OCR Text |
Show EDUCATION WISDOM i km CHARACTER Woman is the Privileged Heir of Honors and . Blessings Peculiarly Responsive to Higher Principles She Can Subvert or Save Society. I (Baccalaureate Sermon by Dr. Creagh: Conchi-dini. ) To educate a human being is to stimulate and I develop and satisfy Avisely the demands of the hu- 1 man heart for aa hat perfects and distinguishes hu- ; man nature; it means especially the strengthening of those faculties and the development of those j qualities Avhich make for the power and honor of f humanity, Avhich are the hope and the salvation of ' states as Well as of individuals. If education is a ; means of better material life, we may well hasten I . to employ it and be thankful, thankful that lives I are rendered happier and more capable of service i to God and man; but this must not be the supreme or the only motive of the educators labor, if he would not prove false of his trust and recreant to '! the solemn obligations which he lias assumed. An educational system which avouM pretend onlv to prepare men and women to earn a livelihood, or ; to teach them the manners and graces of a hoilow, ; frivolous society, or to preach the doctrine of learning learn-ing for learning's sake, would belie its name; it ; Avould not be an educator of souls, but a mere trainer of material beings for material ends. How faithless would be a parent who would deliberately deliber-ately instill into the mind of his child ihe pernicious per-nicious doctrine that that alone is valuable which is marketable, or that selfishness js the only serviceable service-able rule of life! What Avould become of a society in which the majority of parents and children knew and practiced only such principles '. What conse- quences have Ave not to fear if those principles rule ; our educational institutions. Avhich obtain control o'er life and thought in so plenary a way at so ' critical a time that they can counteract and overcome over-come the Avisest, hottest influences of the home and even of religion. The school, standing in the dace of the parent, must aid in answering the higher ;' cravings of the soul; it must teach huni-m knowledge, knowl-edge, but it must not neglect to strengthen the character. Knowledge must come, but wisdom must not linger." The right to the satisfaction of the nobler yearnings yearn-ings which spur the human soul are not the pe- . culiar prerogative of any sex or condition of mankind. man-kind. Woman, too, knows high desires for intellectual intellec-tual and spiritual betterment. She may hope, as well as man, for the fullest delights of scholarship. If there be degrees in education, edu-cation, its every degree should be hers according to her needs and opportunities. .Made, as truly as man, in the image and likeness of God. with a mind to perceiA'e and a heart to appreciate all that has been discovered of inspiring truth, she. may walk the Avays of learning untrammelled by any sense of incapacity or unfitness. She has no lack of equipment equip-ment for intellectual pursuits. ; When admitted to competition with her brethren she does mre than demonstrate an absence of mental inferiority. She . is acknoAvledged to have a special aptness for teaching, teach-ing, and teaching surely demands a thorough intellectual in-tellectual preparation. And if we admit that inestimable inesti-mable benefit and elevation of soul come from converse con-verse with great minds and from communion with high truths, Avoman. even more than man. should be deemed Avorthy of the fullest opportunities for enlightenment, and her desires for knowledge should be given freest scope for realization, since she furnishes our souls their first instruction in goodness good-ness and greatness of life. This certainly is the mind of the church, speaking speak-ing through her latest discipline. She regards Avith approval the modern spirit Avhich prompts avo-man avo-man to sound the depths of learning, she eucour-ages eucour-ages the opening of schools for the higher education educa-tion of women, she recommends her daughters to take advantage of the courses offered in such schools. Great as is the latitude Avhich we Catholics Cath-olics have in many of our judgments regarding womanly activity, Ave should be'of one mind 011 tho matter of her education. Woman, who has always been regarded by Christianity as the privileged heir of honor and blessing, and as peculiarly adapted adapt-ed to exemplify the fullest perfection of the Chris- ' tian life, must not be denied the right to realize one of the fairest aspirations of that life. But neither the Church nor woman herself ! Avould hold that the knowledge of Latin or Greek, of science or philosophy, is woman's most perfect ornamenf, or the all-sufficient means of dignifying the sex and accomplishing its true mission. If it be necessary to teach the worth 'and sacreduess of ; life to men, to encourage their longings for the fullness of soul-perfection, if generosity and. sacrifice sac-rifice be necessary, not only for man's individual ' well-being but for the safety of society, who can- ' not see that for woman the need of such teaching Avill be doubly urgent, since she, much more than ; : man, lives not for herself alone, since, her rank in ' s society depends altogether on her qualities of soul, - and since her power for good or for evil transcend , immeasurably that of man. . Is it not of supreme importance to lead Avoman towards the heights of life, to open to her vision ' . life's fairer beauties, to sustain in her natural striv- ! 