University of California. 
 
 1 FT OF 
 
YOUNG WOMEN. 
 
 BY WILLIAM G. ELIOT, JA 
 > t 
 
 PASTOE OF TUB CHURCH 07 THE MESSIAH, SI >.OUTS. 
 
 OP T . 
 
 (UNIVERSITY 
 
 TENTH EDITTOW. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 AMERICAN UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION. 
 
 1880. 
 
G 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, Dy 
 
 CROSBY, NICHOLS, AND COMPANY, 
 fc the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts 
 
i 
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
 
 PAGl 
 
 AN APPEAL ....... 5 
 
 LECTURE IL 
 BOMB . . | .36 
 
 LECTURE m. 
 DUTIES 69 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 EDUCATION 100 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 FOLLIES - 133 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 ROMAN'S MISSION . . . . . 165 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
 
 AN APPEAL. 
 
 " Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain ; but a woman that feareth the 
 Lord, she shall be praised." Prov. xxxi. 30. 
 
 MY present discourse will be introductory 
 to a series of sermons, upon the duties and 
 responsibility of woman. It is an undertak- 
 ing upon which I enter with diffidence and al- 
 most with reluctance ; for I can hope to say 
 nothing new and have no desire to afford mere 
 entertainment. My desire is to do good to 
 those who hear me, and especially to the 
 young, by exciting them to more serious re- 
 flection than they are probably accustomed to 
 bestow upon the common duties of life and 
 their responsibility to God. My only hope of 
 accomplishing this is by the expression of well- 
 known truths, in a plain and simple manner. 
 
AN APPEAL. 
 
 But how far plain truth, plainly spoken, will 
 be acceptable, no one can tell until he tries. 
 
 The years of girlhood and early woman- 
 hood are generally so bright, that the shadow 
 of mature reflection scarcely falls upon them. 
 The enjoyment of life is so fresh and sweet, 
 that the serious responsibility which life im- 
 poses seldom engages the thoughts. The path 
 of life is strewn with flowers, and if thorns 
 sometimes appear, it is only those which grow 
 upon the flowers themselves and are insep- 
 arable from their beauty. The days of the 
 young maiden dwelling under a father's roof, 
 with the kind protection of a mother's love, 
 shielded by the proud affection of brothers 
 who love her almost with jealous tenderness, 
 glide onward, not without care, not without 
 disappointment, not without tears, but with 
 almost uninterrupted enjoyment. She feels 
 herself to be loved by every one, and that those 
 whom she loves take pride in pleasing her. 
 Their kindness is lavished upon her in daily 
 tokens of affection ; she is everywhere met 
 with smiles ; her most trifling endeavors to 
 
AN APPEAL. 1 
 
 please are successful ; she is praised as being 
 amiable, if willing to be happy. I know that 
 she has trials which seem to her very great ; 
 but in after life she will look back upon those 
 years, before the serious duties of life began, 
 as we recall a pleasant dream. When her 
 brow is saddened under the weight of cares 
 from which the wife and mother never escape, 
 of the anxieties to which the tenderness of 
 woman's nature always makes her subject, she 
 will think of those blessed days when her 
 chief responsibility was in childlike obedience, 
 in the performance of duties so light that they 
 were little more than recreation, rewarded by 
 the approving smile or checked by the gentle 
 rebuke of love, until the remembrance fills the 
 eye with tears and the heart almost with sad- 
 ness. 
 
 Fond and bright days of youth, enjoyed but 
 once ; when we know nothing of the world's 
 sins, and very little of its grief; when all our 
 friendships are inseparable and our confidence 
 without reserve ; when the denial of a pleasure 
 is the severest trial, and the path of duty so 
 
AN APPEAL. 
 
 easily trodden that the sense of duty is scarce- 
 ly felt ; when we hear of the wickedness of the 
 world, only as one who sits at the quiet, cheer- 
 ful fireside hears the howling of the storm and 
 thinks vaguely, but pitifully, of the wretches 
 whom it destroys ; we do not prize them as 
 we ought until they are past, until, perhaps, 
 " the days come, in which we say, we have no 
 pleasure in them." We do not know how 
 perfectly beautiful is the cloudless sky, or the 
 bright April day when the fleeting showers 
 serve only to give greater freshness to the 
 earth's new beauty, until the long-continued 
 storms of winter come, and the heavens are 
 obscured by clouds, and the sun itself looks 
 down upon us with cold and cheerless light. 
 
