Page:Women of distinction.djvu/11



In launching this little barque, bearing the outlines of a book, the builder (author) is not altogether thoughtless of the stormy sea over which it may be driven, nor of that far-away destiny (success) which it may never reach. And yet with hope as an anchor both "sure and steadfast" it has been launched, and out upon life's sea must go.

Who could expect otherwise than as it sails off from the shore that the severe scrutiny of the wise and learned, as well as the keen and rigid criticism of friend and foe, of the interested and the disinterested, the prejudiced and the non-prejudiced, will fall upon it with such activity as may be simply alarming.

But, after all, if by chance it is allowed to humbly pursue the journey of its mission, educating public sentiment, stimulating and encouraging the young women and young men of the race who are almost overcome and discouraged by the dashing billows of life's angry sea; if by reading the lives of these noble heroines; if by meditating upon their sacrifices and deeds; if by contrasting the opportunities of those former and darker