1 ings for all that gives grace and honor and beauty ; '' to human nature? She is the. greatest of social influences; her power is greater than that of man; hers is the finer and more effective, power of heart and soul. It has often been said, and truly, that ; most of M'hat is worthily. done by man is accom- " plished under the influence of woman. Ihe sacred name of Mary and her gracious sway over "our ' .minds reminds us how true this is, even in the su- ; peratnural order. Woman's example and Ioa'o- move M-here naught else is effectual. She has the divinely given ability to sense the beauty of the purest and noblest cause.? Avhen man is dull and unresponsive. Her finer sensibilities make her devotion to a principle prin-ciple more hearty and more persevering and more disinterested. On 'each generation she acts through that all-powerful mother-love which gives : to the young soul its earliest and longest-re- . I " mombered lessons, which pleads irre- i . j . sistibly with the strongest passion, I which lives as a power for good when I even religion can no longer persuade. I God himself on earth saw fit to obey I i : her and to defer to her. He has made j her dignity and influence a corner-stone iin the temple of His religion; man must recognize them to be a foundation of society. Let woman's influence be ex- !crted aright, and all will be well for the familj' and for the state; let her turn her allegiance to evil, and sin and vuN canty and general ruin is Imminent, ishe can subvert or she can save so- " tiety. I What folly it is to speak of equalizing I the sexes! Of opening every field of j acitvity to woman! She is not destined j by nature or by religion to be the equal 1 .of man, or to do those ruder tasks from I which God has saved her by making J her not an equal, but a queen, with 1 queenly dicmity and queenly power and J ijueenly privilege. I .Not the equality of woman with I man, hut th- maintenance in her of the I real causes of her dignity and superior- ity must be the ideal of those who I would have God's all-wise plan find its I full, fruition... fche must be carefully 1 trained to keep alive her love for all I that is true and good and beautiful in J life. Her virtue is the keystone of so- 'i ciety: her sense of duty and honor and I light is reflected in every home; her unselfishness and devotion and correctness correct-ness of view are our safeguard against the sntial shipwreck. She must have 'her highest yearnings encouraged and stimulated, her vision must be purified ;md tkvatcd. she. above all human be ings, must be taught that to listen only 1 to the scul's cry for physical happiness and comfort, or for mere knowledge, is to debase her. to tear the crown from her brow, and drag her into the bediming be-diming conflict wht-ro virtue and honor and soul-beauty are words of little I m.'-anins. It is the great glory of Trinity college th.it at a time when the soul's most urgent noi-ds are exposed ) general forgctiiilncss, she has assured woman of Influences which "ill It-ad infallibly to all that is best and must desirable in womanly lire and character; and the great consolation f her graduates must lie that while others huve to hear what n s hool should ), they can be told what their schsol is. Here is a pleasant, I shelter in the desert of modern life w here souls are refreshed and strengthened strength-ened by the waters of wisdom as well ; an those of knowledge; where each mo- 1 ment brings its high inspiration and its I nobler impulse, and where each day marks a growth from power to power, an approximation to the divine ideal on which rests the approving judgment of rod and man. Here all high desires find their fulfillment; here, in answer to your prayers, you receive in its ful-1 ful-1 ness the spirit of wisdom. Here mod esty and virtue, unselfishness and hero- iisin, reverence for truth and duty, are not left to chance or to college spirit or to human respect or to the unreliable development of an aesthetic -sense of right, but are made the prime,, explicit object of the endeavors of loth teaeh-! teaeh-! ers and students. Here the young soul advances in "w isdom and age and grace ""ith God and man." As you who are about to go forth from the college look back today on the pleasant year you have spent in this j "garden set apart. V jour hearts, I am sui t, are moved most at the thought of your growth in goodness of soul and the clearer vision that has come to you ot the really d'.sirable things of