 Yet I would not speak as those who regret 
 the short continuance of spring. The sum- 
 mer, and the autumn, and the winter are 
 each beautiful in its place. Childhood and 
 youth, the years of maturity and advancing 
 life, and also the declining years of old age, 
 may become to us equally full of real enjoy- 
 ment, if, as we advance in that certain pro- 
 
AN APPEAL. 9 
 
 gress, we keep the face still turned towards 
 heaven and walk in companionship with God. 
 Nay, the true enjoyment of life should contin- 
 ually become greater. As the ripened fruit is 
 better than the beautiful promise of spring, 
 although gathered under skies that are becom- 
 ing more sober, and the threatening of chill 
 winter is near; so are the mature enjoyments 
 of middle and advancing life better than the 
 laughter and frolic of earlier days. And as 
 the winter itself, which shuts up the treasure- 
 houses of the kindly earth, and, by the with- 
 drawal of external allurements, turns our 
 thoughts to the pleasures of the fireside and 
 friendly intercourse, and gives us time for re- 
 flection, often becomes the happiest season of 
 the year ; and we look forward with joy to its 
 long evenings, in which, after the short day's 
 duties are done, we learn how much we love 
 each other, and the seclusion from the world 
 makes our love more tender ; so that there is 
 no other season which we would so unwilling- 
 ly spare, as that which at first seems the most 
 dreary: Thus it is, in the experience of hu- 
 
10 .IN APPEAL. 
 
 man life, that in its closing years, when the 
 almond-tree begins to flourish, our highest and 
 most perfect enjoyment may come. If the 
 former seasons have been wisely spent ; if we 
 have laid up for ourselves a treasury of pleas- 
 ant recollections, if the chambers of our im- 
 agery are filled with beautiful pictures ; if, as 
 we sit down quietly in the soberness of 
 thought, the past brings no feeling of s^ame 
 and the future no trembling; then does that 
 part of life, which seems to the observer so 
 quiet as to be almost sad, become more excel- 
 lent than all that has gone before. The step 
 must lose its elasticity, but the heart may re- 
 tain its youth. To the physical frame the 
 grasshopper may become a burden, but the 
 soul is stronger than in the days of youth, and 
 all the burdens of time are light to him whose 
 spirit reaches forward to eternity. I know 
 how many are the sorrows of life; I know 
 how poignant its grief, how severe its disap- 
 pointments ; but they who learn to remember 
 the Creator in the days of their youth, and 
 who walk with their Saviour as with a friend, 
 
AN APPEAL. 11 
 
 going about to do good, consecrating their 
 best strength to the service of God, will find 
 that they daily bercome happy in the enjoy- 
 ment of what God gives, and that the shadow 
 which memory casts cannot obscure the 
 brightness of that hope which shines upon 
 their path from heaven. 
 
 But whence cometh this blessedness? The 
 seed must be sown in spring, in the soft 
 ground and under the fertilizing showers, the 
 long days of summer must ripen it, while the 
 weeds are kept away by careful cultivation, or 
 the autumn will have no good fruit, and the 
 needful provision for winter will be wanting. 
 Those bright days of youth, when the heart is 
 tender and smiles and tears so quickly chase 
 each other, must have their hours of reflection 
 and sober thought. The good seeds of virtue 
 and religion must be then planted. We must 
 cultivate them, with the hope that, under the 
 dews of God's grace and the sunshine of his 
 love, they may spring up and bear the fruit of 
 righteousness, or our life will be a growing 
 sadness ; each added year will be an increas* 
 
12 AN APPEAL. 
 
 ing burden, and sorrow will become the por- 
 tion of our cup." We would not lessen the 
 brightness of the maiden's 4 life; the overflow 
 of her innocent mirth brings gladness even to 
 the heart of age. But she, too, should have 
 her seasons of thought, of serious reflection 
 and of prayer. Life is to her, also, a respon- 
 sibility, a time of probation. She, too, has a 
 duty to perform, and hereafter an account to 
 render. She should learn to look, therefore, 
 upon the earnest realities of life, not less than 
 upon its brightness and beauty. She must 
 not suppose, because she is so fondly cher- 
 ished now, her wishes all consulted, and her 
 pathway strewn with flowers, that it will 
 always be so. The charms of beauty and 
 youth may now secure the tokens of willing 
 approbation, and the fondness of admiring 
 hearts; but when these fade, as they must 
 soon, unless their place is supplied by the bet- 
 ter charms of a sweet temper, a well-educated 
 mind, and a religious character, the neglect she 
 will experience must be in the same propor- 
 tion, both sad and humiliating. From this the 
 
AN APPEAL. 13 
 
 chief disappointments of woman's life proceed. 
 When her early fascinations surround her, she 
 hears continually the language of praise ; he, 
 faults are quickly excused, every hand is ex- 
 tended to help her, every face meets her with 
 a smile. She supposes that it will always be 
 the same, and so perhaps it would be if the 
 same fascinations continued. But they must 
 fade, and if nothing better takes their place, 
 ought she to wonder if she is slighted, and the 
 tokens of that spontaneous approbation with- 
 drawn? Ought she not to have the good 
 sense to perceive, that admiration is a differ 
 ent thing from love ; and while she is pleased 
 with the attention that youth and beauty 
 bring, is it not better to seek for the affection 
 which is founded upon respect? But who 
 can respect the butterfly, however beautiful it 
 may seem, however brightly clothed in the 
 gay painting of its rainbow wings ? Who 
 wishes for, or can endure, as the companion 
 of life, one whose highest thought is her own 
 gratification, and by whom the incense of ad- 
 miration is exacted as her unquestioned right? 
 
