material from the ,google ,print project47 ,,three ,,addresses ,,to ,,girls ,,at ,,school ,,three ,,addresses ,,to ,,girls ,,at ,,school ,,by ,,the ,,rev4 ,j4 ,m4 ,,wilson1 ,m4,a4 ,,head ,,master ,,of ,,clifton ,,college ,,and ,,vice-,,president ,,of ,,the ,,clifton ,,high ,,school ,,for ,,girls ,london ,,percival ,,co4 ,,king ,,street1 ,,covent ,,garden #ahij ,,preface4 ,the following addresses were printed for private circulation among those to whom they were delivered4 ,but they fell also into other hands2 and ,i have been frequently asked to publish them4 ,i hesitated1 on account of the personal and local allusions2 but ,i have found it impossible to remove these allusions1 and ,i have therefore reprinted the addresses in their original form4 ,j4,m4,w4 ,,clifton ,,college1 ,sept4 #ahij4 ,,contents4 ,,page ,i4 ,,education #a ,october #be1 #ahhg4 ,,the ,,high ,,school1 ,,clifton4 ,,ii4 ,,high ,,school ,,education ,,for ,,girls #ba ,december1 #ahhi4 ,,the ,,high ,,schools ,,at ,,bath ,,and ,,clifton4 ,,iii4 ,,religion #ec ,april #ac1 #ahij4 ,,st4 ,,leonard',s ,,school1 ,,st4 ,,andrews1 ,,fife4 ,,three ,,addresses ,,to ,,girls ,,at ,,school ,i4 ,,education4 ,,education4#a ,now that ,i have given away the certificates it will be expected that ,i should make a few remarks on that inexhaustible subject1 ,education4 ,my remarks will be brief4 ,i take this opportunity of explaining to our visitors the nature of the ,higher ,certificate examination4 ,it is an examination instituted originally to test the efficiency of the highest forms of our public schools1 and to enable boys to pass the earlier ,university examinations while still at school4 ,the subjects of study are divided into four groups4 ,in order to obtain a certificate it is necessary to pass in four subjects taken from not less than three groups4 ,a certificate therefore ensures a sound and fairly wide education4 ,the subjects of the groups are languages1 mathematics1 ,english history1 and lastly science4 ,one concession is made to girls which is not made to boys4 ,they are allowed to pass in two subjects one year1 and two others the next1 and thus obtain their certificates piecemeal4 ,boys have to pass in all four subjects the same year4 ,the ,high ,school sent in seventeen candidates for the examination in two or three of the subjects--,history1 ,elementary ,mathematics1 ,french1 ,german1 and ,latin1--and fifteen of these passed in two subjects at least3 and1 inasmuch as seven of them had in a previous year passed in two other subjects1 they obtained their certificates4 ,the rest carry on their two subjects1 and will1 we hope1 obtain their certificates next summer2 six of them appear to be still in the school4 ,this is a very satisfactory result4 ,the value of these certificates to the public is the testimony they give to the very high efficiency of the teaching4 ,these examinations are not of the standard of the ,junior or ,senior ,local ,examinations4 ,they are very much harder4 ,and all who know about these matters see at a glance that a school that ventures to send in its girls for this examination only is aiming very high4 ,the certificates for ,music1 given by the ,harrow ,music ,school examiners1 are also recognised by the profession as having a considerable value4 ,but on this subject ,i cannot speak with the same knowledge4 ,the value of these examinations to the mistresses is that they serve as a guide and standard for teaching4 ,we are all of us the better for being thus kept up to the mark4 ,their value to you is that they help to make your work definite and sound3 and that1 if it is slipshod1 you shall at any rate know that it is slipshod4 ,therefore1 speaking for the ,council1 and as the parent of a ,high ,school girl1 and as one of the public1 ,i may say that we set a very high value on these examinations and their results4 ,they test and prove absolute merit4 ,now1 you may have noticed that one of the characteristics of this school is the absence of all prizes and personal competitions within the school itself2 all that only brings out the relative merit of individuals4 ,i dare say you have wondered why this should be so1 and perhaps grumbled a little4 ,other girls1 you say1 bring home prizes3 our brothers bring home prizes2 or at any rate have the chance of doing so--why don't we8 ,and not only you1 but some friends of the school who would like to give prizes--for it is a great pleasure to give prizes--have sometimes wondered why ,miss ,woods says ,no4 ,i will tell you why4 ,miss ,woods holds--and ,i believe she is quite right--that to introduce the element of competition1 while it would certainly stimulate the clever and industrious to more work1 would also certainly tend to obscure and weaken the real motives for work in all1 which ought to outlive1 but do not always outlive1 the age at which prizes are won4 ,intelligent industry1 without the inducement of prizes1 is a far more precious and far more durable habit than industry stimulated by incessant competition4 ,teaching and learning are alike the better for the absence of this element1 when possible4 ,i consider this to be one of the most striking characteristics of our ,high ,school1 and one of which you ought to be most proud4 ,it is a distinction of this school4 ,and when you speak of it1 as you well may do1 with some pride1 you will not forget that it is due entirely to the genius and character of your ,head-mistress4 ,i believe that one result will be1 that you will be the more certain to continue to educate yourselves1 and not to imagine that education is over when you leave school4 ,is it necessary to say anything to you about the value of education8 ,i think it is2 because so many of the processes of education seem at the time to be drudgery1 that any glimpses and reminders of the noble results attained by all this drudgery are cheering and encouraging4 ,the reason why it is worth your while to get the best possible education you can1 to continue it as long as you can1 to make the very most of it by using all your intelligence and industry and vivacity1 and by resolving to enjoy every detail of it1 and indeed of all your school life1 is that it will make you--you yourself--so much more of a person4 ,more--as being more pleasant to others1 more useful to others1 in an ever-widening sphere of influence1 but also more as attaining a higher development of your own nature4 ,let us look at two or three ways in which1 as you may easily see1 education helps to do some of these things4 ,education increases your interest in everything2 in art1 in history1 in politics1 in literature1 in novels1 in scenery1 in character1 in travel1 in your relation to friends1 to servants1 to everybody4 ,and it is interest in these things that is the never-failing charm in a companion4 ,who could bear to live with a thoroughly uneducated woman8--a country milkmaid1 for instance1 or an uneducated milliner's girl4 ,she would bore one to death in a week4 ,now1 just so far as girls of your class approach to the type of the milkmaid or the milliner1 so far they are sure to be eventually mere gossips and bores to friends1 family1 and acquaintance1 in spite of amiabilities of all sorts4 ,many-sided and ever-growing interests1 a life and aims capable of expansion--the fruits of a trained and active mind--are the durable charms and wholesome influences in all society4 ,these are among the results of a really liberal education4 ,education does something to overcome the prejudices of mere ignorance4 ,of all sorts of massive1 impenetrable obstacles1 the most hopeless and immovable is the prejudice of a thoroughly ignorant and narrow-minded woman of a certain social position4 ,it forms a solid wall which bars all progress4 ,argument1 authority1 proof1 experience avail nought4 ,and remember1 that the prejudices of ignorance are responsible for far more evils in this world than ill-nature or even vice4 ,ill-nature and vice are not very common1 at any rate in the rank of ladies2 they are discountenanced by society2 but the prejudices of ignorance--,i am sure you wish me to tell you the truth--these are not rare4 ,think1 moreover1 for a moment how much the cultivated intelligence of a few does to render the society in which we move more enjoyable3 how it converts the random and officious sociabilities of society