The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1911-07-08
1.-THE Ideal Woman.

Some knight of chivalry has said
that woman Yields the ArchlmedlaI
lever, whose fuIcrum is childhood
whose weight is the world, whose
length is all time, whose sweep is
eternity To whom can we more
fittingly pay this tribute, than tG
the model christian woman. Il
The ideal Of Womanhood has mol
changed. Mans equal and mans
helpn1ate she was made-man's equa
and mans helpmate she must eye lIS
be. The ideal that calls her today
called to her also in the past. The
maidenly modesty Of Ruth, the Wlfel5
fidelity Of Susanna, the bravery oi
Judith, the great. mother heart OF
Hagar-they are types for all ages.
They are the rightful heritage OF
womanhood throughout the world.
Now what is woman's position ir
| the world?
Second to none under heaven-the
mother of the universe. The wore
mother embodies all that is holy
self-sacrificing, sacred and sublime
| It is the one word which defles def
[inition. Like the modest violet, that
unnoticed sends forth its fragrance
in the balmy sunny air, SO the noble
woman yields her sweetest perfume
around the home-circle, and uncon
5sciously it is waited into the sen
ate and council room.
/ The home is the unit Of society
! of the state. Given nation Of We'll
ordered, happy homes and this
/ world would be a Paradise. 1t was
not all poets gush that said: .Fhe
hand that rocks the cradle is tbs
hand that rules the world. .
The work of woman radlates IRON
i that home as from its most natura
as well as from its most general cen
1 ter. Like to the sun which at oul
distance appears SO small, yet rs
rays illuminate and heat the earth
so woman in her tiny sphere radl
ates an influence over all.
Although the sphere is little, the
work done in it is great. And whether
as religious, as wife or as mother;
i whether married or unmarried, the
great fundamental rights and duties
/ of womanhood remain the same
to work out the best that is in her
This is no modern principle; it is
/ a principle that has been taught BY
the church for ages-taught by hel
when it held out the palm of mar
/ tyrdom to Agnes and Cecilia, taugh,
by her when it raised Teresa and
Catherine of Sienna to the dignity
of Doctor of the Church, taught by
her when it placed the Virgin Mothel
next in glory to Christ Himself.
No ideal of Womanhood presented
by modern enlightenment has ever
outshone the ideal upheld for cen
/ lures by the Catholic Church. He1
whole history proves it. Agnes
with her lily, type of virginity ane
innocence, stands side by side witt
Matthew and Paul in the walls of thu
catacombs. Magdalen, type of the
repentant sinner, is still pictured il
our churches kneeling at the foo
Of the cross.
] History proves that there has
been no great man who had not
great mother. Mary, the model ane
inspiration of all women, the inspirel
of inspirers, before whose sinless
life all these other illustrious Wo
men are but shadoWs-throughou
/ the centuries she has been the type
the example, the mirror of true
womanhood Mary, whom Words
/ worth calls "our tainted natures sol
itary boast" Mary, the virgin mothel
of God, stands before us today ane
/ forever the ideal Woman-who gave
to heaven a queen, to man a God
to God a mother.