isa-normaladvance-1914-00114

Description:	114THE NORMAL ADVANCEa Cfjapel GTalkBY MARY E. MORANTHERE is an old Italian proverb which says, All things come round to him who will but wait. No doubt, but that it is good to be a patient waiter. I have waited five years for some philosopher, historian, so¬ ciologist or biologist to speak for me from thisplatform upon a subject of momentous impor¬ tance, and universal interest to every human being, but since it has not been done I feel that I have waited long enough, and taking a lesson from the story of The Lark and Her Young Ones, I shall now do it for myself.* * * * * SJ * &The beauty and consolation in the realm of art is, that the true artist is always a prophet, a seer. With his long vision he pierces the haze of the future and lets its radiance illumine the darkness of the present. The literature of to¬ day becomes the history of tomorrow. Truth, which is not always palatable, finds ingress into our hearts and minds through the beautiful images of literature, or the products of the other arts. The parable and the allegory are the two literary types that lend themselves most readilyto the teaching of abstract, or unpleasant truths. In the hands of a master the allegory is a most satisfying medium of expression, but too often it is marred by its obscurity or offends the aesthetic sense by its crudeness. Even the great¬ est allegories in English, The Pilgrims Prog¬ ress, The Faerie Queen, and Everyman, are not absolutely perfect still, they stand, and will likely always stand, as the models of the allegorical type of literature. Each has its undercurrent of meaning which, though ever present, does not hinder the full and free move¬ ment of the story. This story has an intrinsic interest for the reader independent of its deeper meaning.I wish to read to you today an allegory from a minor writer, Olive Schreiner, not so much for the sake of its literary form as for the deeper significance, which is the subject upon which I have a few words to say in the days following.The allegory is called Three Dreams in a Desert, and it embodies the life history of woman from the earliest time until the present moment, with a prophecy of her future. My subject is the great feministic movement of the present time, which is symbolized in the second of the three dreams.if: * s£ * % :!: Hs *The human mind has no more formidable task imposed upon it than the laying aside of the mantel of ancient-received opinions. Let us at¬ tempt to do this, so that some of us may consider and -weigh certain facts without bitterness, re¬ sentment, or censure, and others of us, without intolerance, derision or amusement. The status of woman as portrayed in these allegories is a true one for ages and ages she was considered a soulless thing—the burden bearer of the
Source:	http://indstate.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/isuarchive/id/32566
Collection:	Indiana State University Archives

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