14 AN APPEAL. 
 
 It is pleasant for a time to expend one's inge- 
 nuity in the adornment of a beautiful image, 
 or in gazing upon a beautiful picture ; but 
 who wishes to spend his life in such a way ? 
 Even if the image retain its beauty, and the 
 picture the brightness of its hues, the language 
 of admiration will gradually become faint, and 
 more substantial pleasure will be sought. But 
 if, as the truth must be, the fair image itself 
 gradually loses its beauty, and the bright col- 
 ors of the picture fade ; if the sparkling dia- 
 monds, which we wreathe around the brow, 
 begin to suggest the feeling of painful con- 
 trast, and the pearls encircling the neck serve 
 only to call attention to the changes by which 
 time marks his relentless steps, who can 
 wonder that weariness comes in the place of 
 ecstasy, and sometimes disgust in the place 
 of admiration ? 
 
 I would not speak unkindly. I know how 
 great are the wrongs which woman endures. 
 There are shallow-hearted men enough, and 
 selfish and bad men, under whose power, in 
 the different relations of life, woman is placed. 
 
AN APPEAL. 15 
 
 They seek her love as a transient gratification 
 to themselves, and when they have obtained 
 it use their power to disappoint all her hopes, 
 to blight all her affections. They admire her 
 at first only as the child admires a plaything, 
 and, as the child, quickly become tired of it. 
 They have not largeness of heart enough to 
 appreciate the excellences of her character or 
 to overlook the faults of her inexperience, and 
 she becomes their servant through her whole 
 life, in the vain endeavor to please those who 
 are not worth pleasing, and to gain the love 
 of those whom she has honored by loving. 
 This experience is so common and so painful, 
 that I cannot help wondering to see the read- 
 iness, almost the thoughtlessness, with which 
 women trust the whole happiness of their lives 
 to men of whom they know nothing, except 
 that they are ingenious in paying compliments 
 and persevering in their attentions. In return 
 for this cheap incense, they bestow the best 
 affection of their hearts, and lay up for them- 
 selves a store of disappointment. When the 
 real trials of life and its vexations come, they 
 
16 AN APPEAL. 
 
 find but little sympathy. Every thing that 
 goes wrong is imputed to them ; their silent 
 but diligent exertion to make every thing go 
 right, is unobserved ; and life, instead of being 
 the rich experience of mutual affection and 
 forbearance and gentleness, one towards an- 
 other, becomes almost a blank ; a routine 
 of duty which brings no pleasure but that 
 which the performance of duty always brings, 
 and which wants that best human reward, the 
 approbation of those we love. 
 
 Sometimes the case is still worse, and we 
 see those who are gentle, pure-minded, and 
 lovely giving their hands, with their hearts in 
 them, to men who perhaps warmly love them 
 in return, But whose habits and associations 
 in life are well known to be such that a pure- 
 minded woman ought to shrink from them, if 
 not with horror, yet with distrust. They who 
 incur such a risk are generally actuated, either 
 by a degree of affection which prevents them 
 from seeing the uncertainty, not to say the 
 hopelessness, of the prospect ; or by the ro- 
 mantic yet admirable spirit of self-sacrifice, 
 
AN APPEAL. 17 
 
 which leads them to incur the most fearful 
 danger, for the sake of saving those whom 
 they love from ruin. They hope that their 
 influence will be greater after marriage than 
 before, and too often find, with breaking 
 hearts, that it is less. They find, when too 
 late, that their self-sacrificing devotion was 
 misplaced, and that the martyr-spirit has not 
 brought to them the martyr's reward. A no- 
 ble effort indeed, a noble purpose, which none 
 but woman's heart is able to conceive, but 
 which even woman's love is seldom able to ac- 
 complish ! If her influence over the man she 
 loves is not strong enough to turn him from 
 dissipated or sinful habits before she surren- 
 ders her liberty to him, there is little proba- 
 bility of such a result afterward. 
 