into a quickening and enjoyable intercourse and stimulus3 everybody can recall instances of such a happy result of education4 ,this can only be done by educated women4 ,how much more might be done if there were more of them6 ,and think1 too1 how enormously a great increase of trained intelligence in our own class--among such as you will be in a few years--would increase the power of dealing with great social questions4 ,all sorts of work is brought to a standstill for want of trained intelligence4 ,it is not good will1 it is not enthusiasm1 it is not money that is wanted for all sorts of work2 it is good sense1 trained intelligence1 cultivated minds4 ,some rather difficult piece of work has to be done2 and one runs over in one's mind who could be found to do it4 ,one after another is given up4 ,one lacks the ability--another the steadiness--another the training--another the mind awakened to see the need3 and so the work is not done4 ,the harvest truly is plenteous1 but the labourers are few4 ,a really liberal education1 and the influence at school of cultivated and vigorous minds1 is the cure for this4 ,again1 you will do little good in the world unless you have wide and strong sympathies3 wide--so as to embrace many different types of character2 strong--so as to outlast minor rebuffs and failures4 ,now understanding is the first step to sympathy1 and therefore education widens and strengthens our sympathies3 it delivers us from ignorant prepossessions1 and in this way alone it doubles our powers1 and fits us for far greater varieties of life1 and for the unknown demands that the future may make upon us4 ,i spoke of the narrowness and immovability of ignorance4 ,there is another narrowness which is not due to ignorance so much as to persistent exclusiveness in the range of ideas admitted4 ,fight against this with all your might4 ,the tendency of all uneducated people is to view each thing as it is by itself1 each part without reference to the whole2 and then increased knowledge of that part does little more than intensify the narrowness4 ,education--liberal education--and the association with many and active types of mind1 among people of your own age1 as well as your teachers1 is the only cure for this4 ,try to understand other people's point of view4 ,don't think that you and a select few have a monopoly of all truth and wisdom4 ,it takes all sorts to make a world1 and you must understand all sorts if you would understand the world and help it4 ,you are living in a great age1 when changes of many kinds are in progress in our political and social and religious ideas4 ,there never was a greater need of trained intelligence1 clear heads1 and earnest hearts4 ,and the part that women play is not a subordinate one4 ,they act directly1 and still more indirectly4 ,the best men that have ever lived have traced their high ideals to the influence of noble women as mothers or sisters or wives4 ,no man who is engaged in the serious work of the world1 in the effort to purify public opinion and direct it aright1 but is helped or hindered by the women of his household4 ,few men can stand the depressing and degrading influence of the uninterested and placid amiability of women incapable of the true public spirit1 incapable of a generous or noble aim--whose whole sphere of ideas is petty and personal4 ,it is not only that such women do nothing themselves--they slowly asphyxiate their friends1 their brothers1 or their husbands4 ,these are the unawakened women2 and education may deliver you from this dreadful fate1 which is commoner than you think4 ,in no respect is the influence of women more important than in religion4 ,much might be said of the obstacles placed in the way of religious progress by the crude and dogmatic prepossessions of ignorant women1 who will rush in with confident assertion where angels might fear to tread3 but this is neither the time nor the place for such remarks4 ,it is enough to remind you that in no part of your life do you more need the width and modesty and courage of thought1 and the delicacy of insight given by culture1 than when you are facing the grave religious questions of the day1 either for yourself or others4 ,but let me turn to a somewhat less serious subject4 ,we earnestly desire that women should be highly educated4 ,and yet is there not a type of educated woman which we do not wholly admire8 ,i am not going to caricature a bluestocking1 but to point out one or two real dangers4 ,education is good2 but perfect sanity is better still4 ,sanity is the most excellent of all women's excellences4 ,we forgive eccentricity and one-sidedness--the want of perfect sanity--in men1 and especially men of genius2 and we rather reluctantly forgive it in women of genius2 but in ordinary folk1 no4 ,these are the strong-minded women2 ordinary folk1 who make a vigorous protest against one or two of the minor mistakes of society1 instead of lifting the whole3 ,i should call these1 women of imperfect sanity4 ,it is a small matter that you should protest against some small maladjustment or folly2 but it is a great matter that you should be perfectly sane and well-balanced4 ,now education helps sanity4 ,it shows the proportion of things4 ,an ,american essayist bids us keep our eyes on the fixed stars4 ,education helps us to do this4 ,it helps us to live the life we have to lead on a higher mental and spiritual level it glorifies the actual4 ,and now1 seeing these things are so1 what ought to be the attitude of educated girls and women towards pleasures1 the usual pleasures of society8 ,certainly not the cynical one--,life would be tolerable if it were not for its pleasures4 ,pleasures do make up1 and ought to make up1 a considerable portion of life4 ,now ,i have no time for an essay on pleasures4 ,i will only offer two remarks4 ,one is that the pleasure open to all cultivated women1 even in the pleasures that please them least1 is the pleasure of giving pleasure4 ,go to give pleasure1 not to get it1 and that converts anything into a pleasure4 ,the other remark is1 ,pitch your ordinary level of life on so quiet a note that simple things shall not fail to please4 ,if home1 and children1 and games1 and the daily routine of life--if the sight of ,october woods and the ,severn sea1 and of human happy faces fail to please1 then either in fact or in imagination you are drugging yourself with some strong drink of excitement1 and spoiling the natural healthy appetite for simple pleasures4 ,this is one of the dangers of educated women3 but it is their danger because they are imperfectly educated3 educated on one side1 that of books2 and not on the other and greater side1 of wide human sympathies4 ,society seems to burden and narrow and dull the uneducated woman1 but it also hardens and dulls a certain sort of educated woman too1 one who refuses her sympathies to the pleasures of life4 ,but to the fuller nature1 society brings width and fresh clearness4 ,it gives the larger heart and the readier sympathy1 and the wider the sphere the more does such a nature expand to fill it4 ,what ,i am now saying amounts to this1 that an educated intelligence is good1 but an educated sympathy is better4 ,i recall certain lines written by the late ,lord ,carlisle on being told that a lady was plain and commonplace3-- ,you say that my love is plain1 ,but that ,i can never allow1 ,when ,i look at the thought for others ,that is written on her brow4 ,the eyes are not fine1 ,i own1 ,she has not a well-cut nose1 ,but a smile for others' pleasure ,and a sigh for others' woes4 ,quick to perceive a want1 ,quicker to set it right1 ,quickest in overlooking ,injury1 wrong1 or slight4 ,hark to her words to the sick1 ,look at her patient ways1 ,every word she utters ,speaks to the speaker's praise4 ,purity1 truth1 and love1 ,are they such common things8 ,if hers were a common nature ,women would all have wings4 ,talent she may not have1 ,beauty1 nor wit1 nor grace1 ,but until she's among the angels ,she cannot be commonplace4 ,there is something to remember3 cultivate sympathy1 gentleness1 forgiveness1 purity1 truth1 love3 and then1 though you may have no other gifts1 until you're among the angels1 you cannot be commonplace4 ,and here ,i might conclude4 ,but ,i should not satisfy myself or you1 if ,i did so without paying my tribute of genuine