When more than a century ago, a modest, New England woman, Miss Hannah Adams by name, ventured a little journey into the domain of literature, which had hitherto been unexplored by American women, her unprecedented departure from conventional usage seemed to demand an apology. In the preface to her "History of New England," she humbly deprecated her presumption in the quaint phraseology of the day. "With the hope," as she said, "of softening the asperity of censure," she appealed to "generous humanity to view with candor the assiduous, though, perhaps, unsuccessful effort of a female pen"; and with exquisite naivete added that "a female cannot be supposed to be accurate in describing the calamities of war."
Since her day, the "female pen" has travelled far and fast. From a child's primer to an astronomical treatise, nothing has escaped its notice. Through flowery paths, o'er level plains, up rugged steeps it has taken its way unquestioned and unhindered; not always, it must be confessed, with benefit to the world, for here as in other fields, foolishness sometimes invades the paths "where angels fear to tread," but, whether wise or foolish, the one point gained is that woman no longer feels called upon to apologize either for herself or for her pen, or considers any field of investigation closed to her because of her sex. And yet, before a subject so vast, so limitless as the one I have been asked to present here, a subject which has engaged the attention of the profoundest thinkers of every age, and to which many have been willing to devote years of unwearied though laborious research if only they might advance one step in the solution of problems which human reason has declared insoluble, before such a subject one may well pause to ask, if it is not presumption to attempt to enter, even a little way, into a region so boundless; to explore, even a little way, a path where the profoundest thinkers have often stumbled and been hopelessly entangled with their own fine spun theories. The one excuse that can be offered for such seeming temerity is the conviction that what most nearly concerns the welfare of humanity, the understanding of the whence and wherefore of existence, should not be relegated to any particular class of thinkers, however deep and wide may be their research, but that the true business of each and every individual is to gain such knowledge of the Truth of Life as will enable him to demonstrate the highest Good.
The sum of health, happiness and holiness is all that is worth striving for. Since time began, the aim and object of man's best endeavor has been to gain this perfect answer to Life's problem. He has sought for it along many and different lines, but has obtained only partial results which are neither fixed nor certain. The conviction that this long looked for result may be gained, that the longing of the great heart of humanity after that which has seemed unattainable may be satisfied, must justify this little journey into the realm of Mind which appears to most of us so mysterious, must justify our search for the true principle of Life and its right rules for demonstration, by which we may solve aright the problem of existence and gain a perfect and unchanging result.
