A helping hand to some good friend,
Or bring a bit of sunshine to some suffering heart
That walks apart.”
There is no “new woman.” We are all identically the same as Eve and Sarah and Ruth and—I say it with all reverence—Mary, the carpenter’s mother. We have the same natures, the same intuitions, the same love of family and home, the same desire to be of use to others that women have always had; only in these wonderful modern times we have kept pace with the age, and are developing, both as individuals and as a whole. And now that we have stepped forth and won places as physicians and lawyers and ministers, now that we are widening the ranks of every profession as we go forth on the road to higher achievement, it behooves every woman-soul of us to ask ourselves—What have I to do about it? Am I doing my duty to the rest of mankind? Am I bearing my share of the burden of the world? Or, if this last is denied me, am I possessing my soul in patience and living up to the splendid present? Am I sweet and gentle and strong and helpful? Am I critical of no one but myself? Am I loving towards my family? my neighbor? my friend? my enemy? Am I helping the cause of the woman of to-morrow by working out my own life problem with the child-heart and the Christ-love to sweeten existence for all around me?
“Life is too short to waste
In critic peep or cynic bark,
Quarrel or reprimand;
’Twill soon be dark.
Let us up and mind our aim,