commendation to the ,high ,school1 and of hearty respect for the ,head-mistress and her staff of teachers4 ,clifton owes ,miss ,woods a great debt for the tone of high-mindedness and loyalty1 for the moral and intellectual stamp that she has set on the ,school4 ,she has won1 as we all know1 the sincere respect and attachment of her mistresses and her old pupils2 and the older and wiser you grow the more you all will learn to honour and love her4 ,and you will please her best by thorough loyalty to the highest aims of the ,school which she puts before you by her words and by her example4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #a3 ,an ,address given at the ,high ,school1 ,clifton1 ,oct4 #be1 #ahhg4 ,,ii4 ,,high ,,school ,,education ,,for ,,girls4 ,,high ,,school ,,education ,,for ,,girls4#b ,it is a real pleasure to find myself in ,bath on an educational mission4 ,i have ancestral and personal educational connections with ,bath of very old standing4 ,my father was curate of ,st4 ,michael's before ,i was born2 my grandfather and uncle were in succession head-masters of the ,grammar ,school here1 fine scholars both1 of the old school4 ,my first visit to ,bath was when ,i was nine years old1 and on that occasion ,i had my first real stand-up fight with a small ,bath ,grammar ,school boy4 ,i think that if the old house is still standing ,i could find the place where we fought1 and where a master brutally interrupted us with a walking-stick4 ,since those days1 my relations with ,bath have been rare1 but peaceful2 unless1 indeed1 the honourable competition between ,clifton ,college and its brilliant daughter1 ,bath ,college1 may be regarded as a ceaseless but a friendly combat between their two head-masters whom you see so peaceably side by side4 ,i propose1 first1 to say a few words about the condition of schools twenty years ago1 before the present impulse towards the higher education of women gave us ,high ,schools and ,colleges at the ,universities1 and other educational movements4 ,there is a most interesting chapter in the report of the ,endowed ,schools ,commission of #ahfh on girls' schools1 and some valuable evidence collected by the ,assistant ,commissioners4 ,it is not ancient history yet1 and therein lies its great value to us4 ,it shows us the evils from which we are only now escaping in our ,high ,schools3 evils which still prevail to a formidable extent in a large section of girls' education1 and from which ,i can scarcely imagine ,bath is wholly free4 ,the report speaks of the general indifference of parents to the education of their girls in our whole upper and middle class1 both absolutely and relatively to that of their boys4 ,that indifference in part remains4 ,there was a strong prejudice that girls could not learn the same subjects as boys1 and that even if they could1 such an education was useless and even injurious4 ,that prejudice still survives1 in face of facts4 ,the right education1 it was thought1 for girls1 was one of accomplishments and of routine work1 with conversational knowledge of ,french4 ,the ideal of a girl's character was that she was to be merely amiable1 ready to please and be pleased2 it was1 as was somewhat severely said by one of the ,assistant ,commissioners1 not to be good and useful when married1 but to get married4 ,there was no ideal for single women4 ,they did not realize how much of the work of the world must go undone unless there is a large class of highly educated single women4 ,this view of girls' education is not yet extinct4 ,corresponding to the ideal on the part of the ordinary ,british parent was1 of course1 the school itself4 ,there was no high ideal of physical health1 and but little belief that it depended on physical conditions2 therefore the schools were neither large and airy1 nor well provided with recreation ground2 not games and play1 but an operation known as crocodiling formed the daily and wearisome exercise of girls4 ,that defect also is common still4 ,there was no ideal of art1 or belief in the effect of artistic surroundings1 and therefore the schools were unpretending even to ugliness and meanness4 ,the walls were not beautified with pictures1 nor were the rooms furnished with taste4 ,there was no high ideal of cultivating the intelligence1 and therefore most of the lessons that were not devoted to accomplishments1 such as music1 flower-painting1 fancy work1 hand-screen making1 etc41 were given to memory work1 and note-books1 in which extracts were made from standard authors and specimen sums worked with flourishes wondrous to behold4 ,the serious study of literature and history was almost unknown4 ,the memory work consisted in many schools in learning ,mangnall's ,questions and ,brewer's ,guide to ,science--fearful books4 ,the first was miscellaneous3 ,what is lightning8 ,how is sago made8 ,what were the ,sicilian ,vespers1 the properties of the atmosphere1 the length of the ,mississippi1 and the ,pelagian heresy8 ,these are1 ,i believe1 actual specimens of the questions2 and the answers were committed to memory4 ,about twenty-five years ago ,i examined some girls in ,brewer's ,guide to ,science4 ,the verbal knowledge of some of them was quite wonderful2 their understanding of the subject absolutely nil4 ,they could rattle off all about positive and negative electricity1 and ,leyden jars and batteries2 but the words obviously conveyed no ideas whatever1 and they cheerfully talked utter nonsense in answer to questions not in the book4 ,examinations for schools were not yet instituted2 the education was unguided1 and therefore largely misguided4 ,do not let us imagine for an instant that these evils have been generally cured4 ,the secondary education of the country is still in a deplorable condition2 and it behoves us to repeat on all occasions that it is so4 ,the schools ,i am describing from the report of twenty years ago exist and abound and flourish still1 owing to the widespread indifference of parents to the education of their girls1 to the qualifications and training of their mistresses1 and the efficiency of the schools4 ,untested1 unguided1 they exist and even thrive1 and will do so until a sounder public opinion and the proved superiority of well-trained mistresses and well-educated girls gradually exterminates the inefficient schools4 ,but we are1 ,i fear1 a long way still from this desirable consummation4 ,what were the mistresses8 ,for the most part worthy1 even excellent ladies1 who had no other means of livelihood1 and who had no special education themselves1 and no training whatever4 ,naturally they taught what they could1 and laid stress on what was called the formation of character1 which they usually regarded as somehow alternative with intellectual attainments and stimulus1 and progress in which could not be submitted to obvious tests4 ,i suppose most of us think that there is no more valuable assistance in the formation of character than any pursuit that leads the mind away from frivolous pursuits1 egotistic or morbid fancies1 and fills it with memories of noble words and lives1 teaches it to love our great poets and writers1 and gives it sympathies with great causes4 ,but this was not the prevailing opinion twenty years ago4 ,the influence of good people1 good homes1 good example--in a word truly religious influence1 as we shall all admit--is the strongest element in the formation of character2 but the next strongest is assuredly that education which teaches us to admire whatsoever things are true1 whatsoever things are lovely1 and whatsoever things are of good report2 and this ought to be1 and is1 one of the results of the literary teaching given by well-educated mistresses4 ,i have been describing the common type of what used to be called the seminaries and establishments for young ladies of twenty years ago4 ,and it may give you the impression that there was no good education to be got in those days1 and that the ladies of my generation were therefore very ill-educated4 ,permit me to correct that impression4 ,there were homes in which the girls learned something from father or from mother1 or1 perhaps1 something from a not very talented governess2 but in which they educated themselves with a hunger and thirst after knowledge1 and an enjoyment of literature that is rare in any school4 ,do not imagine