life. 1'ou have learned much from books; you have learned greater and more valuable lessons from God. You have I wished, and there has been given to I you understanding; you have prayed, I and there has come to you the spirit , of wisdom. Wisdom has come to you through open, tangible influences, the spoken word, the august mysteries of religion, the continual association with souis pure and highminded, perhaps most of all from the eloquent example of teachers irrevocably devoted to t v ry high womanly virtue and exemplifying ex-emplifying the heroic perfection of love ! and service and sacrifice, it has come J through influences, too, which can be I felt but not defined, subtle and con- I stain, a r.art of the atmosphere and I life here, to which all unwerthiness was I foreign. You could not but grow amid 1 such surroundings; you could not but I come to know that there is a light j brighter and more inextinguishable I than the torch of learning, that there are things more precious than health Sand beauty; things in comparison with which all gold is as a little sand and I silver shall be counted as clav. 1 ' You have learned, too, a lesson which I v ill be brought home to you more viv- idly in after life, that all things come I together with wisdom and innumerable I riches through her hands; that thfre is j no rejoicing like unto that of the soul I conscious of growth and emancipation, 1 Dirieuit as may be at times our at- I tempt to correspond with the nobler I promptings of our being, there is no I other eiidt-avor which brings greater comfort and happiness to the soul; there is none followed by s much joy Jtnd gladness of heart; n too. it j must be said, which giv much I meaning- and comfort av. ,ss to I our temporal life. The u. as not" I strayed so far from the a. . ...o ideal I 'bat a noble life, and conduct tendered Ii . graceful and holy by purer qualities of heart and soul are objects of contempt. Men look with veneration on a good woman; God blesses and consoles her; Hfe is the most perfect and fullest I evi n from a worldly point of view. She I rejoices the home, she blesses society. she wards off evil; she is in the truest I sense a great, purifying, strengthening I ' force on whom nations may well look I a? a most powerful help and a tower of strength. Happiness and love and I rcrvlre become her life, as natural as i fliv discontent and lust and selfishness i in others. She fights without knowing I it in the front rank of the great baltle J of righteousness: she makes humanity I her debior: she brings close to man the I' great ideal of life for which we must ell yearn. The last words of your Alma Muter, as fhe bidf you God-speed, must re- : mind you that your opportunities have i I made you debtors to this college, to I yourselves and to humanity. Here, she I M' to the world, arc those whom I I have truly educated, to whom 1 have 1 given the highest ideals of conduct and I character, by whose lives I may be I ."fudged. Here -are ' women with noble j - wqmanlv hearts and high womanly - fouls. They have shared with so main- I others the delights of learning and j row receive the academic rewards of I f their diligence and labor. But thfv are I i more than my scholars, my students; 1 J i they are my children and I have ex- ' 2 ( I Tended upon them all a mother's care . f j and all a, mother's love. I have been I t solicitous that they should be virtuous I ! s well as learned, versed in the mys- f j teries of science, but acquainted a'lso ""'ith the profounder F-crets of noble If ; living. My purpose has been to make thorn worthy inheritors of the exalted traditions of Catholic womanhood, prompt in faith and love, in devotion , and sacrifice, able to find meaning and i value in the lowest as well as in the higher service of man and God. From their ranks will come none to swell the 1 lists of those who menace and defile the sanctity of marriage; from their lips will fall no flippant insult to things j-acred and saving; they will be guilty of no irreverence against nature or nature's God: they will not veil under a decorous exterior unholv hopes and deadened hearts. Faithful to their high I discipline, they will diffuse sweetness and the light of virtuous ideal and noble I end heroic devotion: they will be gener- ! ous in their service of every great cause; they will be a salutarv leaven i i In society. The freshness and beautv j I of their lives will nourish the sacred flame of womanly honor, the hope and Fustenance of the world: wherever I 1bey go. they will recall to tiuir sisters the fairest type' of womanhood, and tir all hearts with renewed yearnings j for thoia more percious goods which I give value to all life, and which alone ! give to womanly life its grace and dignity and glory. PROFESSIONAL CARDS. DENTIST. DR. A. SCOTT CHAPMAN 50$ Seott-Strevell Biulding. J. E. SCALLON, M. D., PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON, office suite 4f.9-lo 34 South Main. Hours, 2 to i P. m. Bell telephone 2033-Z. auur" 4 10 |