Cambridge (England) -- Pictorial works; University of Cambridge -- Pictorial works
For she was no artist. She had not that which separates the artist from
the man of ideas, or the dreamer, or the seer--expression. No poetical
imagination was ever more tongue-tied. She spoke by actions, and used
words only as indications of thoughts. Her speech was compared by a
former student to the works of early painters, before command over the
material had been obtained, but where “sheer force of character and
feeling had risen over the difficulties.” She was an idealist, but she
could never understand the value of an abstract principle. Her interest
was always in the individual, in the career, and she came to no matter,
to no person, with a store of general principles ready for the case. She
wanted to give women not merely learning, but a life of their own, to
call out interests, to satisfy their individuality. She liked to find in
them many and marked vocations, for she understood the dignity of all
work and had no disdain of common things. She wanted every one to have a
place and an office in life, and must perforce fit the squarest bits
into a round hole, so intolerably pathetic was it to her that they
should have no hole. You could not “hand her the salt or open the door
for her” without receiving “some recognition of your individuality” a
student said of her. This recognition of the individuality of women and
of the human and practical sides of higher intellectual training was her
contribution to the movement in which she took so great a part. And the
contribution was all important.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account