that any school education under mistresses however skilled1 or resulting in certificates however brilliant1 is really as effective in the formation of strong intellectual tastes and clear judgment and ability as the self-education which was won by the mothers of some of you1 by the women of my generation and those before4 ,such education was rare1 but it was possible1 and it is possible still4 ,under such a system a few are educated and the many fail altogether4 ,the advantage of our day is that education is offered to a much larger number4 ,but ,i cannot call it better than that which was won by a few in the generation of your mothers4 ,if we would combine the exceptional merits of the old system with the high average merits of the new we must jealously preserve the element of freedom and self-education4 ,to return to the report4 ,the indifference of parents and the public1 the inadequacy of school buildings and appliances1 the low intellectual ideals of mistresses1 were the evils of twenty years ago1 prevailing very widely and lowering school education1 and we must not expect to have got rid of them altogether4 ,an educational atmosphere is not changed in twenty years4 ,but our ,high ,schools are a very real step in advance4 ,the numbers of your school show that there is a considerable and increasing fraction of residents in ,bath who do care for the intellectual quality of the education of their girls2 and the report of the examiners is a most satisfactory guarantee that the instruction given here is thoroughly efficient along the whole line4 ,bath must be congratulated on its ,high ,school for ,girls1 as it must be congratulated on its ,college for ,boys4 ,but are we therefore to rest and be thankful in the complacent belief that we have now at length attained perfection1 at least in our ,high ,schools8 ,i am called in to bless ,high ,school education1 and ,i do bless it from my heart4 ,i know something of it4 ,my own daughter was at such a school2 ,i have been vice-president of a ,high ,school for ten years4 ,i wish there were ,high ,schools in every town in ,england4 ,they have done and are doing much to lift the standard of girls' education in ,england4 ,but ,i will again remind you that ,high ,schools are educating but a fraction of the population1 and that the faults of twenty years ago still characterise our girls' education as a whole4 ,and now1 having said this1 ,i shall not be misunderstood if ,i go on to speak of some of the deficiencies in our ideals of girls' education which seem to me to affect ,high ,schools as well as all other schools4 ,one point1 in which the older education with its manifold defects had a real merit1 is that there was no over-teaching1 no hurry to produce results1 and therefore no disgust aroused with learning and literature4 ,at any rate1 the girls1 or the best of them1 left school or governess with an appetite4 ,now ,i consider this is a real test of teaching at school or college1 in science or literature3 does it leave boys and girls hungry for more1 with such a love for learning that they will go on studying of themselves8 ,if the teaching of some science is such that you never want to go to another science lecture as long as you live3 your lessons on literature such that your ,shakespeare1 your ,spenser1 your ,burke1 your ,browning will never again descend from your shelves3 then1 whatever else schools may have done1 they have sacrificed the future to the present4 ,it is on this account that the pressure of external examinations and its effect on the teaching of mistresses must be most carefully watched4 ,to get immediate results is easy1 but it is sometimes at the cost of later results4 ,our aim should be not so much to teach1 as to make our pupils love to learn1 and have methods of learning2 and every teacher should remember that our pupils can learn far more than we can teach them2 and1 as ,thring used to say1 hammering is not teaching4 ,with a system of competitive examinations for the ,army and ,civil ,service1 boys must sometimes sacrifice the future to the present4 ,girls need never do so1 and therefore girls' schools need not copy the faults as well as the excellences of boys' schools4 ,i have ventured to say so much for an intellectual danger in ,high ,schools4 ,i do not doubt that your head-mistress is aware of it1 and on her guard3 ,i speak much more to the public1 to the parents1 and to the ,council 7if ,i may say so71 as an expert1 because ,i know that the public sometimes want to be satisfied that the education is good at every stage1 and they ought to be content if it is good at the final stage4 ,another point on which ,i would venture to say a word to parents is this4 ,do not take your girls away from school too early4 ,every schoolmaster knows that the most valuable years1 those which leave the deepest marks in character and intellect1 are those from sixteen to eighteen4 ,it is equally true with girls1 as schoolmistresses know equally well4 ,it is in the later years that they get the full benefit of the higher teaching1 and that much of what may have seemed the drudgery of earlier work reaps its natural and deserved reward4 ,let your children come early1 so as to be taught well from the beginning1 and let them stay late4 ,i do not myself know what your buildings may be2 but a friend to whom ,i wrote speaks of them as inadequate and somewhat unworthy of the city4 ,may ,i venture to say to a ,bath public that it is worth while to have first-rate buildings for educational purposes8 ,no money is better spent4 ,if the ,bath public will take this up in earnest it cannot be doubted that the ,girls' ,school ,company would second their efforts in such an important centre4 ,come over and see our ,clifton ,high ,school1 with its spacious lawns and playgrounds and pleasant rooms1 and you will be discontented with a righteous discontent4 ,and now ,i will point out another defect in ,high ,school education which parents and mistresses may do much to remedy4 ,there is usually--and ,i am assuming without direct knowledge that it is the case here--no system by which any one girl is known through her whole school career to any one mistress2 nothing corresponding to the tutor system of our public schools4 ,it follows that a girl passes from form to form1 and the relation between her and her mistress is so constantly broken that it is morally less powerful than it might be4 ,the friendly and permanent relation of old days is converted into an official and temporary relation4 ,it will be obvious to any one who reflects that the loss is great4 ,the cure for it is twofold4 ,the parents may do much by establishing a friendly relation with the form mistresses of their girls4 ,i have known parents who had never taken the trouble to inquire even the names of their girls' mistress4 ,if parents wish to get really the best out of a school1 ,i would say to them 7and ,i am speaking specially to mothers71 you are delegating to the form mistress a very large share of the responsibility for the formation of your daughter's character2 the least you can do is to be in the most friendly and confidential communication with her that circumstances permit4 ,and ,i would say to the mistresses that1 as far as is possible1 you should be to the girls what form masters are in a good school to their boys--friends in school and out of school1 acquainted with their tastes1 companions sometimes in their games or their walks1 and in all ways breaking down the merely formal relation of teacher and pupil4 ,the ideally bad master1 as ,i have often said to my young masters on a first appointment1 is one who as soon as his boys clear out of the class-room1 puts his hands in his pockets and whistles1 and thanks ,heaven that he will see no more of the boys for so many hours4 ,i do not know what the corresponding action on the part of a mistress may be1 as ,i believe they have no pockets and can't whistle1 but there is probably a corresponding state of mind4 ,i venture1 therefore1 to suggest that in our ,high ,schools there should be a greater rapprochement than is usual between parents and mistresses and girls in order to make the system more truly educational in the best sense4 ,i am now going to turn to a wholly different subject2 and ,i am going to talk to the girls4 ,in the crusade against the lower