Caroline Hazard

"Great Western Land whose mighty breast Between two oceans finds its rest, Begirt with storm on either side, And washed by strong Pacific tide; The knowledge of thy wondrous birth Gave balance to the rounded earth. In sea of darkness thou didst stand Now first in light, my Western Land."

"There have always been women, from the days of the Queen of Sheba, who sought out wisdom, who made great sacrifices, and endured arduous toil to come to a fountain-head of knowledge. This 19th century, these last fifty years, have brought to women, to large numbers of women, opportunities before accessible only to the gifted few. Now these streams flow freely, and women come in throngs. But does the draught quicken them to new life? Culture is more than the acquisition of knowledge. To bear fruit, learning must pass into life. It is the touch of man upon nature that makes art; and as the highest art is a going back to nature, having received it, having been nourished upon it, to return it stamped with man’s impress, so the finest fruit of learning must be personality. The soul is the supreme power always. To enlarge its kingdom, to bring warring elements under its control — this is the supreme task of education. Intellectual knowledge is so much dead matter until it is vitalized by a union with the soul’s wisdom. To foster this union, to provide material for the nourishment of the spirit, to train the mind to appreciate and to choose and govern — these are the great fundamental tasks which lie at the root of all education."