_To the Class of '88._
I assure you that it is with a great deal of personal pride,
satisfaction and comfort, that I come before you to-night. These are
my girls,--that is, I am the father of this class. Several months ago
when this class was organized, a gentleman, not myself, was invited to
come here and offer prayer, and give the young ladies a few common
sense ideas, such as would benefit them in after life. My friend
failing to come, I was called upon to fill his place, which I did to
the best of my ability, and when I look over this programme and find
that there are more than forty in this class who are to graduate
to-night, I take it upon myself to say that they received some very
sound advice, for they are about to graduate; that is, I have made
forty-four converts, at least, in seven months.
I am very glad to have opened this class, although I have had nothing
to do with the instruction of it, for in that event the graduating
class would not be so large, but I do feel very great pride in being
here.
Were I so disposed, and you very anxious to be tired with a long
address, I could say a great many things touching the real purpose and
idea of these young ladies and their instructors. There was a time in
the history of the world when it was a very grave and serious question
as to just what the position of woman was in society; what God meant
by her creation, what was her place. There are some men who think the
highest ambition of woman is the wash-tub; that when she finds her
vocation there she has fulfilled her mission, and when God has
prepared a place for her in the Kingdom of Heaven, He takes her home,
and gives her a diploma. There are others who have an idea that the
place for woman is a little higher up; that she is to bask in the
sunshine of life--that she is a kind of butterfly. That is an
erroneous idea. I think personally, and I am sure there are not men
enough here to out-number the ladies, that the position of woman in
this life, socially, politically, religiously, or in a mercantile
sense, is right alongside of the best man the world can produce.
I remember, while pastor of a church in an Eastern city, the smartest
man and preacher of that city was a woman. She was a man in every
sense of the word, she had the power of a man and the charms of a
beautiful woman; I was a little jealous of her, because her church was
a little too close to mine and she drew a great many more. She was a
beautiful, godly woman, and took out of me some of the false ideas and
thoughts that I had, relative to the work of woman in the world. So I
have lost all sense of jealousy, and I am perfectly willing to be
deposed by the women, and there is no true man but will give the women
just as good as he wants in his life.
I was thinking, when I took up this programme, there is a certain
society of a secret order that has a motto like this: "By these signs
we conquer." That is a very wide and universal order, but, if I
mistake not, there are forty-four members of a society not as
universally known, its extent is not as large as that order and
society, who are to go out into the world and, "by these signs,
conquer." The latter is just as potent as the former. I told you,
young ladies, some months ago, about a system of shorthand and the
first experience I had in that line. Some of you will remember it.
You will remember I told you about a system of shorthand that I had to
read before it got cold or I could not read it at all.
I want to congratulate you for this delightful evening; I want to
congratulate you in view of the pleasant exercises you are to behold.
I want to congratulate these instructors for the very good and
efficient work they have done during these months. I congratulate you
upon the marvelous work that has been done. You may not all be called
upon to report my sermons; some can report 120 words, some more, some
less. You are going out into the world, some of you immediately, to
begin your life work. Do not feel, because you are a woman, that some
aristocratic specimen of creation--man--looks down upon you. Just hold
your neck as straight and your head as high as he, and I do not know
but you would be par excellence above the man himself; you have an
opportunity.
There is one thing I regret, however, in regard to your special
calling, and it is this: I read advertisements in the papers where
employers advertise for young lady typewriters and stenographers and
it has pained me to see the low rate of wages, oftentimes. Let me put
a bee in your ear. You are in possession of one of the greatest
sciences I know; there is nothing above it in the realm of learning.
Do not for one minute submit yourself, any one of you, to a service
below your worth, for God has implanted in His Word this truth, "Every
laborer is worthy of his hire."
I thank the gentleman who has invited me here. When I become older
than I am now and fail in preaching, I assure you I shall come to this
home of hospitality and kindness, and shall try to take up the art
myself, thereby becoming as efficient as some of you are.
God be with you and in His own time take you home to His abode where
you will not be troubled with taking down the ideas of men.