Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1903-06-25

Odiancc CremDleS.
In what sense it is. open to you girl
graduates OF this passing year, dreaming
your early dreams of what success in life
may SIGNIFY, IN what sense is it possible
for you to attain ladyship forever! Before
attempting to answer the question, let
Gear our minds as completely as may be Of
prejudice and Misrepresentation.
The word lady has fallen of lale years
(the more,s the PITY somewhat into dis
repute. Claimed as a right by the many.
the title has ceme to be lightly esteemed
as privilege by the few. In fact, so
cheap Is 1T accounted nowadays that to
discard it altogether, carefully avoiding
the use OF 1T III common conversation, is
not seldom taken to be mark of good
breeding. All do not go to this extreme
and, YET the number OF those who would
prefer to ; be spoken 1h Of and az, addressed as
been steadily increasing for the past twen-
ty years, and this increase, l think I. am
safe in saying, has been in fixed ratio to
our progress as people In cultivation and
refinement. l venture to account this an
| unfortunate state of things, since .lady"
is a word which the language cannot lose
| without sore lmpoverishment and one for
which the vocabulary of every day inter-
course has no synonyms.
LADY, be it observed, is a title, not q
generic word, necessarily covering all the
members of one sex; and as title it be-
longs only to those who have a. right to
| claim it. Now, who are they VINO, in
point OF fact, have right to cain it? In
monarchial countries there is no difficulty
IN finding an answer to this question. In
| England, for example, the Heralds' Of
flee, to which such matters are intrusted,
can and Will give you definition in black
and white, ciear-cut and unmistakabie 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
| Of not hon f[n l.
Of earl and is given by courtesy to the
wives Of knights
Let that pass for England, but what of
/ ladyship in America, where no such sharp
divisional lines are 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. Ladyship, under democracy,
means and can mean only one thing,
womanhood at its best. Not all woman
hood is womanhood at it's best any more
than all manhood IS maj iood at its best
would that it were. And what are the
characteristics of womanhood at it's bests
What are the tokens by which it is au-
thenticated? We cannot greatly differ in
opinion upon this point. Surely of these
another, fortitude is a third and SYM
pathy completes the cluster. It were un-
reasonable, of course, to expect the full
ness of each one of these four traits in
any single personality, no matter how rich
y endowed by inheritance or carefully
| matured by training. And yet it is beyond
question that some tincture of each one
must be found present in woman before.
under democratic conditions, her claim to-
ladyship can be accounted valid.
ngn1ty-there are thousand imita-
tions of it, counterfeits beyond number.
but how wholly admirable is the genuine
article, what "an excellent thing in wom-
AM! Not by aping dignity do we become
dignifed. Aloofness is not dignity, hau-
teur is not dignity, stiffness is not dignity,
a pompous manner and brocaded style
of speech-these are not dignity. True dig
nifty is not Of ice, it is of flame. A certain
delicate and fiery nimbus which circles the
sanctuary of personality to safeguard it
from intrusion and encroachment. .Their
dignity, exclaims an old Hebrew pro-
shell, their dignity shall proceed of them
selves. Dignity is reconcilable with all
forms of occupation. even the most men,
tai. It 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, It's very name SO signifying, and
as the ph1losoph1c emperor remarks in his
meditations, "There is proper dignity
and proportion to be observed in the per-
formance OF every act Of life" Hence to
do anything out of measure and in excess
is undignifed.
Then as to gentleness, our second attri-
butte OF Womanhood at its BEST what shall
we say of gentleness? Can we say any
thing better or truer than that it is the
truly dignifed can scarcely be thought of
as the .ungentle, for here again that ques-
ton OF proportion comes in, and rough
ways and boisterous talk stand self-con-
demned. Few things indeed can we so i'll
afford to spare out of the daily intercourse
!, | OF lire WOm1n'S Uont1onoSc And fhic -
only the more true the noisier the world
becomes. With life punctuated for us by
the shrleks OF steam whistles, the rattle
OF the chariots of iron and the strokes of
healthful, how reinvigorating are 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, a
fear which personally do not share, but
that out Of all this contemporary struggle
. OF woman for complete independence.
| this duplication on her part of as much of
mans work as is imitabie there may come
eventually an impairment of the world s
: total stock of gentleness. Let us be misers
{ here. The tide of this sweet grace is never
| at the flood. There is 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 liz
, general that special form OF this virtue
: which has found frequent and splendid IL
: lustration in the annals of womanhood-
Courage Of the sort which qualities one ito
{ drink delight Of BATTLE to head storming
parties and to volunteer On forlorn hopes
r IS not expected OF women, and, for that
e matteH, is not SO common among men as
men would like to have it thought but of
/: that other and more praiseworthy fearless
ness, which, without the excitement Of con-
t hict, is able patiently to suffer, persistent
: ly TO endure, in this Christlike virtue it is
0 possible-it has ten thousand times been
shown to be possible that women should
i excel. With the aroma of this virtue
wholly absent no woman's character even
h so much as approximates perfection.
But it is not enough to be able uncou,-
= plaining,y to suffer-have We learned to
/ suffer with? That is what sympathy means
: suffering with"-renember that sympa-
: thy won the last OF the four blossoms we
y set out to twine into our wreath. 1t does
!, not matter how we'll bred woman may
!; be in other respects. it does not matter
: how varied her accom- plishments. intellect
. ual Or artistic. if tender heartedness. the
5 power to enter quickly and deeply into the
q feeling OF others, If this be wholly absent
q it is id,e to talk about Charm" it simply
e is not there. 1t is this insistence upon