the
Empire he represents, is greater than the combined population of all the
nations to which he is accredited. Most Bostonians have, or think they
have, a "mission"; but certainly no other Bostonian ever had such a
"mission" as he; for it extends all round the planet, makes him the most
universal Ambassador and Minister Plenipotentiary the world ever saw;
is, in fact, a "mission" from everybody to everybody, and one by which
it is proposed that everybody shall be benefited. To doubt its success
would be to doubt the moral soundness of Christian civilization. It
implies that Christian doctrines will find no opponents provided that
Christian nations set a decent example of Christianity. Its virtues
herald the peaceful triumph of reason over prejudice, of justice over
force, of humanity over the hatreds of class and race, of the good of
all over the selfish blindness of each, of the "fraternity" of the great
Commonwealth of Nations over the insolent "liberty" of any of them to
despise, oppress, and rob the rest.

* * * * *

THE SPHERE OF WOMAN

[Speech of Edwin P. Whipple at the "Ladies' Night" banquet of the
Papyrus Club, Boston, February 15, 1879, in response to a toast in
his honor as "one whose gentle mind, delicate fancy, keen wit, and
profound judgment have made for him a high and secure place among
American authors."]

MR. CHAIRMAN:--I suppose that one of the most characteristic
follies of young men, unmarried, or in the opinion of prudent mammas,
unmarriageable, is, when they arrive at the age of indiscretion, to
dogmatize on what they call the appropriate sphere of woman. You
remember the thundering retort which came, like a box on the ears, to
one of these philosophers, when he was wisely discoursing vaguely on his
favorite theme. "And pray, my young sir," asked a stern matron of forty,
"will you please to tell us what is the appropriate sphere of woman?"
Thus confronted, he only babbled in reply, "A celestial sphere, madam!"
But the force of this compliment is now abated; for the persons who
above all others are dignified with the title of "Celestials" are the
Chinese; and these the Congress of the United States seems determined to
banish from our soil as unworthy--not only of the right of citizenship
and the right of suffrage, but the right of residing in our democratic
republic. Accordingly, we must find some more appropriate sphere for
women