Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
Perhaps the labor and patience and
self-renunciation that are necessary to the regeneration of the world
are to come from women. Such an absolute disregard of self as they are
capable of, if it were once allowed to overflow the narrow limits of the
home, might in no long time turn a goodly portion of the world into a
garden of roses. There are still men who wish to appropriate to
themselves all the high qualities of their women, but they belong to a
race that is destined to rapid extinction, and to most rapid extinction
in this country. That American men are more thoroughly chivalrous than
English is a common belief. It was curiously confirmed by the English
clergyman who wrote to the "Nation," some years ago, to describe the
qualities which an English clergyman ought to have in order to be
successful in this country, and who said that he had found it necessary
not to let it be known that his wife warmed his slippers for him. The
theory that woman exists solely for the purpose of smoothing the
wrinkles from the brow of man is one that seldom finds expression now,
except in the Lenten sermons of men who are content to drop out of the
ranks of those who influence opinion. But the great freedom that the
modern woman has gained for herself, the thorough education that is for
the first time within her reach, the strong sympathies that are her
inheritance,--these are grounds of a responsibility that she cannot but
feel to be a heavy one. What better outlet can she find for her
activities than to carry forward that slow process of fitting together
the human race and its surroundings which it is no longer necessary to
leave to chance?
CHRISTINE LADD-FRANKLIN.
* * * * *
The Ice-Saints.
There are three days in the spring of the year called by the French _Les
Saints de Glace_. These days are the 12th, 13th, and 14th of May, and
the saints to whom they are dedicated are Saint Mamert, Saint Pancras,
and Saint Servais. They are very obscure saints, in honor of whom few
children have been named, and, were it not for the vast parish of Saint
Pancras which once comprised all the northwestern part of London, their
names as well as their history would be, to Protestants at least,
entirely unknown. They have, however, the evil reputation of commonly
bringing with them a nipping frost, and are abhorred in Burgundy as the
great enemies of the vine.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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