 If the possession of a virtuous woman's love, 
 and the hope that she may become his own, is 
 not enough to keep his hand from the cup of 
 intoxication, and his feet from the paths where 
 sinners walk, the claims of married life are not 
 likely to do it. He will hear words of counsel 
 from his betrothed, which he will not listen to 
 2 
 
J8 AN APPEAL. 
 
 from his wife. With the hope of bliss before 
 him, he will make promises in which he fully 
 believes, but which, having obtained his re- 
 ward, he is not able to keep. I have had 
 many opportunities of observing where this 
 experiment has been tried, and the result has 
 been so uniformly the same, that I am willing 
 to run the risk of seeming harsh in its state- 
 ment. My advice to a sister or to a daughter, 
 and therefore to all whom I have the right to 
 advise, would be given without any hesitation, 
 without any reserve: "Be sure that the man 
 whom you love is now a good and temperate 
 and faithful man, or let your heart break, rath- 
 er than become his wife. Say not to him, 
 Conduct yourself rightly for six months, or 
 twelve months, as a test of sincerity. It is in- 
 sufficient. For so short a time and with so 
 great reward in immediate prospect, a man 
 must be brutal indeed not to restrain himself. 
 But satisfy yourself beyond all reasonable 
 doubt, that the principle of self-control is there, 
 the practised love of virtue, the confirmed hab- 
 it of a sober and pure life, before you speak 
 
AN APPEAL. 19 
 
 another word of encouragement, and if possi 
 ble before youi .ove itself is bestowed." 
 
 I know that this language may seem too 
 stern and rigid, but it does not come from 
 stern or harsh feeling. There have been times 
 when I have advised differently, but the result 
 has taught me better. 
 
 She who becomes the wife of a man who 
 has ever been dissipated, is incurring as great 
 a risk as any one should incur, and far greater 
 than she knows. Surely it is not too much 
 to ask that the reform should be complete, un- 
 conditional, and long continued, before she 
 trusts to its completeness. 
 
 But on the other side, if a woman has a 
 right to demand the fixed character of a virtu- 
 ous life, we too have a right to demand some- 
 thing. The man who discovers, when too 
 late, that she whom he had pictured to him- 
 self almost as an angel, gentle, sweet-tem- 
 pered, easily pleased, with a smile for every 
 one and a frown for none, appeared so beauti- 
 ful only because untried, that her character 
 has no depth, and ner mind no real accom- 
 
20 AN APPEAL. 
 
 * 
 
 plishments, is not to be blamed if he feels 
 disappointed, nor to be wondered at if he 
 shows his disappointment by neglect. He feels 
 'almost as if he had been entrapped, when he 
 was entranced ; that he has been betrayed into 
 a foolish step by false appearances. Instead of 
 finding a help-meet, he finds one who expects 
 continually to be waited on, caressed, and flat- 
 tered ; who has no definite expectation except 
 to spend the money which he makes, and to 
 remain the idol of his affections because she 
 consents to be admired. 
 
 On her part, she discovers her mistake soon 
 enough, and, if she has moderately good sense, 
 will studiously endeavor to increase the fasci- 
 nation of her character, as the charm of novel- 
 ty dies away. But on his part. the effect is 
 too often a disenchantment which opens his 
 eyes, even too widely, to her faults, and makes 
 him impatient of her efforts to correct them. 
 It Is very hard for her to do after marriage 
 what she ought to have done before ; and it 
 is a vexation to him to learn, that the whole 
 substantial education of his wife is yet to be 
 
AN APPEAL. 21 
 
 begun. Mutual disappointment brings mu- 
 tual fault -finding, and the bliss of married life 
 is found to have been a dream. If there is 
 a general good purpose on both sides, and 
 strong mutual affection, the lapse of two or 
 three years will bring things right, with a 
 comfortable degree of rational bliss. But it 
 would be far better, if greater maturity of 
 character could exist from the first. It would 
 be far better, if those early disappointments 
 and recriminations could be avoided, and this 
 would be done, in part at least, if the self-edu- 
 cation of woman in her youthful days were 
 more carefully attended to ; if it could be more 
 deeply impressed upon her, that the graces 
 of character are more excellent than personal 
 loveliness, however attractive it may be. 
 
 The beautiful face attracts admiration, its 
 pleasant smile wins the love, and all the sur- 
 roundings with which youth and beauty en- 
 circle themselves dazzle the eye and take the 
 heart captive. But she is very unwise who 
 relies upon such things for her permanent in- 
 fluence, or as the foundation of happiness. It 
 
22 AN APPEAL. 
 
 is those virtues which entitle her to be called 
 lovely, and that cultivation of mind which 
 enables her to share the thoughts and cares ot 
 her husband, while they command his respect, 
 it is these upon which she ought chiefly to 
 rely. These do not come of themselves ; they 
 are the result of self-discipline, self-denial, and 
 self-control. They are not obtained easily, 
 but are partly the reward of persevering en- 
 deavor, and partly the answer to prayer. 
 