type of education that prevailed twenty years ago1 and still exists1 who are the most important agents8 ,it is the girls who are still in the ,high ,schools1 or who are passing out of them1 or who are otherwise getting the higher education in a few private schools4 ,ye are our epistle1 known and read of all men1 and read of all women too1 with their still keener eyes4 ,there is a very real danger in our ,high ,schools that the intellectual side of education may be overestimated and overpressed1 not by mistresses1 but by yourselves2 and that the natural1 human1 domestic1 and family elements in it may be undervalued4 ,what are you yourselves at home1 in society1 with parents1 brothers1 sisters1 children1 friends1 schoolfellows1 servants8 ,is the better education1 that you are undoubtedly getting1 widening your sympathies1 opening your heart and mind to all the educational influences which do not consist in books or in work8 ,is it giving you greater delicacy of touch8 ,is it opening new channels for influences1 streaming in on you or streaming out from you8 ,your daily life may become a higher education1 and is so to the truly noble-minded and well-educated girl or woman4 ,do not regard as interruptions1 and as teasing1 the calls of household1 the duties to parents1 visitors1 children1 and the rest2 it is part of the education of life to fulfil all these duties well1 delightfully1 brilliantly1 joyously1 enthusiastically2 these things are not interruptions to life1 they are life itself4 ,there was a pitiful magazine article written the other day by some lady complaining that social duties1 the having to see her friends1 her cook1 her gardener1 her dress-maker1 etc41 prevented her from reading ,herbert ,spencer1 and developing her small fragment of soul4 ,social duties1 rightly done1 are one of the developments of soul4 ,let it be seen that you girls who can enjoy your literature1 and your history1 and your music1 and your drawing with keen appreciation are not made thereby selfish or unsociable2 but that you are more delightful creatures than those who have no such independent resources and joys4 ,a girl who gets her certificate or prize and is cross or dull at home1 and does not think it worth while to be kind and agreeable to a young brother or an old nurse1 to every creature in her household down to the cat and the canary1 is a traitor to the cause of higher education4 ,again1 it has been observed that the practical and artistic elements in school education have been1 in general1 more thoroughly developed of late years since they were put into a secondary place4 ,this is as it should be4 ,such subjects as music1 drawing1 cooking1 housekeeping1 wood-carving1 nursing1 needlework1 when they are studied at all1 are studied more professionally and thoroughly and intelligently1 and less in the spirit of the amateur and dabbler4 ,so ,i would say to you1 both now and when you leave1 show that your education in intelligence has given you wide interests and powers to master all such subjects4 ,take them up all the more thoroughly4 ,closely akin to this merit of thoroughness is the large spirit of unselfishness that ought to come1 and certainly in many instances does come1 with wider interests1 a more intelligent education1 and a more active imagination4 ,women in our class have more leisure than men2 they can actually do what is impossible by the conditions of life for us men to do1 link class to class by knowledge and sympathy and help and kindness4 ,they can be of immense service in this way4 ,there is a story in the life of an ,american lady1 ,mrs4 ,lynam1 that occurs to me4 ,there was much conversation about a certain ,mr4 ,robbins1 who had lately died2 he had been such a benefactor1 such a good man1 and so on4 ,a visitor asked1 ,did ,mr4 ,robbins found a benevolent institution8 ,no1 was the reply1 he was a benevolent institution4 ,women of our class may be1 they ought to be1 benevolent institutions4 ,and such women exist among us2 pity is there are so few of them4 ,they can unobtrusively be centres of happiness1 and knowledge1 and generous attitudes of mind4 ,now there ought to be more of such women1 and ,i look to our ,high ,schools with hope4 ,they ought to make girls public-spirited and large-minded4 ,there is another element in girls' education which is only imperfectly as yet brought out1 and which you yourselves can do something to develop4 ,i mean the better appreciation of an education which is not in books1 and not in accomplishments1 and not in duties1 and not in social intercourse4 ,how shall ,i describe it8 ,think of the old ,greek education of men4 ,there was a large element of literature and poetry and natural religion and imagination in it2 and a large element of gymnastic also2 but besides all this it was an education of eye and ear2 it was a training that sprang from reverence for nature1 as a whole1 for an ideal of complete life1 in body and mind and soul2 and not only for complete individual life1 but also for the city1 the nation4 ,it was a consummate perfection of life that was ever leading the ,athenian upward1 by a life-long education1 to strive for a certain grace and finish in every one of his faculties4 ,and we see to what splendid results in literature and art and civic and personal beauty it led them4 ,this element is still wanting in our higher education2 it is the ideal of nobility of life and perfection4 ,we lack it in our physical education4 ,that is still far from perfect4 ,if we all1 parents1 children1 boys and girls1 schoolmasters and schoolmistresses1 had some of the ,greek feeling of high admiration of physical perfection of form and grace and activity1 we should not see so many boys and girls of very imperfect gracefulness1 nor should we see fashions of dress so ruinous to all ideals of perfection and grace4 ,we cannot make up for the want of this national artistic ideal of beauty of figure by artificial gymnastics1 scientific posturings1 and ladders and bars4 ,they are better than nothing1 they are a protest1 they certainly remedy some defects and prevent others4 ,but do not you be content with them4 ,by self-respect and self-discipline1 by healthy life1 early hours1 open air1 natural exercise1 the joyous and free use of all your powers1 by dancing1 playing games1 by refusal to give way to unhealthy and disfiguring fashions1 and1 above all1 by an aspiration after grace and perfection1 do what you can to remedy this national defect in our ideals for girls4 ,did you ever read ,kingsley's ,nausicaa in ,london8 ,do you all know who ,nausicaa was8 ,if not1 let me advise you to borrow ,worsley's ,odyssey and read ,book ,,vi41 and read ,kingsley's ,essay too4 ,nausicaa was a ,greek maiden who played at ball2 and ,i think you are doing more to approach the old ,greek ideal when you play at lawn tennis and cricket and hockey1 and ,i would add rounders and many another game1 than when you are going through ordered exercises1 valuable as they are1 or even than when you are learning ,greek or copying ,greek statues4 ,this leads me to say that games contribute much to remedy another deficiency in our ideal4 ,there is a defective power of real enjoyment of life1 of healthy spirits among us moderns4 ,there is more enjoyment now than there was4 ,i think my generation was better than the one that preceded us in this respect2 we had more games1 more fun1 more abandon in enjoyment than our fathers and mothers1 your grandfathers and grandmothers1 had1 if we may judge from letters published and unpublished4 ,and they too often thought we were a frivolous generation1 not so staid and decorous as we might be1 and repressed and checked us2 while we on the contrary urge on you to enjoy more fully the splendour of your youth and vitality4 ,we desire to see you dance and sing and laugh and bubble over with the delicious inexhaustible flow of vital energy2 we know that it need not interfere with the refinement of perfect manners and decorum1 and we know too that there is the force which will sober down and do good work1 and there is the health-giving exercise1 the geniality1 and the joy that will make you stronger and pleasanter1 more patient and more persuasive to good in years to come4 ,so it is with boys3 men are made in our playgrounds as much as in the class-room2 so1 too1 is it with you4 ,i