The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1907-09-14
copyright, by Joseph B. Bowles.)

(Miss Sadie American has won a wide
reputation through her connection with
member of the International Council OF
Women and of the National Council o.
Jewish Women she has taken a promi
nent part in the proceedings of those in
fluential organizations. Though now {
resident of New York, some Of her mos
valuable and lasting work has been done
IN Chicago, where she was largely instru.
mental in establishing the system Of va.
cation schools. Her work for municipal
Fairgrounds for children also put in mo.
! non movement which has had excel
efforts along these lines were due to he1
knowledge of the needs Of the contested
olstricts where she worked in the in.
on ths e OF peo nro %Tmen and to gain light
Quency.)
With the enrolling tide of civiliza-
ton woman finds herself carried into
positions of responsibility and action
she has not before occupied. Of the
swelling waves none has risen higher
than that Of education, on whose crest
she finds herself. .~~s>..s<~.~ ..
Looking back she inds-what? From
time 1mmemorial woman has been
treated as a possession, toy. She
mas been educated, when educated at
all, to the end that she may please
men. Education" says Nicholas Muir
'ray Butler, lis the adaptation to en-
vlronment and the development of
power to modify environment" In the
sense of the first half of the definition
woman has been educated-"a adapted
to the environment" dominated by
the will and the wishes Of man. AS
she has risen to heights of clearer
vision or nobler ideas to which she
has responded her education has been
modified and .broadened until TODAY
we see the second half of the defini-
ton being carried into effect and wo-
mans education following along lines
and In ways tending to develop power
to modify environment
Individual men there have been al
ways who have seen the part and
place woman should have in educa-
ton, but until their cumulative influ-
ence was felt their ideals could not
be realized nor could their ideas be
carried into effect. So have there been
women always who, rising above their
environment by individual effort. have
gained for themselves and sometimes
for others a broader education than
was the rule Of their day, and Lave
d1sproved the contention that it's ef-
feet was evil. But they have scarcely
anected or accelerated the movement
of education or had part or place in
1t until within the century just past.
1t is, after all, in our own century
and IN our own country that our inter-
est centers, not only because it is
closest to us, but because so rapid has
been the advance made therein that
the foregoing centuries seem much
farther away than the actual passage
OF years warrants their appearing.
Woman's part and place In educa-
ton naturally divides itself into three
unes-those Of pupil, teacher and mo-
Their interested in the welfare of her
children or Influenced by that feeling
Of the mother spirit which, though per
chance denied the joys of motherhood.
must needs take up it's duties.
Toward the end of the tenth century
lame the awakening of woman with
the awakening of mankind to greater
possibilities in and for men than had
been dreamed of before. It was the
individual who was being considered.
the individual and his right, not the
Individual and his duties.
Lady Mary Mortley Montague
wrote: 1--WE are permitted no books
but such as tend to the weakening
and effeminating of our minds" And
DUR own Abigail Adams says, in one of
her letters: 1T is fashionable to ridi-
Guile female learning" Both 1nstan-
cling the new attitude of dissatisfac-
ton with existing conditions. The very
use Of the word female" is itself an
Indication of the attitude toward the
education of women. It was female
rs opposed to 'male"-female educa-
ton, female learning, female schools
always the sex difference uppermost
In mind.
1t was well into the second half of
The nineteenth century before the wo-
man replaced the female and, unhap-
PLY, wrote herself with a capital w.
Perhaps it was necessary then-it is
no longer so-and to-day, if we read
the times Alright, we may see the
signs of a healthy reaction toward a.
world of men and women spelled with
equal letters.
In the establishment of the common
schools the thought of our fathers was
that the boys might learn to read BIZ
ole, ballot and blue laws-the making
Of men was not the schools concern.
nor was there need that it should be.
for in the days when men we're con-
uuering the soil and subduipg wild
nature to their needs life itself was a.
finer schooling than any which books
could give. 1t was the time for deeds.
not words-the time when all were
compelled to lead the strenuous life
as the very price of existence When
It was much simpler thing than It
ean be under the complex conditions
pf to-day. -.
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