CONFLICT OF THE AGES: by S. F.
THE bugle calls! while far and near
The gathering hosts are marching by;
Their clanging arms, their tread I hear,
The sounds which tell the strife is nigh.
To arms! to arms! each loyal heart
Responsive trembles at the call!
Each valorous soul will do his part
To win the victory for all.
'Tis not for selfish worldly gain,
For cross or crescent, king or crown,
They marshal on the battle plain
To strike the bold usurper down.
It is no mortal foe they seek—
No Brother's blood they wish to spill,
Nor strong that triumph o'er the weak—
Their good to gain through other's ill.
Ah no! the world has never yet
Been called to arm for such a fray,
Nor e'er such countless hosts have met
As those that bear the sword today.
'Tis hidden Forces they oppose—
A subtle Power that rules the earth—
While Nature shudders in her throes
To bring the Savior, Truth, to birth.
And 'tis not only men's weak hands
Which bear aloft the spear and lance—
Lo! o'er the plains the Master's bands
With swift and noiseless feet advance.
The Helpers of mankind are They—
Great Elder Brothers of the Race!
At dawning of the grand New Day
Each Warrior stands within his place.
The Order of the Ages New
Has come at last in dawning Light—
Its soldiers neither weak nor few—
And they are armed with God's own might.
In vain the hosts of Darkness rise
And shriek aloud their battle cry!
The dawn of Truth lights all the skies
And crime and wrong and fraud shall die.
WOMEN WHO HAVE INFLUENCED THE WORLD:
by the Rev. S. J. Neill
AS gravitation existed before Newton made his discovery, so, also, has the influence of woman exerted a powerful sway among many nations long before the modern movement towards woman's emancipation.
That the modern movement is a powerful one cannot be denied by anyone who knows what is going on in the world. The wise study the action of the winds and waves and use them for beneficent purposes. We smile at the picture of the English ruler ordering back the tide; and at the Persian ruler who commanded the waters of the Bosphorus to be castigated. The woman's emancipation of the present day calls for careful study and wise direction on the part of all lovers of human welfare. Everything which gives a clearer understanding of woman in her own nature, and in her relation to man must be of service. What women have done in the past may throw some light on what woman may achieve in the future. As "lives of great men all remind us, we can make our lives sublime," even so the lives of great and noble women are a beacon light and a prophecy.
Though a truism, it must never be forgotten that woman's nature and her function in the world differ from man's. Many mistakes have been made, and are still made, through forgetting that woman and man are two aspects of the One Life in manifestation; therefore they are not opposed to each other, but are complementary of each other—"like perfect music unto noble words." Milton has tried to express this in the well-known lines:
For contemplation he and valor formed;
For softness she, and sweet attractive grace.
Harmony in nature consists in each part of the whole working according to its proper use or function. While this general law may seem to preclude the possibility of women being in their proper sphere and yet acting as great generals, great statesmen, or great rulers, we find that women have again and again become illustrious in these respects. In doing so it is possible that the woman parts with some of that "softness and sweet attractive grace," of which Milton speaks. It is possible that she may "lose the childlike in the larger mind," which Tennyson says the perfect woman should not lose; yet she remains a woman essentially while doing work supposed to be appropriate to man. Joan of Arc retained her girlish heart to the last, and after she had led the armies of France to victory, wished for nothing better than to return to her native village and live in peace. Even Queen Elizabeth of England, generally regarded as one of the most masculine of her sex, retained to the end some of those qualities which distinctly belong to woman. Queen Isabella of Spain, though weighted down with domestic sorrows and engrossed with cares of state, was moved with deep compassion for the condition of the Indians, and in her last moments exacted from her husband a promise for their protection. A biographer says that she was possessed of all the "personal grace, gentleness, and feminine accomplishments of Mary Stuart, without her weakness." Great queen as she was, the name bestowed on her by her people, and ratified by history, was: "Isabella of peace and good will."
