1869 – Unanswered Questions
File f-74
When we see a thing of beauty; the view from a mountain top, a sunset with all its blazing glory, we feela sense of total freedom and that beauty is reflected in our soul. This moment is the seedbed for the kind of loving we have no English word for. The Greeks called it agape. Agape is being with and for another, but without attachment: without wanting and fearing. Agape is the roomiest kind of loving, because it lives in that spacious place where all is accepted, and all is sufficient. At the same time it is the most intimate kind of loving, for where there is nothing to hide there is no distance left between us. In deep prayer agape is present, as it is at the pinnacle of all relationships. Agape is the fullest expression of the Holy One in daily human life. When such love lives in us, for that moment we are Home.
When I read the stories of our founders I saw this picture in my head of seven sweet girls with graceful poise and impeccable manners, sitting on the verandah of a great white Victorian house, sipping tea, listening to a cello and reading poetry. And I felt a great sigh in my heart for a time long past when life seemed more civilized and cultured.
In wake of the wonderful Founders Day program put on last year by Karen Lindberg, I found it quite frustrating to try to put something original together. There is not much known about the seven women that founded PEO, so information is limited. I debated whether you would be bored with hearing the same stories over again or if the stories needed to be told every year to strengthen our roots. Also somewhere in the back of my mind was this years theme of ecology….and I wasn’t sure hot to fit with Founders Day.
As I read the small bits and pieces of the PEO story, I found questions forming in my mind. Questions about the information I didn’t find. For instance: what drove them to establish a Sisterhood? We know that Franc Roads and Hattie Briggs were “sitting on a stile and talking things over”. What were they talking about? We know that Hattie was the one who said “lets have a society of our own!”. Why did she feel it was necessary to band together in a formalized Sisterhood? After all they were together constantly and loved one another very much. But for some reason they seemed to need a contract. A contract to tie them together for strength in a common goal. I have the feeling they weren’t talking about a “girls club” in a male dominated college, but something far more serious. I think they must have been talking about the state of the times. I tried to picture what it would be like to live during those times, and decided that I really didn’t know what was happening in the year 1869…much less about the environment which shaped their lived. So I started there – not just life at a college in 1869 but the general social condition of the times.
Looking briefly at the historical/political side, Iowa had only been a state for about 20 years. But all was not well. It was only 4 years after the Civil War where over 600,000 men had been killed and President Lincoln assassinated. Prior to the war American spoke of their county as “the United States are” and now they said “the United States is”. A subtle shift from the plural to the singular. The country was attempting to heal itself but was divided. Meanwhile the united States was well on its way to becoming an industrial power and there were conflicts between industry and agriculture.
On the social front the Victorial Era was at its height. All was not well here either. It was a male-dominated society and the prevailing attitude was that a young lady’s primary function was to marry and produce children. Women’s abilities and rights were definitely constrained by society.
There were new advanced in science – particularly Darwinism and the theory of evolution. These new theories rattled the foundations of the Christian faith, and I’d bet in reaction to these new ideas there were some Hell, Fire and Brimstone sermons blazing in Mt. Pleasant!
This was also the era of Charles Dickens, Alfred Lord Tennyson, John Henry Newman, Matthew Arnold, and Thomas Carlyle. These notable poets and writers of the period wrote against the progress of industrial enterprise and the consequent rise of materialistic philosophy. Their literature reflected the social turmoil – examining problems of religious faith, social change, and political power.
Meanwhile Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton organized the National Woman’s Suffrage Association. Women were standing up for their rights, seeking higher education and making social changed. In 1870 a census showed only 1,378 women in the United States graduated from college. WesleyanCollege, where our founders attended classes, was the first college west of the Mississippi River to accept women.
The times were a far cry from my innocent view of the cello on the verandah. Yet these women were light, happy, fun loving, and focused – undaunted by the social conditions of their day.
But this small insight into the times in which they lived generated more questions. How had the war affected them? Had they lost friends or relatives or had to move because of it? How this piece of history may have affected them we may never know. What were their parents views about society? They must have been fairly progressive to send their daughters to college instead of insisting on early marriage. What did WesleyanCollege professors teach about the stirring ideas of the times and the social condition of humanity? Our girls were avid readers and I’ll bet there were lively discussion. What were their fervent dialogues with God about – the prayers that burned in their souls?
