Culture and Women's Clubs in 



Such is Madame Curie 's poem ; such is her gift to the 

 world, changing our vision of the universe, filling it more 

 richly with a new splendor and unapproachable beauty. 

 Is this practical? 



I have said that Minnesota women would be charmed 

 could an orientalist tell them the story of our human 

 past : how shall they not delight to hear a man of science 

 tell them of a woman whose researches are timeless, in- 

 terpreting, as they do, past and present and future, and 

 glorifying for our finite minds, not the world, indeed, but 

 the very universe Over against the practicality that is 

 evidently threatening our social life I set with confi- 

 dence the practicality of intellectual life and interest, 

 averring that while this will not do everything, it should 

 help. 



Another human interest which must, more and more, 

 be set against the material, almost purposeless trend and 

 tendency of present life and manner, relates to beauty, 

 the beauty of art and its manifold expression. Our in- 

 stinct for beauty is as old as that for action, and likely 

 to be equally enduring. I have sometimes heard lec- 

 turers express their wonder that astronomy should be 

 the most ancient science ; that men of the early recorded 

 centuries should have ignored the study of man, the 

 study of animals, of rocks, of the very soil beneath their 

 feet, and have given attention to the far-off stars. We 

 do study the soil, but we have come to it last of all. 

 The reason, I think, is plain. The heavens are BEAUTIFUL ! 

 Primitive man was overwhelmed by the splendor of the 

 slowly moving spectacle. The majestic progress of the 

 sun, from the gorgeous chambers of the east to his 