From the dawn of history we find great women in many countries of the world. Passing by Biblical women, as too well known to need mention, we find in Egypt, according to Meyer in his Oldest Books of the World, that "the position of woman both in religion and government was very elevated." He says:
Woman appears to have met with more consideration among the old Egyptians than with any other people of Oriental antiquity. It is to the glory of ancient Egyptian wisdom, that it has been the first to express the dignity and high position of the wife and woman.
Near the Great Pyramid a tomb has been opened which gives us a few facts concerning the first Queen of Egypt of whom we have any knowledge. Her name was Mer-ti-tef-s, which means "the beloved of her father." She was also described as "the wife of the king whom she loved." Another great ruler of Egypt, about 1516 b. c., was Hatshepsut. Dr. Wallis Budge of the British Museum tells us that this queen dressed herself as a man. Some of the other great queens of Egypt are: Nitocris; Aah-hotep; Mutemva, mother of Amen-hotep III; Ti, wife of Amen-hotep, whose tomb was found not long ago, and whose remains were found wrapped in sheets of gold, with the exquisitely worked crown of gold at her head. These two with Nefert-i-tain, are said to have "worked harmoniously together for the establishment of ancient truth in Egypt." Besides these we have Batria, wife of Rameses III; the well-known Cleopatra; and last but not least, Dido of Carthage, whom, had Aeneas married, the whole course of history would have been different.
Crossing over to Greece, we may mention Sappho, the sweet singer, who has suffered much misrepresentation, and of whom Professor Palgrave says:
There is no need for me to panegyrise the poetess whom the whole world has been long since contented to hold without a parallel.
There is also Aspasia, the wife of Pericles. From Greek statuary we see how noble woman must have been in Greece.
In Italy we have Cornelia, who has been called "the ideal mother," and Volumnia, mother of Coriolanus; and Portia, wife of Brutus; nor must we forget Beatrice, the heroine of The Divina Commedia.
In Japan, in China, and in India, we find many names of great women whose influence has endured through the ages. The Taj Mahal is sufficient to remind us of what a woman has been in the Moslem world. J. S. Mill says that
if a Hindû principality is strong, vigilantly and energetically governed; if order is preserved without oppression, in three cases out of four that principality is under the regency of a woman.
Coming to Western lands we find the valiant British queen Boadicea. In ancient Germany there was Queen Radigünde, who founded a school for women. In Sweden Birgitta was famous as a patron of learning; her schools numbered eighty, and there still exist six schools of her order on the Continent and one in England, the only one that can boast of an unbroken existence from pre-Reformation times. Ireland too had a Saint Brigit, some of whose wonderful works were evidently transferred to her from the Celtic goddess Ceridwen.
Who has not seen the beautiful picture of Queen Louise of Prussia, of whom such a great historian as Mommsen speaks so enthusiastically? She is said to have been by no means a genius, nor in any way abnormal, but she was so beautiful, so winning, so optimistic, and combined such dignity and charm, such cheerfulness, faith and fortitude, that she gained Silesia for her husband from Napoleon. Then we have such great women as Madam Guyon, the mystic; Caroline Herschel; Frances Power Cobbe; Florence Nightingale; Queen Olga of Greece; Queen Victoria; Madame Curie, and many others whom time does not permit to mention. There is no need here to speak of H. P. Blavatsky and Katherine Tingley, the heralds of a new age, except to say that the world in that new age will render them that justice which is so tardily given now.
While the greatness to which women have attained proves to us what woman is capable of doing, yet, in a sense, it may be a little depressing, for all cannot be queens or rulers. But true greatness consists in doing well what has to be done. Besides, who can say what is great and what is small in the Divine Economy? "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world," is an old saying. And for the great majority of women the making of the home to be a real home is the highest service that can be done to help the world; for the home is the foundation of the nation. And as Ruskin says:
Wherever a true wife comes, this home is always round her. The stars only may be over her head, the glow-worm in the night-cold grass may be the only fire at her foot, but home is yet wherever she is; and for a noble woman it stretches far around her, better than ceiled with cedar or painted with vermilion, shedding its quiet light far, for those who else were homeless.