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قراءة كتاب Almost a Woman
تنويه: تعرض هنا نبذة من اول ١٠ صفحات فقط من الكتاب الالكتروني، لقراءة الكتاب كاملا اضغط على الزر “اشتر الآن"
The holy peacefulness, which, night and day,
Unto her queenly soul doth minister.
Most gentle is she; her large charity
(An all unwitting, childlike gift to her)
Not freer is to give than meek to bear;
And, though herself not unacquaint with care,
Hath in her heart wide room for all that be—
Her heart that hath no secrets of its own,
But open as an eglantine full blown.
Cloudless forever is her brow serene,
Speaking calm hope and trust within her, whence
Welleth a noiseless spring of patience,
That keepeth all her life so fresh, so green
And full of holiness, that every look,
The greatness of her woman’s soul revealing,
Unto me bringeth blessing, and a feeling
As when I read in God’s own holy book.
A graciousness in giving that doth make
The small gift greatest, and a sense most meek
Of worthiness, that doth not fear to take
From others, but which always fears to speak
Its thanks in utterance, for the giver’s sake;
The deep religion of a thankful heart,
Which rests instinctively in heaven’s clear law
With a full peace, that never can depart
From its own steadfastness;—a holy awe
For holy things,—not those which men call holy,
But such as are revealed to the eyes
Of a true woman’s soul bent down and lowly
Before the face of daily mysteries:
A love that blossoms soon, but ripens slowly
To the full goldenness of fruitful prime,
Enduring with a firmness that defies
All shallow tricks of circumstance and time,
By a sure insight knowing where to cling,
And where it clingeth never withering:
These are Irene’s dowry, which no fate
Can shake from their serene, deep-builded state.
In-seeing sympathy is hers, which chasteneth
No less than loveth, scorning to be bound
With fear of blame, and yet which ever hasteneth
To pour the balm of kind looks on the wound,
If they be wounds which such sweet teaching makes,
Giving itself a pang for others’ sakes:
No want of faith, that chills with sidelong eye,
Hath she; no jealousy, no Levite pride
That passeth by upon the other side:
For in her soul there never dwelt a lie.
Right from the hand of God her spirit came
Unstained, and she hath ne’er forgotten whence
It came, nor wandered far from thence,
But labored to keep her still the same,
Near to her place of birth, that she may not
Soil her white raiment with an earthly spot.
Yet sets she not her soul so steadily
Above, that she forgets her ties to earth,
But her whole thought would almost seem to be
How to make glad one lowly human hearth;
And to make earth next heaven; and her heart
Herein doth show its most exceeding worth,
That, bearing in our frailty her just part,
She hath not shrunk from evils of this life,
But hath gone calmly forth into the strife,
And all its sin and sorrows hath withstood
With lofty strength of patient womanhood:
For this I love her great soul more than all,
That, being bound, like us, with earthy thrall,
For with a gentle courage she doth strive
In thought and word and feeling so to live.
She walks so bright and heaven-like therein,—
Too wise, too meek, too womanly, to sin.
Like a lone star through riven storm-clouds seen
By sailors, tempest-tost upon the sea,
Telling of rest and peaceful havens nigh,
Unto my soul her star-like soul hath been,
Her sight as full of hope and calm to me;
For she unto herself hath builded high
A home serene, wherein to lay her head,
Earth’s noblest thing, a Woman perfected.
“That is a beautiful picture of what a girl may be, and I’d be glad to see you making it your model.”
“Yes,” said Helen, slowly. Then, with more enthusiasm, “You know, father, I’ve always wished I were a boy. It seems so much grander to be a man than a woman. A man’s life is so much freer, and he can do so much greater things, you know. Of course, I shall try to be a good woman, 23 but I wish women could do big things, the way men can.”
“What wondrous things can men do that women can’t do?” asked Mr. Wayne with a smile.
“Oh,” replied Helen, clasping her hands with enthusiasm, “just see what men do. They build immense houses, and great bridges—Oh, they make the world, and women just sit in the house and look on. I’d like to do something.”
Mr. Wayne smoothed back the hair from the forehead of his enthusiastic daughter with a tender smile, as he replied, “It does seem on the surface as if men did greater things than women, but it is only seeming, my dear. It is just as grand a thing to be a woman as to be a man. True, woman’s work does not show on the surface so plainly, but she works with more enduring material than does man in creating the world of things. We can see the great works of man’s hands and they impress us with a sense of his power; but it is mind that does the real work, and women have minds, or are minds, you know.”
“Yes, I know, but they must devote their minds to cooking and dishwashing.”
“I have seen women doing other things. In the old world I saw women digging ditches, carrying brick and mortar to the top of high buildings, ploughing in the fields; in fact, working just like men. The great buildings of the World’s Exposition erected in Vienna in 1873, were largely the work of women’s hands. You are not anxious 24 to exchange dishwashing for such work, are you?”
“O, no, indeed; but it is man who plans such work and superintends its doing. A woman could not have planned Brooklyn bridge, for example.”
“It is quite true that a woman did not plan it, but did you know that it was completed under a woman’s supervision?”
“No, was it? How did that happen? Tell me all about it.”
“It happened this way. Mr. Roebling, who was superintending its construction, was taken ill, and his wife took his place and personally gave oversight to every part of the work until it was done. You see, her being a woman did not prevent her doing the work. But if she had been only a careless or an ignorant woman she could not have done it. It was mind, you see, and cultured mind at that, which was the master power. If she had not been working with him in making the plans, she could not have worked for him in carrying them out. Instead of lamenting over your sex, you would better rejoice in the fact that you are a spirit, and realize that your power in all spheres of activity will be measured by the cultivation of your mental and spiritual powers.”
“But, father, even if I do cultivate my mind, I shall probably never have an opportunity to do such a grand thing as help to build a Brooklyn bridge.”
“Probably not, but you can do a greater thing. 25 You can fit yourself to work on finer material than insensate stones. You can mould plastic minds. It is a far greater thing to wield spiritual forces than to manipulate inorganic matter.”
“But, all men do not merely make things. There are great statesmen, great soldiers, great writers.”
“True, but you would not want to be a soldier, I am sure. To kill is not a