Ten Women — On the Greatness of Woman

The great German writer “Emil Ludwig” chose ten extraordinary women to represent woman in her greatness in the various walks of life.

And the history of woman, in West and East, is rich in human activity — in religion, in war, in politics, in the sciences and the arts.

... “Aspasia,” first of the great women, was the heroine of Athens, thanks to her beauty and charm, her purity of heart, her boldness and her intelligence... Her house was a gathering place of Greek genius: there met “Socrates,” who said of himself that he was one of her pupils; the father of medicine, “Hippocrates,” who found in her culture an aid to his researches; and the great sculptor “Phidias,” who drew inspiration from the beauty of her soul and body.

Saint “Catherine” was great in her austerity and asceticism. She was beautiful and splendid, and she feared her beauty would lead her to ruin and error; so she cut off her hair, refused to eat meat, and made her bed in the shape of a coffin, that she might remember God always.

She played a part in the history of the Church... For the Church had split against itself and its condition had worsened, and the Pope had abandoned “Rome” and settled at “Avignon” in France. She resolved to bring the Pope back to his seat in Rome, and succeeded at last in settling the disputes. And though she was unlettered, her book “The Divine Law” is equaled in Italian literature only by Dante's “Divine Comedy.”

She died at thirty.

“Joan of Arc”.... the miracle of the spiritual powers... the divine maiden who gave her whole life to religion and homeland... At seventeen she was able to save France from the English, to crown the king, and to teach soldiers how to die beneath her banner...

And her death was a great act of heroism.

“Elizabeth,” Queen of England, represents the greatness of woman in politics... She was broad of mind, wise, bold, dignified in bearing, shrewd. In her reign the Spanish fleet, the “Armada,” attacked the shores of England and was utterly wrecked, and England became mistress of the seas; and in her days the great Shakespeare appeared. Her age is counted among the most brilliant of England's ages.

Fifth of the great women is “Maria Theresa,” Queen of Austria: she stood firm against Frederick the Great, and when she saw she could not resist him she made peace with him; and when her arm had grown strong she turned upon him and nearly brought down his kingdom... She was a virtuous woman and an excellent mother — she bore sixteen children — and she used to counsel her daughters to bear many offspring.

She was born in the depths of a prison and tasted the bitterness of poverty... yet she became the wife of the greatest king of her age, Louis XIV. Nor was she blessed with beauty... she had a large nose and a towering figure.

That is “Madame de Maintenon,” wife of the poet “Scarron,” the paralyzed pauper. When her husband died she worked as governess to the children of the king's mistress, and raised them well. Louis XIV valued her and summoned her to the palace; and at the palace she was able to turn the king from the path of amusement and error to the path of earnestness and sobriety... When the queen died, the king pressed her to marry him, and she consented — on condition that before the world she remain his lady-in-waiting... She managed every matter, great and small, in the state... And at the height of her power she did not forget the poor, but devoted her care to founding schools and asylums.

In the modern age, “Florence Nightingale” stands in the front rank of the great women.

The eighth great woman, in “Ludwig's” view, is the American girl “Harriet Stowe,” who consecrated her pen to fighting slavery and freeing the slaves... Her story “Uncle Tom's Cabin” is a ringing cry against the evils and sins of slavery...

She used to say: “It is a story dictated by God.” And in that story she prepared the way for the war “Lincoln” waged upon slavery.

... And “Madame Curie,” discoverer of radium, is a splendid example of the greatness of woman, for she refused to let man claim any work for himself alone, however weighty. She is an immortal model of struggle and patience.

Her husband the scientist died, and she succeeded him in his chair at the University of Paris. Madame Curie was simple in dress and plain in appearance, but her face and eyes shone with dignity and intelligence.

And the tenth of the great women is an actress and dancer, “Eleonora Duse.” She was born in the train of a traveling circus... and suffered much from illness and toil until she became the greatest actress in Italy.

She formed a bond with the great poet “D'Annunzio,” and had a great influence on his literary output... Then she moved to the stages of London and New York, and won the admiration of the entire world. In her later years her beauty turned into an immortal splendor — one of those splendors that marked the faces of “Goethe, Napoleon, and Beethoven,” and which is rarely found in a woman in her old age...

These are the great Western women “Ludwig” pointed to; and in coming issues we shall give splendid pictures of the great women of the East.