must give you a quotation from ,fo'c's'le ,yarns1 that delightfullest of volumes-- ,it's likely ,god has got a plan ,to put a spirit in a man ,that's more than you can stow away ,in the heart of a child4 ,but he'll see the day ,when he'll not have a bit too much for the work ,he's got to do4 ,and the little ,turk ,is good for nothing but shouting and fighting ,and carrying on2 and ,god delighting ,to make him strong and bold and free ,and thinking the man he's going to be-- ,more beef than butter1 more lean than lard1 ,hard if you like1 but the world is hard4 ,you'll see a river how it dances ,from rock to rock wherever it chances3 ,in and out1 and here and there ,a regular young divil-may-care4 ,but1 caught in the sluice1 it's another case1 ,and it steadies down1 and it flushes the race ,very deep and strong1 but still ,it's not too much to work the mill4 ,the same with hosses3 kick and bite ,and winch away--all right1 all right1 ,wait a bit and give him his ground1 ,and he'll win his rider a thousand pound4 ,there is a word in ,german which has no ,english equivalent2 it expresses just the missing ideal ,i am speaking of4 ,it is a terrible mouthful1 as ,german words often are--,lebensglckseligkeit--it is the rapture and blessedness and happiness of living4 ,carry the idea away with you1 and make it one of your personal ideals1 and home ideals1 and school ideals1 and life ideals1 this ,lebensglckseligkeit4 ',tis life1 whereof our nerves are scant1 ,oh life1 not death1 for which we pant2 ,more life1 and fuller1 that ,i want4 ,you can carry this idea with you into society1 and use it to brighten its conventional sociabilities1 and stimulate them into positive enjoyability by more of intelligence and animation4 ,we had a visit the other day from an ,american gentleman1 ,mr4 ,muybridge1 who came to give a lecture at ,clifton ,college4 ,i believe he also lectured in ,bath4 ,he remarked to ,mrs4 ,wilson in the lecture-room that he was glad to see some ladies present4 ,i like ladies at my lectures2 they are so intelligent4 ,yes1 she replied1 but ,i fear you are attributing to us the qualities of ,american ladies2 we are not particularly intelligent4 ,you are joking6 was his reply4 ,no1 she went on1 we are always told how much more intelligent ,american ladies are than ,english4 ,he paused for some time1 and then slowly said1 ,well1 ,i'll not deny they are smarter4 ,well1 this quality that ,mr4 ,muybridge describes as smartness is an ,american equivalent of ,lebensglckseligkeit2 it is a sort of intensity of life1 of vivacity1 of willingness to take trouble1 to interest and be interested1 that is a little lacking in our ,english ideal of young ladies3 and we must be on our guard lest any school ideals of study and bookishness should actually increase this deficiency4 ,any one1 mistress or girl1 who makes good education to be associated with dulness and boredom and insipidity is again a traitor to the cause of higher education4 ,i have run to greater length than ,i intended1 and ,i will conclude4 ,it should be the aim of us all1 ,council1 parents1 mistresses1 and girls1 to show that our ideal of education includes both the training of the intelligence and reason1 and the storing the mind with treasures of beauty and instruments of power for opening new avenues into the storehouse of knowledge and delight that the world contains2 and also the development of the practical ability1 the benevolence and sympathy1 the vivacity1 the enjoyment of life1 the fulness of activity1 bodily and mental1 that makes the ,lebensglckseligkeit ,i spoke of1 and the superadding1 or rather diffusing through it all1 an unobtrusive but deep ,christian faith and reverence and charity4 ,the ,archbishop of ,canterbury lately said in his charge that public schools were infinitely more conducive to a strong morality than any other institution4 ,he was thinking of boys' schools1 of which he speaks with intimate knowledge2 but ,i believe that1 where girls' schools have at their head one who in the spirit of ,dr4 ,arnold recognizes the responsibility for giving an unostentatious1 unpartisan-like1 but all-pervading and intelligent religious tone to the life1 the aims1 and the ideal of the school1 and where the ,council and parents value this influence1 there the influence of girls' ,high ,schools may be more conducive to strong morality and true religion in ,england than even that of our great public schools4 ,for the ,high ,schools are training more and more of the most influential class among the women of ,england1 as the public schools are training the men1 and the influence of women must of necessity be of the first importance2 for it is they who determine the religious training and the atmosphere of the home1 and thus profoundly affect the national character4 ,let us all alike try to keep before ourselves from day to day and from year to year these high ideals of education which can nowhere be so well attained1 both by mistresses and girls1 as in a ,high ,school4 ,and in particular let me appeal to you1 the inhabitants of ,bath1 to be proud of this school1 to foster it1 to assist it in every way1 and be assured that in so doing you are conferring a lasting benefit on your famous city4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #b3 ,an ,address delivered at the ,high ,school1 ,bath1 and the ,high ,school1 ,clifton1 ,dec4 #ahhi4 ,,iii4 ,,religion4 ,,religion4#c ,i am not going to preach you a sermon of quite the usual type1 but intend rather to offer a few detached remarks without attempting to weave them into any unity of plan1 or to connect them with any particular text from the ,bible4 ,such unity as these remarks may possess will result not from design but from the nature of the subject4 ,for ,i am going to speak about religion4 ,now as ,i write this word ,i almost fancy ,i hear the rustle of an audience composing itself to endure what it foresees must be a dull and uninteresting address4 ,religion6 he can't make that interesting4 ,now1 why is this8 ,what is religion1 that in the eyes of so many clever and intelligent and well-educated young people it should be thought dull8 ,of this one point ,i am quite sure1 that it is the fault of our misunderstanding and misrepresentation1 in the past and the present1 that religion seems dull4 ,religion is1 in its essence1 the opening to the young mind of all the higher regions of thought and aspiration and imagination and spirituality4 ,when you are quite young you are occupied of course with the visible things and people round you2 each hour brings its amusements1 its occupations and its delights1 and reflection scarcely begins4 ,but soon questions of right and wrong spring up2 a world of ideas and imaginations opens before you2 you are led by your teachers and your books into the presence of great thoughts1 the inspirations that come from beauty in all forms1 from nature1 from art1 from literature1 and especially from poets2 you come under the influence of friends--fathers1 mothers1 or other elders--who evidently have springs of conduct and aspirations you as yet only dimly recognize2 and mixed with all these influences there is that influence on us from childhood upward of our prayers that we have been taught1 our religious services1 our ,bibles1 and most of all the ,sacred ,figure1 dimly seen1 but never long absent from our thoughts1 enveloped in a sort of sacred and mysterious halo--the figure of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ enshrined in our hearts1 and that ,father in ,heaven of ,whom ,he spoke4 ,all these are among the religious influences2 and what is their aim and object8 ,what is it that we should try and extract from them for ourselves8 ,how should we use them in our turn to better those who come after us8 ,well1 ,i reply1 they should all be regarded as the avenues by which our human nature as a whole ought to rise1 and the only avenues by which it can rise1 to its rightful and splendid heritage and its true development4 ,we cannot be all that we might be without straining our efforts in this direction of aspiration towards ,god1 towards all that is ideal1 spiritual and divine4 ,we are often inert1 effortless1 and then the religion ,i have spoken of repels us because it demands an effort2 we are often selfish1 and it repels us because it calls us out of self2 