The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1910-06-02
Friendships Of College Days Bear the Touch
OF lime and the Rust Of Absence==-But
College Girls Must Guard Against
the Nil Admirari Spirit

Philadelphia, June 2.-Prcsiden,
Tart. In his address 10 the graduate es
of Bryn Mawr college today, on wom
an college education. spoke In part
as follows
Your president has asked me al
this commencement TO say sometime
In respect to the higher education oi
women. 1t Is, of course, a theme mos
relevant and germane TO the occasion
but 1t is one on which ! hesitate tC
speak In the presence of those who
nave made 1t their life study, and
whose opinions In regard to the mat
ter are OF go much more real weight
than my own"
The President reviewed the ad
Vances made in educational advau
tages for both sexes since 1900 Con
tinuing. the President said.
Il dissent from the view that an
academic education units a man OF
woman for business 1t may be that
the tastes that lead one TO an acad
, emic education are not those which
insure business success, but that the
mental discipline. the power OF reason
Ing. the cultivation and the comparI
son of ideas are not of assistance In
business transactions In which the
highest quality Of mind are acutely In
action. can hardly be true.
But 1t Is said that women are not
all going into the professions. and so
that the education necessary as a ba-
sis for 4 professional career Is not
needed by those who believe in com.
potency or look forward to marriage
and motherhood as the chief ends OF
woman.
1T is even suggested that the high
er education OF women rather units
them to discharge the duties of wife
and mother, that, In some way or the
other. it robs them of a charm and
gives them an intellectual lndepend-
ence that, 10 Inconsistent with their
belnge the best wives and mothers.
81 utterly dissent from this view
The companionship of married life Is
the chief charm and reason for its
being so far as it relates TO the two
QpeEsons concerned. The enjoyment of
the hoinelIwlth children. and the train
ing OF them arc, of course. among the
most important duties and pleasures
OF married life, and IL certainly does
not dctract from the power OF a wom-
an to make a good companion or to
teach and lead her children up 10 high
Ideals that she should have the ad.
vantage of the higher education.
1T is not necessary that woman
who knowa much must conform TO the
unattractive manner and ways of the
conventional bluestocking: that she
should make the extent OF her knowl-
edge source OF discomfort 10 those
with whom she associates. or that she
should lose her interest in the sentl-
ment and emotions OF life or fail TO
hnye an appreciation OF beauty and
romance.
Il am quite ready to concede that
marriage and motherhood are nor
nal status for woman and. other
things being equal she is happier in
that condition than any other, But
this is far from saving that a woman s
life Is a failure.
4 Il don't think We can estimate the
enormous advantage that the present
generation has enjoyed and that the
future generations are TO profit by In
the increasingly sound and thorough
education OF the mothers of families,
Il don't think we can estimate the
increased happiness that men and wo-
men have experienced who, as hus-
bands and wives have enjoyed the
higher sense OF companionship that is
made possible by the intellectual sym
pathy and association of ide1s between
TWO thoroughly educated people.
THE higher education of woman
should be sought wholly without re-
gard to a professional or matrimon-
lal future The mental discipline that
II affords, the mental pleasures that
II makes possible: the enjoyment OF
'rcading and study that it invites are
enough In and OF themselves To the
compensation for the effort 10 secur-
ing 1t.
:'As life wears on and the active
gear wear away with youth. and young
womanhood and young manhood dis
appear and the time Of quiet leisure
extends itself in ones life. the purely
Intellectual Joys become better and, IN
n mind trained for use in solving In
tcllectual problems and reading the
philosophy OF history. in the study OF
science, the pursuit of art. her life is
TlClcT, UfI lu'uhS W S''A NbeNi Nhih
ment largely increased and the pos
sibility OF a serene old age made much
greater.
ut may be that my view OF this Is
Inspired by that sense OF infallibility
which DR.. David Starr Jordan ascribes
as result of the training at Har
ward or Yale. but. whatever It's cause
| cannot help giving expression TO 1t
II seems TO me that there must be j
close analogy In the benefits derived
fro massoclatlons OF life In Bryr
Mawr an dthose which every graduate
of college and university like Yale
yplues even more highly than he does
the mental discipline and the learning
which he acquires from his college
course.
The friendships that arc formed II
college. by an association of fou'
years. at time of life when ou'
natures arc mallcable. when our char
acters are being formed. when we are
not old eonugh TO have had our self
ishness Indurated, when We RESPOND
more quickly TO the emotions, wbeI
our ideals OF friendship and our ac
lual friendships former thereafter
they are friendships that bear th'
touch OF time and the rust Of absence