Show LITERARY Jit DEAR FRIEND FRIEND You Y You ou are a girl gul and I Iam Iam Iam am a girl and you ask me what woman has done in the past and what the girl of today can do In giving the biography biography bio- bio graphy of Fanny Fern I related a few of the very many glorious achievements of woman If you wish to know more read the history of the human race and note womans woman's deeds of mercy wisdom courage and love and I feel perfectly safe in saying that she would have made greater advancement had not her progress progress progress pro pro- gress been retarded According to Biblical Biblical Biblical cal laws woman was h held ld in complete subjection In Asia she has always been treated as inferior to man in Greece an education was thought superfluous for woman and the doors of the great schools of philosophy were closed to her in Rome woman possessed no property rights and was allowed no voice in divorce cases The civilization of all the later nations has been marked bythe bythe by bythe the respect paid to woman What can the girl of today do The girl is the coming woman and to what can she attain In the words of the Rev Anna Shaw II She can attain the most glorious position on earth which is pure intelligent noble womanhood The Nineteenth Century is an age of toleration liberality enlightenment and advancement and the old idea that all alla a girl should do is to enjoy herself for fora a little while marry settle down lown and become a mere housekeeper and nurse is being rapidly dispelled The lives and works of such women as f Fern Mrs Browning Mrs He Hemp ins Florence Nightingale Rosa ur mr Louise M. M Alcott Harriet Hosmer a nd Gail Hamilton have proved the ass r- r tion of Miss Alcott that it is a ri ht l j s 7 and a duty for girls to do something with their lives as well as it is for boys to have minds and souls ambitions and talents as well as beauty and accomplishments accomplishments accomplishments to live and learn as well as asto asto asto to love and be loved Some girls of today regard household duties beneath them and they prefer to toi i have no knowledge of cooking sewing and keeping home in order Oh what a serious mistake is this Although a girl may never have the actual labor to to perform if she does not understand how howit it is done she is not capable of directing directing directing direct direct- ing others who are to do it for her A girls girl's first duty should be to her home and she may understand and be able to perform all kinds of labor connected with keeping house-keeping without detracting one particle from her dignity No it is only taking one step farther toward making her a perfect woman I 1 do not think it is by public demonstrations demonstrations demonstrations demon demon- that a girl can accomplish the ther thea r a most good but it is by carefully guarding guarding guard guard- f ing every look and act by doing fhe the ti little things which go o so far toward t making home life a pleasure by being truthful religious unaffected modest I She can be the safest and ablest companion companion com com- l panion of her brother the dispenser of charity the sympathetic friend of the sorrowing She can be the architect of off f household comfort and the preserver of all that promotes domestic sanctity and love She gives tone to the music in church life and beauty beauty in in the ball She commands order on the railroad or steamboat Art is long science is profound and literature varied and extensive yet in every field a girl can attain eminence The doors of most of the great educational educational educational institutions are thrown open to her the opportunity is afforded and wi within thin the lines of in intellectual culture she stands by the side of her brother A girls girl's influence for refinement and purity is requisite to the vitality and advancement of education in all its 1 branches in religion and in society through every walk in life Colleges t and seminaries give finish but home culture mothers' mothers and sisters' sisters influence j 1 make mould and firmly implant that which time nor distance can never efface Every girl can have a model within to live for to labor for have an aim in life far above shallow selfishness the folly of living simply to attract attention to be petted and flattered She can maintain a dignity a strength of mind a true tru character God has endowed a girl with intelligence and all the attributes necessary with cultivation to make her her fulfill the measure of her creation and become a womanly woman I fear this letter is much too lengthy but I hope to hear from you soon Be sure and read that little school paper known as the U UNIVERSITY CHRONICLE for forit it is a paper of the young people for forthe the young people and by the young people and should receive the support of the young people Sincerely yours Mira |