 I am inclined to think that young persons 
 of the gentler sex give but little time to seri- 
 ous reflection, or to preparation for the real 
 duties of life. The world in which they live 
 is, in some respects, quite unreal and different 
 from that upon which they afterwards must 
 enter. The task of self-discipline and of self- 
 education, both moral and religious, is more 
 difficult because its necessity is less evident. t 
 The temptations to which they are exposed 
 are few, the faults which they are likely to 
 commit comparatively trifling, and their char- 
 acter is not so much in danger of being bad 
 as of being unformed. 
 
AN APPEAL. 23 
 
 The young man, from the time of his first 
 entrance into life, meets with the real trials 
 and is exposed to the worst dangers of the 
 world. The temptations which assail him are 
 such, that if he yields to them he is manifestly 
 ruined. The faults of which he is most likely 
 to be guilty are in themselves sins and vices 
 by the greatness of which his vigilance is kept 
 alive. He feels it to be a question of life and 
 death, and if he is wise, lays hold upon it as 
 upon the work of salvation. The greatness 
 and urgency of his work therefore nerve him 
 to its accomplishment. Many fail to do it 
 and are ruined, but by many it is faithfully 
 accomplished, as I trust it will be by all those 
 who may hear me this day. 
 
 But with woman the case is different. In 
 the departments of life where those who now 
 hear me walk, the question is not of virtue or 
 vice, of sobriety or intemperance, of honesty 
 or fraud. That question is settled by the cir- 
 cumstances of life and the restraints of socie- 
 ty. She shrinks with horror from the world's 
 iniquities, of which she knows almost nothing, 
 
24 AN APPEAL. 
 
 and to which her thoughts are seldom turned. 
 Let it be so always. Let there still be a part 
 of the human family, from whose eyes human 
 deformity is veiled. Let it be woman's privi- 
 lege, not only to be free from the contagion of 
 the world's iniquity, but to be ignorant, except 
 so far as her own safety requires the knowl 
 edge, of its existence. 
 
 But does it follow that she has no faults to 
 correct or to avoid ? Are there no wrong ten- 
 dencies of character, because they are likely 
 to be checked before they reach their worst 
 development ? Such is not the estimate of 
 sin given by the Gospel. It teaches us to 
 measure the degree of guilt in every heart 
 by the degree of selfishness and worldliness, 
 rather than by the grossness or refinement 
 of the outward act. The character may 
 become so selfish, and the heart so worldly, 
 and the mind so frivolous, that both the ca- 
 pacity and desire for improvement are almost 
 lost, in those whose manners are perfectly 
 ladylike, and whose morals, according to the 
 common idea of morality, are perfectly cor- 
 
AN APPEAL. 25 
 
 rect. For a long time the evil may not be 
 discerned. They who have every thing they 
 wish for, and to whom almost every one is 
 willing to give way, may be completely selfish 
 almost without knowing it themselves, and 
 without showing their selfishness in a man- 
 ner to give offence. 
 
 They to whom the occupation of life is 
 nothing but enjoyment, may become worldly 
 to such a degree as to drive out all thoughts 
 of God and religion, except so far as the 
 church may be a fashionable resort, without 
 being suspected of an irreligious life. They 
 to whom laughter and mirth are so becoming, 
 and upon whose lips the words of serious con- 
 versation seem almost out of place, may be 
 immersed in frivolous and idle pursuits, until 
 they are incapable of loving any thing else, 
 without danger of being called silly or heart- 
 less. And so it happens, not unfrequently, 
 that many pass from the days of girlhood to 
 those of w r omanly years, without maturity 
 of character, and completely unprepared for 
 the real duties of woman's life. The transi- 
 
26 AN APPEAL. 
 
 tion is very sudden, from the entire freedom 
 from care, to a multitude of little vexations 
 which try the temper, to the responsible du- 
 ties of wife and mother, for which the whole 
 strength of a mature character is required. 
 Then, too often, she finds how much she has 
 been mistaken in herself, and her friends find, 
 with equal disappointment, how much they 
 have been mistaken in her. She craves un- 
 divided attention, and not receiving it, is 
 vexed and impatient. She expects uninter- 
 rupted enjoyment, and not finding it, is dis- 
 contented and full of complaint. Her temper, 
 which seems so gentle, is found to be quick 
 arid petulant ; her disposition, which in the 
 sunshine was so sweet, proves to be, under 
 the common trials of life, harsh and sour. 
 Her friendship is invaded by envy, her love 
 is so exacting that it continually finds food 
 for jealousy, and the result is, at the best, the 
 very commonplace character of a worldly- 
 minded and selfish woman, whom it is diffi- 
 cult to love, and impossible to respect. It is 
 the natural result of a character unformed, 
 
AN APPEAL. 27 
 
 and of a mind undisciplined in early life. It 
 is the natural, and not the extreme, develop- 
 ment of those selfish and worldly tendencies, 
 which her early education, as frequently con- 
 ducted, is most likely to create. 
 