These women must have been deeply stirred by the times. We only have to look at the pledge of membership and the Object and Aims of PEO to see what they felt in their hearts. I believe they felt the grave signals of the social decline of humanity, and were suffering from pollution. Not the pollution of coal and wood smoke or unsanitary conditions, but the moral and spiritual pollution of their day. They could see human morality and civility and even God Himself slipping from society. They could not stand by and watch this social decline, these were women committed to religious faith and action. But they also knew that change starts within ones self, and first they needed to preserve the ecology of their souls. Only then could they go out into the world and work for humanity. I believed they researched what they loved about each other – their finest qualities so to speak. They talked about what a perfect society would be – if only amongst themselves. Then they wrote these things down and vowed never to loose them to the social pollution around them.
Its been over a hundred years since PEO was founded – and yet we face the same sort of social and spiritual problems today that our founders did. All we have to do is watch television or pick up a magazine or newspaper and we are covered with social pollution.
I wonder what our founders would think of the times today. Is this the materialistic world they envisioned and fought: a country with an insatiable appetite for money; grasp for all you can; fill ones self with everything possible; use everything and everybody to meet your needs; a country where we think so highly of ourselves that no one else matters.
Did they know we would never heal from the Civil War? “The United States is” has remained. We are more divided than ever – even the people and government are divided as if they were two separate entities. We still assassinate political figures. What would they think about our war capabilities today that can destroy the earth with a single push of a button? Or other weapons that can kill thousands without every seeing a human body, or chemical and biological warfare?
They probably knew industry and agriculture would still be fighting it out. But I’ll bet they wouldn’t have guessed the greatest threat to all of these would be subdivisions. Or that in this short time we would have exploited most of our countries natural resources. Or that there would be another kind of war – the Green War – and the battle to save our forests, wetlands, and our oceans.
The Victorian Era is long gone. When have we last met a true gentleman or been treated like a lady or had a philosophical discussion with some one? If we were on the Titanic today I think the cry would be “every man for himself” not “women and children first”. Our country is nearly void of culture and obsessed with sex. What would they think about issues of abortion, cloning, the wide spread use of drugs, the increase in violence and the decline in religious beliefs?
Would they know that women would still be fighting for their rights – with glass ceilings, good ole boy systems, and bosses making passes at them. Their image still as sex objects. I bet they never would have guessed that motherhood would be out and making money and being successful would take its place. Or that our educational systems would be struggling cutting such departments as music, art, and literature, in favor of the athletic department. That our colleges would still have a higher proportion of male students.
Our founders left us with a very precious gift. I think they never suspected we would need their wisdom so much – but them- that is the way God works. They blazed the trail for us, left us signposts to a place of rest. A place to preserve the ecology of our souls. I think they wanted us to be centered in God. They wanted us to be well educated so we could think clearly about issues and help others. Most of all they wanted us to be bound together in love and peace, full of warmth, wisdom and compassion. I will never look at these ladies again in the same way. Not that I would do away with the Victorian verandah, their grace and poise, or even the cello. But I would add something..a feeling of vision and strength. I would see in their faces, so transparent and luminous, warm and full, the great dance of their souls.
(Seven ladies will come forth, each reading one of the founders names and lighting a candle in their memory.)
Fran Roads – visionary with the mind of a statesman; she worked intimately with Susan B. Anthony and other great workers for women’s rights. She taught art in the public school and later she became art supervisor in Lincoln, NE, Salt Lake City, UT, and Illinois. She was the first woman to be the assistant commissioner of art at the New Orleans Exposition.
Hattie Briggs – planted the seed of PEO. A trained musician, she was a happy, smiling person with a tranquil manner. A wife and mother, she died only seven years later.
Alice Bird – prepared our first constitution and pledge of membership. She was a writer, a great reader, and a excellent public speaker. A cheerful, bright exciting person filled with vitality and action, she immersed herself in the community.
Suela Pearson – pretty and sunny, she was blessed with an angelic voice and dramatic talents, later she became a leader in philanthropic circles in Cleveland.
Alice Virginia – suggested the star as our emblem. Fun love, she loved beauty, music, and dancing. Episcopalian in faith, she devoted her life to teaching and provided money to deserving students, an example to us as the forerunner of our scholarship funds.
Mary Allen – the first to wear the star in public. It was she that said “PEO is love in action.” She followed God with great devotion and later married a Methodist minister. She died in 1927, a faithful PEO sister.
Ella Stewart – the daughter of a Methodist minister, her unselfish service to others, guided by love, helps us remember compassion. She taught instrumental music and later became a teacher at a boys reformatory.
I would like to thank them on this Founders Day, as well as Diana Van Pelt and Dorothy Peters, for submitting my name for PEO. I would like to thank all of you too, and for all of the other women who have helped keep alive the tradition of PEO. Thank you.