Ipswich High School - Tiger Yearbook (Ipswich, MA)

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DUX FEiMINA FACTI— A WOMAN WAS THE LEADER OF THE DEED Centuries ago Virgil in his great “Aeneid” told how Dido, though a wom- an, was a leader of great deeds. Warned by the ghost of her murdered husband Sychaeus, the queen fled by night from her wicked, jealous brother Pygmalion, With a small band of followers she sailed from Tyre to northern Africa, where she bought land find founded Carthage. There she continued to be a leader of her people, ruling wisely and well. Since the time when Virgil coined the phrase, “dux femina facti,” it has been applicable to other women. Joan of Arc was a great leader, who at the head of an army turned defeat into victory and mourning into rejoicing. Her life story is familiar to everyone. We all know how the heavenly voices sent her to King Charles, who finally consented to let her lead the army; how she was victorious at Orleans; and how she saved the P’rench from slaughter, only to be captured and killed, a martyr for her country. She was truly a woman leader. h’lorence Nightingale may also be called a leader. She, as well as Joan of Arc, was on the battlefield, though not as a warrior. Even as a child sne had been a nurse, caring for friendless kit- tens and wounded dogs. Now her ten- derness w ' as lavished on the sick and suffering soldiers. The men waited eagerly for her to come, like an angel of mercy, to care for them. Her great ab’lity as a nurse brought her world- wide reputation, until others, following her example, formed camp hospitals such as hers had been, Alice Freeman Palmer was a leader of still another type. As a teacher at Wellesley, and afterwards as president of the college, she was able to influence the characters of many, many girls, who went out to be women leaders in their turn, fler pupils loved and admired the quiet but forceful woman who taught them, the woman under whose leader- ship the college organization was com- pleted and perfected. And her pupils truly mourned her sudden death in Paris. Let me give just one more example. Fiancis Willard was as surely a leader in her field of work as Dido, Joan of Arc, Florence Nightingale, and Alice Free- man Palmer were in theirs. She chose to lead thousands of women in the great Temperance Union, to devote he) ' life to briiiging about a great reform. With her fine motherly soul she played the part of a mother to all humanity. But these are women of tne past. What opportunities are there for the woman of the present? The world lies before her. She may try teaching, so- cial work, business, politics, science, or medicine. In fact, she may now do near- ly everything a man may do, while some professions are peculiarly her own. Teaching and social work both offer a chance for women. A school teacher has, to my mind, a wonderful opportunity to lead others. It is a strange pupil wno is not influenced in some way by his or her teacher. While a woman can do much in a public school, she can do even more in a social settlement, for there she must teach her pupils how to live. She miust have great tact and sympathy and put her whole heart into everything she does if she would became a successful social worker. However, success will bring a great reward, for she will have led many different types of people to a better life. Science and medicine are also two re- lated subjects. A woman versed in science can find many things to do in a scientific laboratory. She may be given the work of analyzing the foods which the busy housewife buys. She may work out the formula for some new article which is to be put on the market. If she does not wish to lead others to good health by seeing that the food they buy is pure, she may wish to aid their health even more as a doctor. It is not too hard to study medicine, since other women have blazed the ti ' ail. A woman, though, is more likely to be a nurse than a doc- tor, for as a nurse she can use all her tenderness in alleviating suffering. Business, perhaps, offers the widest range of possibilities. It is said that insurance work is an excellent field for women. A woman who shows others how to buy insurance which will help them in time of need is surely leading. Another attractive phase of business life is depai ' tment stoi ' e work, A wom- an starting as a clerk can, if she does her work well, soon rise to the head of a department. In such a position she has a chance to lead others and help them to rise. A girl who acts as a pri- vate secretary or in some other posi- tion of trust has just as great an op- portunity to lead as the woman at the head of a department. Any woman, whether high or low in the business world, can lead many or few. In politics, a woman has ever increas- 23