we are often absorbed in the small and immediate aims for present enjoyment1 interested in our own small circles1 and religion insists that these are not enough4 ,it is for ever calling us1 as all true education calls us1 as literature and history call us1 to rise higher1 to see more1 to widen our sympathies1 to enlarge our hearts1 to open the doors of feeling and emotion4 ,religion therefore may make great demands on us2 it may disturb our repose2 it may shake us1 and say1 look1 look2 look up1 look round2 it may be importunate1 insistent1 omnipresent1 but it is not dull4 ,there is a sham semblance of religion which you are right in regarding as dull1 for it is dull4 ,when it is unreal and insincere it is deadly dull2 when phrases are repeated1 parrotwise1 by people who have either never felt or have long lost their power and inspiration1 then too it is deadly dull4 ,when a sharp line1 moreover1 is made between all the various influences that elevate us1 and place us in presence of the ideal and spiritual world2 when the common relations of life1 when art1 poetry1 criticism1 science2 when educated and refining intercourse and conversation1 and all that occupies us on our intellectual sides is classed as secular1 and the only helps to religion that are recognized are services and creeds and traditions of our particular church1 then such religion cuts itself off from many of its springs1 and from most of its fairest fields1 and is barren1 and unprofitable1 and dull4 ,you are not likely to make this error4 ,you are perhaps more likely to make the opposite error1 by a natural reaction from this4 ,because1 when all the world of interest and beauty and human life is opening before you1 you cannot believe that religion is confined to the narrow sphere of ideas in which it was once thought to consist1 and is still sometimes declared to consist1 you may think that you can dispense with that narrow but central sphere of ideas2 and there you are wrong4 ,i am quite sure that there is no inspiring and sustaining force1 which shall make your lives worthy1 comparable to the faith which ,christ taught the world1 that we are verily the children of ,god1 and sharers of ,his ,divine life1 heirs of an eternal life in ,christ towards which we may press1 and the appointed path to which lies in the highest duties that our daily life presents and consecrates4 ,on this inspiring power of faith in ,christ ,i shall not speak to-day4 ,i mean to speak on one only of the duties which form the path to the higher life1 which you may overlook1 and yet which is inherent in religion4 ,the duty which ,i shall speak of is the necessity of entering into the life and needs and sympathies of others2 of living not with an eye exclusively on yourself1 but with the constant thought for others4 ,it is the law of our being that admits of no exception4 ,you may hope that the law of gravitation will be suspended in your case1 and leap out of the window2 but you will suffer for your mistake2 and you will be equally mistaken and equally maim your life1 if you think that somehow the law of the spiritual world would admit of exception1 and that you can win happiness1 goodness1 and the full tide of life2 become the best that you are capable of being1 while remaining isolated1 self-absorbed--by being centripetal1 not centrifugal4 ,it cannot be4 ,now this is worth saying to you1 because you know here at school what a united social life is4 ,all girls do not know this4 ,you do4 ,there is distinctly here a school life1 a school feeling1 a house feeling4 ,no casual visitor to your playing fields and hall can mistake this4 ,and you know that this enlarges and draws something out of your nature that would never have been suspected had it not been for school life4 ,but when school life ends1 what will become of this discovery that you have made8 ,boys1 when they leave school and have developed the passionate feeling of love for their old school1--the strong esprit de corps1 the conviction that in brotherhood and union is their strength and happiness1--contrive to find fresh united activities1 and transfer to new bodies their public spirit and power of co-operation4 ,their college1 their regiment1 their football club1 their work with young employs1 their parish1 their town--something is found into which they can throw themselves4 ,and again and again ,i have watched how this has become a religion1 a binding and elevating and educating power in the mind of young men2 and again and again1 too1 ,i have noticed how without it men lose interest1 lose growth and greatness2 individualism creeps on them1 half their nature is stunted4 ,for the individual life is only half the life2 and even that cannot be the rich and full and glorious thing it might be1 unless it is enlarged on all sides1 and rests on a wide social sympathy and love4 ,but how is it for girls when they leave school8 ,it is distinctly harder for you to find lines of united action4 ,society tends to individualize young ladies2 its ideal for them is elegant inaction and graceful waiting1 to an extent infinitely beyond what it is for young men4 ,you do not find at your homes ready-made associations to join1 or even an obvious possibility of doing anything for anybody4 ,and so ,i have witnessed generous and fine school-girl natures dwarfed1 cabined1 confined2 cheated of the activities which they had learned to desire to exercise1 becoming individualistic1 and therefore commonplace2 not without inward fury and resistance1 secret remonstrance1 but concealing it all under the impassive manner which society demands4 ,something is wrong3 and your generation is finding this out1 and finding out also its cure4 ,year by year greater liberty of action is open to educated women2 and educated women are themselves seeing1 and others are seeing for them1 that they have a part to play in the world which none others can play2 if they do not play it1 then work1 indispensable to the good of society1 and therefore to their own good1 is undone4 ,i say to their own good1 for we all want happiness3 but happiness is not won by seeking for it4 ,make up your minds on this point1 that there are certain things only to be got by not aiming directly at them4 ,aim1 for example1 at being influential1 and you become a prig2 aim at walking and posing gracefully1 and you become an affected and ludicrous object2 aim even at breathing quite regularly1 and you fail4 ,so if you aim at happiness or self-culture or individualistic completeness1 the world seems to combine to frustrate you4 ,people1 circumstances1 opportunities1 temper1 everything goes wrong2 and you lay the blame on everything except the one thing that is the cause of it all1 the fact that you yourself are aiming at the wrong thing4 ,but aim at making everything go well where you are2 aim at using this treasure of life that ,god has given you for helping lame dogs over stiles1 for making schools1 households1 games1 parishes1 societies1 sick-rooms1 girls' clubs1 what not8--run more smoothly2 wake every morning with the thought what can ,i do to-day to oil the wheels of my little world2 and behold people1 circumstances1 opportunities1 temper1 even health1 all get into a new adjustment1 and all combine to fill your life with interests1 warmth1 affection1 culture1 and growth3 you will find it true3 good measure1 shaken down1 heaped together1 and running over1 shall men give into your bosoms4 ,ah6 but what can one do8 ,it is so hard to find out the right thing4 ,yes2 and no possible general rule can be given4 ,you must fix the ideal in your mind1 and be sure that in some way or other openings will arise4 ,i will not touch life at school2 you know more about that than ,i do1 and perhaps need not that ,i should speak of public spirit1 and generous temper1 and the united life4 ,i will only say that a girl who does not throw herself into school life with the generous wish to give pleasure and to lift the tone around her1 does not get more than a fraction of the good that a school life like this can give1 and does not do her duty4 ,i speak of later years alone4 ,and in the first instance1 and always in the first place1 stand the claims of home4 ,i dare say you remember the young lady who wanted to go and learn nursing in a hospital1 and was asked by the doctor why she desired this4 ,father is