to walk,
and with immodesty it Will have nothing
to do. Immodesty is the sin against pro-
portion, its very name so' signifying,, and
IS the phllosophlc emperor remarks in ms
meditations, There is 4 proper dignity
and proportion to be observed in the per-
formanee of every act of life" Hence to
do anything out Of measure and in excess
Is undignihed.
Then as to gentleness, our second attTil
butte of womanhood at its Sest what shalt
we say of gentleness? Can we say any
thing batter or truer than, that il Is the
child, the direct offspring of dignity. The
truly dlgnihed can scarcely be thought Of
as the ungentie, for here again thas ques4
tlon OF proportion comes III, and rough
ways and bOisterous talk stand selhcon
demned. Few things indeed can we So i'll
afford to spare out of the daily intercourse
of life as woman's gentleness,. And this is
| only the more true the noisier the WORLD
! becomes. With life punctuated for us by
the sETieks of steam whistles, the rattle
| Of the ohariots of iron and the strokes OF
| all manner of gongs,, how restful, how
! healthful how reinvigorating Nre the ac-
| cents Of gentleness! All, my dear young
friends. whatever else you forget to, be,
remember to be gentle: An anxious fear
in the hearts of many thoughtful people,
fear which personally do not share. Bat
of which it is just as we'll tor take note, is
that out of all this contemporary struggle
of woman for a complete independence.
this duplication on her pant of as much of
mans work as is imitabie, there may come
eventually an impairment of the worlds
total stock of gentleness. let us be Tlisers
here. The tide of this sweet grace is never
ut the food. There is. mo- peril of any over
flow. We need to treasure every drop
there is.
As to fortitude, chose the word with
care, wishing to mark off from courage in