 Let the young lady pause for a few moments, 
 and with serious reflection ask herself, how 
 large a part of her time is given to amuse- 
 ment or to the preparation for it, which is 
 sometimes her only labor, and how small a 
 part to any thing that could be called self- 
 education and religious improvement. How 
 large a part is given to the adornment of her 
 person, and how small to the adornment of 
 her uiind. With how great eagerness she 
 prepares herself for the ball-room and theatre, 
 and with what languor for the church. What 
 diligent care she takes that her steps may 
 be rightly trained for the mazy and intricate 
 and sometimes objectionable dance, and how 
 thoughtless she is whether her feet are walk- 
 ing in the pathway of duty, of propriety, and 
 religion. I cannot but think that many, who 
 are not purposely living bad lives, would be 
 
28 AN APPEAL. 
 
 improved by such reflection. They would 
 discover, perhaps, that their lives, without be- 
 ing bad, may be exceedingly unprofitable. 
 They will certainly see, that a life which is 
 little else than a varied routine of idle pleas- 
 ures, of trivial cares and useless occupations, 
 is but a poor preparation for the duties of a 
 Christian woman. 
 
 You know that my views upon such sub- 
 jects do not incline to austerity. I can dis- 
 cern no sin in youthful gayety, or in that glad 
 merriment of heart so natural to those who 
 are free from care. We do not expect, nor 
 desire, at the age of sixteen, the stillness and 
 sobriety of threescore years. It would be 
 both unnatural and unarniable. But we may, 
 nevertheless, concede that a touch of little 
 more seriousness, a gentle shade of reflection, 
 improves the fairest face, and gives to the 
 most eloquent eye greater persuasiveness, 
 There must be beauty of mind shining through 
 the features, or they soon become insipid and 
 uninteresting. Still more, there must be re- 
 ligious principle, and the earnest effort to 
 
AN APPEAL. 29 
 
 form the character in the heavenly graces, or 
 the experience of after life will show that the 
 laughter was like -the crackling of thorns, and 
 that childhood and youth, with all their mer- 
 riment, are but vanity. 
 
 It should also be remembered, that the in- 
 fluence of woman is very great when she is 
 young and beautiful. Although she is not 
 herself exposed, as a general thing, to the 
 danger of great iniquity, her influence is very 
 great upon those in whose path the tempta- 
 tion lies. The standard of morality among \ 
 men is, to a considerable extent, fixed by 
 woman. There are few men who will not 
 admit that their training, either in virtue or 
 vice, has been to a great degree according to 
 the female influences under which their early 
 lives were passed. 
 
 In my lectures to young men, I said that it 
 depends upon them to elevate the tone of 
 public sentiment, and to advance the cause 
 of public morality, in this city ; that it is for 
 them to say whether intemperance and other 
 forms of sin shall continue to increase among 
 
30 AN APPEAL. 
 
 us, or daily become less ; that the moral char- 
 acter of our young men is the moral charac- 
 ter of our city, and that the one can be ele- 
 vated only by elevating the other. I believe 
 that this is strictly true ; but perhaps there 
 is an influence behind that equally to be re- 
 garded. Our young men give character to 
 the city, but who gives character to them? 
 What plastic hand is moulding them for good 
 or evil? At what shrine is their allegiance 
 first offered, and whose is that persuasive voice 
 which it is, humanly speaking, impossible for 
 them to resist? Very often, before religion 
 has placed its restraining hand upon them v 
 before they have adopted any fixed principle 
 of life, the direction to their whole lives is 
 given by an influence which they have felt, 
 although it was scarcely discerned. They 
 may trace their salvation or their ruin, for 
 this life and the life to come, perhaps to the 
 smile of encouragement, or the gentle expres- 
 sion of reproof, with which their first step in 
 folly was encountered. I would not willingly 
 excite a smile upon a subject so serious, nor 
 
