THE PRESS.
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instance is on record of a student being withdrawn from college that his skill in such directions may be increased, while frequently a knowledge of domestic economy is the only science a girl is encouraged to pursue. The common services of life are not trivial, and on them depend many things of greater moment, but it seems a little unjust that women should monopolize them. Some women are ignorant, and men are also sometimes found wanting in general intellegence. Take the world over and the girl who did not expect ever to go to Latin, and therefore did not care to study the language, is equalled by the man who wanted to know what woman could equal George Eliot as a novelist, or the bookseller who advised a would-be purchaser to go to the music store for Middlemarch.
Some years ago it was asked, "Shall woman learn the alphabet?" The question has been answered in the affirmative. Young women of the present day have reason to be thankful for opportunities of thorough education. All over the world they are making good these opportunities. Custom is a hard thing to overcome. Conservatism and conventionality are necessary to civilization, but there may be too much even of a good thing. Woman has a Godgiven right to the knowledge so long denied her. Trust her to make of it a noble use.
THE PRESS.
The character of a people is formed by its environments. There are many causes which tend to change and mold public sentiment. Diverse and conflicting forces spend their energies in the attainment of victory. This power varies as the world advances. Agents that wielded a mighty force in the past, now lie prostrate and others have risen in their stead. For two centuries the press has exerted a force more powerful in its effects than all other agents combined. In doubtful moments and on doubtful questions, it has been the safeguard of the people. It has done a work, which otherwise, it would have been impossible to accomplish. Its growth has been gradual and now has its greatest extension.
For a time after the invention of the press, it was used for the advancement of mankind, for promoting the best interests,
and securing the greatest prosperity for the people. It cannot be said, it failed in this. Nothing has ever been invented that euqalled it in the dissemination of knowledge. The outgrowth of this is the present condition. A new civilization burst forth, such as before had been unknown. Europe was changed from Italy to the Hebrides, America was then in her early growth, and was reared under this guardian of civilization. Her political institutions were formed, regulated, and protected by its guidance. The warp and woof of our national fabric has been woven by its power. It became the instrument for regulating customs, laws and religion. It was used for propounding and placing before the commonwealth the best methods of legislation. We pride ourselves on our educational agencies and the amount of literature that comes