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purpose of preserving: the union and freeinji: a part of sufferinj? humanity. Karlier and far worthier hands have j -ained them all, but if our country should need us in time of war, let us rise -up in her defense from the North, from the South, and from the West, with all the fortitude of those men of ’76 with all the persistency of those men of ’ 61 , with all the g’allantry of those men of 1916 - 18 . However, let us endeavor to make this an aj ’e of international peace whereby we can promote the works of peace and the arts of peace, by making” America a leadei- in procuring it, as she is a leader not only in those material things of wealth, of trade, or of natural resources but also in the ideals of freedom, justice, truth, and right. Then in that age of peace let us re- spect and use freely but with due con- sideration the privileges which we have inherited from our forefathers. We seem oftentimes hardly able to realize what these hundreds of privileges, which citi- zens of other countries do not have, really mean to us, or what they have cost our country’s great patriots ever since its existence, for we see among us everyday people who say “I don’t care whom it hurts or what it affects. I’ve got a 1 ‘ight to do this” or “I’ve got a right to do that; so I’m going to do it.” This certainly is not the spirit of patriotism. It is our duty as real Amer- ican citizens, as true patriots working for the common good not to place- so much emphasis on our rights and our kberties as on our duties to our country. Because a few people in our country feel that a law interferes with what they believe to be their personal freedom, we find a growing tendency towards regard- ing those laws of which they do not ap- prove as superfluous. It is our duty to obey the laws of our country in time of peace as 7uuch as it is a soldier’s duty to stick to his post in time of war. This is a question which constitutes a real test of citizenship and patriotism. Let us not look upon laws as things which make our lives narrower and more restricted, which can be bioken to fit any special case; but let us regard the laws of our country as principles which have been moulded by our ancestors, both remote and recent, into a massive granite-like structure, upheld and strengthened by the American people, adhering to the American soil. In performing these duties, let us en- deavor to cultivate a spirit of peace and harmony within the nation by living with and for the benefit of each other. Let us look upon that trust of governing ourselves in its real significance. “Let us reverence our country’s honor as if it were our own, and our own as if it were our country’s.” Let us uphold and upbuild the institutions of our country, develop its resources, promote all its great interests, and see if we cannot, in our day and generation of peace, per- form some acts which we shail be proud to have generations yet unborn look upon. Then having gained the world’s su- premacy, having procured world peace, having upheld their country in every way possible, Americans will be con- fronted with this question: Is the United States to follow in the wake of all those other countries who have been world powers, such as Italy, Spain, France, or even England, to flourish for a time only to die a gradual unhappy death, leaving to fill its place Russia, or the African lace, or one of the Oriental races? Or is the United States to live on as a gloiious, undying example of magnifi- cence, of grandeur, of power, always be- fore the eyes of the world as “the land of the free and the home of the brave?” It is the American people of tomorrow who must answer through the lips of the boy and girl of today. The whole life, the whole future of America depends upon its young manhood and womannood Ihey can be taught to do whateve Americans wish to teach them. Teach the American boy of today that fifty years from now he must fight France; and fifty years from now he will fight Fiance. That is what Germany did. On the other hand, teach the American boy of today that fifty years from now his countiy must lead the world in peace, justice, and righteousness and fifty years from now that teaching will bear fruit in the realization of these ideals for America. As for the future of America, no bet- ter advice can be given to Americans than that expressed by the words of the immortal Daniel Webster when he says: “Let our conceptions be enlarged to the circle of our duties. Let our ideas be extended over the whole vast field in which we are called to act. Let our ob- ject be our country, our whole country a d nothing but our country, and by the blessing of God may that country be- come a vast and splendid monument, not of oppression and terror, but of wisdom, of peace, of liberty, upon which the world may gaze with admiration for- HARRY MERSON.

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ing- opportunities. Only recently a wom- an has been sent as an ambassador to Switzerland, and others have been elected j?overnors of their states. Think of the leadership such women have! Other women have a part in their town gov- ernment or even in their state govern- ment. Some day we may have a woman president. Some time ago I saw a poem contain- ing the words, “Beautiful child, beautiful girl, triumphant woman!” What is a woman leader but triumphant! And if through her even one person is brought into a better life, she is a woman who leads. MARY BEAI..S. BOOKS AS EDUCATORS There is hardly any phase of modern life so widely spread as the habit of read- ing. Almost everyone reads something whether it is the newspapers, fiction, dime novels, good literature, or fairy stories. Reading is certainly a good habit, too, if cairied on in the right way. The point is that we should make the best selections from the great variety of material from which we have to choose. We can’t read everything in a life time; so we should read what is worth while. We should choose what books to read with carefulness and consideration. Some books may not be actually bad for us to read, but they are a waste of time if they do not set the mind to thinking, the imagination working, and the whole mental mechanism in motion. Of cours ' there are times when we are too tired to concentrate on Shakespeare or Burke, and a little light reading is restful, but on the whole we are lazy if we do not read those books which at first offer some resistance but which later become valuable parts of our experience. A book that is worth reading should be read slowly and conscientiously. We should not skip some passages of a poem because they are so imaginative that they are at first hard to understand, noi should we skip part of a book because it is involved, but we should take the time to picture the descriptions of th“ poet and reason out the statements of the author. Careless reading does more harm than no reading at all. As we read a book the question to ask ourselves is: “Does this book leave any kind of wholesome a d kind feeling in my mind after I read it?” If the answer is nega- tive, we must at once discontinue read- ing books of this kind. If the answer is affirmative, we should continue to read the books with great earnestness, for we are gaining some valuable knowl- edge from them. Books are educators. This is a well proved fact, for the well-i ' ead man is the successful man whether in business, politics, law, or science. Almost all of us realize that anything which is worth having must be earned and all may earn an education through the study of the great poets and writers. Fiction teaches us habits of life and true morals which should influence our lives. Through Dickens and Thackeray we learn the customs and manners of the English people in all walks of life. Kipling teaches us of India and the odd habits of the natives. Through George Eliot’s “Silas Marner” we are taught that sin brings retribution in proportion to the crime committed. Surely, to gain an education in such a way is the most enjoyable thing possible. History, in informing us of the past, reveals to us the present and the future. We cannot hope to discuss the politics of our time if we do not know the events of the past. If is very interesting to observe the characteristics of the differ- ent men in Roman, European, and American history, and to notice the qualities peculiar to each. Some of us have the impression that Washington was immortal because he was not able to prevaricate as easily as some of us. However, when we e ' ter into an actual study of his life we learn that he was as brave and manlv an American as we have ever had. Gibbons in his “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” has gi’’’- US the most complete account of Roman history that we have, and Car- Ivle through his “Heroes ard Hero Wor- ship” acquaints us with the lives of some of the world’s greatest leaders. Biography also can help us to guide our own lives through the actions of others. From the “Life of Abigail Adams” we learn that during the Revo- lutionary War John Adams did all he could to promote the cause of liberty a’ d his whole life was spent in help- i’ g his country. In reading “Remi- niscences of Julia Ward Howe” we learn t at when the soldiers of the Civil War were tired and discouraged, she eom- posed the “Battle Hymn of the Republ’c” which aroused new courage in them and mspired them on to victorv. After studying White’s “Woodrow Wilson” we know that he did all in his power to 24