AN APPEAL. 31 
 
 turn the solemnity of these great interests 
 into the channel of merriment; but it has 
 been so truly said that it may be seriously re- 
 peated, there is little hope of reforming 
 young men, and keeping them in the path of 
 virtue, unless we begin by reforming young 
 women, and teaching them to give their best 
 influence to the cause of goodness and so- 
 briety. " You may rely upon it,' ; said a young 
 man to me not long since, and he was one 
 who had felt the influence of which he spoke, 
 u you may rely upon it, that, tf they mix the 
 drink for us, we will not refuse to take it. If 
 their lips first touch the glass, we are sure to 
 drain it. If they evidently think us better 
 company when our tongues are loosened by 
 wine, and join in the laugh when we tell 
 them of our follies, ministers may as well 
 stop their preaching, unless they can go a 
 step farther back, and begin at the right 
 place." It is quaintly said, and has the air, 
 at first, of being half ludicrous, half satirical ; 
 but I fear that it is more than half true. The 
 influence of the young lady, and her conse- 
 
32 AN APPEAL. 
 
 quent responsibility, is very great. That in- 
 fluence is often thrown on the side of immo- 
 rality and irreligion, simply because she does 
 not think of it at all. 
 
 We do not speak now of specific actions, 
 by which she often throws temptation in 
 the way of those who seek her favor, by 
 leading them into extravagance, or to frivolous 
 amusements, to the waste of time, and to 
 false ideas of respectability, nor to the fas- 
 cination which she sometimes throws around 
 Jhe first steps of intemperance. Such sub- 
 jects will have their proper place in other 
 lectures. We are speaking now of general in- 
 fluence, the influence which she exerts by 
 her real character, by her ideas upon religious 
 and moral subjects expressed by words and 
 conduct. Every woman, whose manners are 
 at all attractive, is exerting such an influence 
 wherever she' goes, to a degree which it is im- 
 possible to estimate. In every circle she fixes 
 a standard of morality, above which few men 
 care to rise. Woman's perception i>f virtue 
 is genefally understood to be more <dce than 
 
AN APPEAL. 33 
 
 that of men ; and what satisfies her is sure to 
 meet with their approval, and, generally speak- 
 ing, they will not come quite up to the mark. 
 If she speaks lightly of religion, they will 
 blaspheme it. If she is devoted to pleasure, 
 they will enter into dissipation. If she is 
 heartless, they will be unprincipled. If she 
 treats temperance as a joke, they will regard 
 intoxication as a pardonable fault. What I 
 now say may be mortifying to the pride of 
 men, but it is true. We seldom rise quite up 
 to the standard of morality and religion which 
 woman holds before us. We never rise above 
 it. In this respect she is the lawgiver and 
 we are the subjects. The only hope for the 
 moral advancement of society, is to keep 
 woman in the advance-guard. Let her point 
 the way and lead it, and the right progress is 
 secured. 
 
 But she must do it not by words only, but 
 by actions. The influence must come, if at 
 all, from her real character. Does she love 
 virtue and goodness? Does she respect re- 
 ligion and seek to make it the law of her 
 3 
 
S4 AN APPEAL. 
 
 own life ? Is she striving to conform her 
 heart and her conduct to the divine law ot 
 Jesus Christ? Then will her natural influ- 
 ence be strong and availing on the right side. 
 Otherwise, whatever her occasional words 
 may be, and whatever degree of horror she 
 may express against some great iniquity, or 
 against some poor creature, whose first steps in 
 folly were taken under her direction, but who 
 is now by drunkenness made unfit for her re- 
 fined society, her inconsistency will plainly 
 appear, and men will see that it is not the 
 iniquity which she condemns, so much as its 
 vulgarity and grossness. 
 
 There is but one way for any of us to ex- 
 ert a true influence, and that is by being true 
 and faithful in ourselves. Especially is this 
 so w T ith woman, because hypocrisy is un- 
 natural to her, and her real feelings almost 
 sure to appear. 
 
 Let this, therefore, be the reflection with 
 which my present lecture concludes. The 
 moral and religious interests of society are 
 in the hands of woman, and the only way 
 
AN APPEAL 35 
 
 by which she can conduct men right, is to 
 be right herself. For " favor is deceitful and 
 beauty is va^n, but a woman who feareth 
 the Lord, she vVU be praised." 
 
LECTCJRE II. 
 
 HOME. 
 
 " She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not th 
 bread of idleness." Proy. xxxi. 27. 
 
 MY subject this evening leads us to the 
 inquiry, What is woman's appropriate sphere 
 of action, and the duties which chiefly de- 
 volve upon her ? 
 