paralysed1 she said1 and mother is nearly blind1 and my sisters are all married1 and it is so dull at home2 so ,i thought ,i should like nursing4 ,i don't want you to emulate that young person4 ,grudge no love and care at home3 no one can give such happiness to parents1 brothers1 sisters1 as you can1 and to make people happy is in itself a worthy mission2 it is the next best thing to making them good4 ,and remember also1 that there are many years before you3 and that though it may seem that years are spent with nothing effected except that somehow things have gone more smoothly1 you yourself will have been matured1 deepened1 and consolidated by a life of duty1 in a way in which no self-chosen path of life could have trained you4 ,and if1 as is quite possible1 some of you are impatient already for the exercise of your powers in some great work1 ,i will preach patience to you from another motive4 ,it is this3 that you are not yet capable of doing much that is useful1 from want of training and general ability4 ,i remember ,miss ,octavia ,hill once saying that she could get any quantity of money1 and any quantity of enthusiasm1 but that her difficulty was to get trained intelligence1 either in men or women4 ,so1 a few days ago1 ,miss ,clementina ,black1 who is ,hon4 ,secretary of the ,women's ,trade ,association1 said to a friend of my own that she had had many voluntary lady helpers of various degrees of education and culture1 and that she had found without exception that the highly educated students were the most fitted to do the work well2 that they alone were capable of the patience1 accuracy1 and attention to detail which were one essential quality to the doing of such work1 and that they alone could provide the other essentials1 which can only spring from a cultivated mind--viz41 wideness of view1 sense of proportion1 and capacity for general interest in other important questions--social1 literary1 and intellectual4 ,it is this cultivation of mind which prevents you from being crushed under the difficulty and tedium and disappointment which must attend every effort to teach principles and promote ideal aims among the mass of ignorant1 apathetic1 uninterested1 and helpless working women1 who must themselves in the last resort be the agents in bringing about a better condition of industry4 ,you may rest assured that if you set your mind on a career of splendid usefulness for your fellows 7and ,i hope every one of you here aims at this71 then you will need all the training that the highest and most prolonged education can give you4 ,become the most perfect creature you have it in your power to become4 ,if ,oxford or ,cambridge are open to you1 welcome the opportunity1 and use the extra power they will give you4 ,if not1 then utilise the years that lie before you1 in perfecting your accomplishments1 in self-education2 in interesting and informing yourself on social questions1 in enlarging your horizon1 while you cheerfully1 happily1 brilliantly perform all your home duties4 ,and during this period of preparation which you all must go through1 remember that there are some things which you can do better in your inexperience and ignorance than any other people4 ,how is this8 ,tell me why it would be more comfort1 and do more good sometimes to a poor sick woman to bring her a few primroses or daffodils than to give her any substantial relief4 ,the reason is the same4 ,the very freshness and innocence of young faces1 that sympathise without having the faintest suspicion of the sin and misery of the world1 is more refreshing and helpful than the stronger sympathy of one who really knows all the evil4 ,you can be primroses and daffodils1 and give glimpses into a purer world of love and gentleness and peace4 ,and if a prolonged training is impossible to you1 it is often possible for you to assist in some humble capacity some lady who is so engaged in work on a scale which you could not yourself touch4 ,be her handmaid and fag and slave1 and so gradually train yourself to become capable of independent action4 ,but to sum up all ,i am saying it amounts to this--,where there's a will there's a way1 and ,i want you to have the will4 ,did you ever think for what reason you should have had such a splendid time of it in your lives8 ,not two girls in a thousand are getting such an education as you are1 such varied studies1 such vigorous public school life1 such historic associations4 ,and why8 ,because you are better than others8 ,i think not4 ,it is that you play your part in the great social organism our national life2 hundreds are toiling for us1 digging1 spinning1 weaving1 mining1 building1 navigating1 that we may have leisure for the thought1 the love1 the wisdom that shall lighten and direct their lives4 ,you cannot dissociate yourselves from the labouring masses1 and in particular from the women and girls of ,england4 ,they are your sisters2 and a blight and a curse rests on you if you ignore them1 and grasp at all the pleasures and sweetness and cultivation of your life with no thought or toil for them4 ,their lives are the foundations on which ours rest4 ,it is horrible in one class to live without this consciousness of a mutual obligation1 and mutual responsibility4 ,all that we get1 we get on trust1 as trustee for them4 ,i remember that ,thring says somewhere1 that no beggar who creeps through the street living on alms and wasting them is baser than those who idly squander at school and afterwards the gifts received on trust4 ,i know that our class education isolates us and separates us from the uneducated and common people as we call them1 makes us perhaps regard them as uninteresting1 even repellent4 ,part of what we hope from the girls who come from great schools like this is1 that they shall have a larger sympathy1 a truer heart4 ,remember all your life long a saying of ,abraham ,lincoln's1 when he was ,president of the ,united ,states4 ,some one remarked in his hearing that he was quite a common-looking man4 ,friend1 he replied1 gently1 the ,lord loves common-looking people best2 that is why ,he has made so many of them4 ,you can all make a few friends out of the lower class2 you cannot do much2 but learn to know and love a few1 and then you will do wider good than you suspect4 ,but you are beginning to ask--,is all this religion8 ,you expected something else4 ,let me remind you of the man who came to ,jesus ,christ1 and asked ,him what he should do to obtain eternal life4 ,and this question1 ,i may explain1 means--,what shall ,i do that ,i may enter on that divine and higher life now while ,i live2 how can ,i most fully develop my spiritual nature8 ,and the answer was--,love ,god2 and love your neighbour as yourself4 ,go outside yourself in love to all that is divine and ideal in thought and duty2 go outside yourself in love to your neighbour--and your neighbour is every one with whom you have any relation2 and then1 and then alone1 does your own nature grow to its highest and best4 ,this is the open secret of true religion4 ,eastertide is the teacher of ideals4 ,its great lesson is--,if ye were raised together with ,christ1 seek the things that are above4 ,if by calling yourself a ,christian you mean that you aim at the higher1 the spiritual1 the divine life1 then think of things that are above4 ,greek3 ,ta an phroneite1 think heaven itself4 ,and heaven lies around us in our daily life--not in the cloister1 in incense-breathing aisle1 in devotions that isolate us1 and force a sentiment unreal1 morbid1 and even false1 but in the generous and breathing activities of our life4 ,religion glorifies1 because it idealizes1 that very life we are each called on to lead4 ,look1 therefore1 round in your various lives and homes1 and ask yourselves what is the ideal life for me here1 in this position1 as school-girl1 daughter1 sister1 friend1 mistress1 or in any other capacity4 ,education ought to enable you to frame an ideal2 it ought to give you imagination1 and sympathy1 and intelligence1 and resource2 and religion ought to give you the strong motive1 the endurance1 the width of view1 the nobleness of purpose1 to make your life a light and a blessing wherever you are4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #c3 ,an ,address given to ,st4 ,leonard's ,school1 ,st4 ,andrews1 on ,sunday1 ,april #ac1 #ahij4