Women exercise a great deal of influence upon the affairs of the country, even without taking part in business, politics, or anything of that sort. For all I know, there may be some girls here who will affect political and many other movements in connection with the welfare of the nation. Girls ought to be made to think that they will have great power in the future, and to realise that they may be able to influence some one for good, not by their great learning so much as by the power that a good girl or a good woman exercises over men. I heard the other day of a young lady who was engaged to be married, but who broke off the engagement because the young man said he had never heard of Browning. I am glad to be able to tell you that she thought better of it afterwards.... It was said of the great Queen Cleopatra that when the Roman Emperor fell in love with her she was the means of altering the history of the world. Some say that if Cleopatra's nose had been shorter, the face of the world would have been different. The fate of some young men may depend upon the noses, as well as upon the learning, of some of the girls present.
Re-opening of Howell's School, Llandaff,
June 26th, 1900.
[A FRIEND FOR THE FRIENDLESS.]
There cannot possibly be an object in the wide world more worthy of sympathy than a girl without a friend. All over the world this Society has its habitations, and it has already befriended 4,000 girls. It renders assistance when they are penniless, provides friends when they are friendless, and religious consolation when they require it.
Girls' Friendly Society Bazaar, Newport,
April 24th, 1895.
[THE BRAVERY OF THE WORKERS.]
I think it is my duty to allude to the dreadful accident which took place in July at the dock extension works. The facts stated in the report should be printed and go, not only to the Shareholders, but to the country generally, as a record of the heroism and endurance that our workers, from the highest engineer to the lowliest navvy, were capable of under distressing and dreadful circumstances. We hear so much of the decadence of the English race nowadays, that I think the report of the disaster at the docks is well worthy of being printed.
Half-yearly Meeting Alexandra (Newport and South Wales)
Docks and Railway Coy., London,
August 5th, 1909.