 Far be it from me, however, to enter upon 
 those difficult arid learned discussions con- 
 cerning woman's rights and woman's mission, 
 in which so many pens and tongues have been 
 employed in modern times. These are sub- 
 jects, I think, that offer little room for differ- 
 ence of opinion, except when misunderstood 
 or improperly treated. Narrow-minded men 
 and visionary women assume extreme posi- 
 tions, and arrogance on one side, and unrea- 
 
HOME. 37 
 
 sonable demands on the other, are the result. 
 On the one side it is assumed, with a self- 
 sufficiency which would be provoking if it 
 were not amusing, that the sum and substance 
 of humanity is in the male branch of it, and 
 that the female branch is only an after- 
 thought, a needful circumstance in the case. 
 On the other, the champion of woman con- 
 tends that she will never have her full rights, 
 until she is educated in every respect as man 
 is, and shares every department of life with 
 him, from the hall of legislation to the nursery 
 inclusive. One is as far from right as the 
 other, and both are equally unjust. 
 
 We do not wonder at the complaints of 
 sensible women at the narrow limits assigned 
 to their education. If they express the desire 
 to know something more than school-books 
 can teach, and to enter upon the fair domains 
 of literature or the severer studies of science, 
 they are greeted with some foolish sneer, or 
 ridiculed as " strong-minded women " ; as 
 though there were something monstrous in a 
 woman's cultivating her mind or finding de- 
 
30 HOME. 
 
 light in knowledge. When the sneer comes, 
 as it generally does, from men who are them- 
 selves ignorant and superficial, as well as 
 ill-mannered, it is pitiful, not less than un- 
 generous. But in recent times woman has 
 sufficiently vindicated both her right and 
 ability to enter into competition, wherever she 
 pleases, in the department of prose or poetry, 
 of science or philanthropy, with the wisest 
 and best-educated men. They who speak the 
 language of Miss EDGEWORTH and JOANNA BAI- 
 LEY, of MRS. HEMANS and MRS. SOMERVILLE, 
 of Miss SEDGWICK and Miss Dix, should never 
 suffer one word of disrespect to pass their lips 
 towards woman. Our current literature is 
 adorned by her pen, our works of philanthropy 
 are dependent, to a great extent, upon her 
 sympathy and direct cooperation. She need, 
 therefore, have nothing to fear from the com- 
 parison between her intellect and that of man ; 
 but it is a comparison between things unlike, 
 and each of them is better than the other, in 
 its own place. Let both be faithfully turned 
 to the performance of those duties which, 
 
HOME. 39 
 
 under the providence of God, devolve upon 
 them, and no room will be left for the ques- 
 tion, "Which is the greater?" 
 
 But leaving such unprofitable discussions, 
 it will be admitted by all sensible persons, 
 of either sex, that woman's best sphere of 
 action and of influence is found, not abroad, 
 but at home ; not in the world at large, but 
 in the bosorn of her own family. Her own 
 household is the kingdom in which, with her 
 mild sceptre, she best reigns. s She may in- 
 deed go out beyond it, but only as the mis- 
 sionary goes out from his own land to seek a 
 field of labor less pleasant, less congenial to 
 his taste. It constitutes the exception to the 
 ordinary routine of her life, and in general 
 all that she can elsewhere do is nothing, com- 
 pared with her home influence and her home 
 labors. 
 
 If all women performed their part in that 
 small but noble sphere, there would scarcely 
 be any work in the departments of morality 
 and religion left undone. It is a sphere in 
 which every woman can labor with success, 
 
40 HOME. 
 
 and with the majority it is the only one in 
 which success and happiness can be at the 
 same time secured. Whatever may be wo- 
 man's capacity for other departments of life, 
 her taste, her sympathies, her affections, lead 
 her to seek her own happiness and usefulness 
 in the circle of her friends and kindred, under 
 her father's or husband's roof, rather than in 
 the larger but more superficial relations of 
 the world. And we may further add, that, 
 whatever may be her success elsewhere, and 
 however useful she may become, she is sel- 
 dom an object worthy of admiration, unless 
 in her home influence she is also blessed. 
 The woman who neglects her home, who 
 abstracts therefrom her first affections, her 
 dearest interest, her most earnest efforts, is 
 sacrificing more than she can gain, except 
 under very extraordinary circumstances. She 
 will probably sacrifice her own happiness and 
 that of all whom she ought most to love. 
 
 Superficial persons may think that this is a 
 contracted view of woman's sphere and du- 
 ties. To confine her chiefly to the four walls 
 
HOME. 41 
 
 of a house, and to limit her influence to a 
 family of five or six persons, is like burying 
 her, and is thought to be great social in- 
 justice. 
 
 Why may she not have the whole great 
 sphere of the world to act in ? Why should 
 her influence be more limited than that of 
 man ? We answer, that our real influence 
 is often stronger, for being limited in its im- 
 mediate action. The wider diffusion of our 
 efforts lessens their strength, and sometimes 
 prevents their efficacy. The greatest heat, 
 for practical purposes, is produced by an in- 
 strument which concentrates the flame upon 
 a single point. The hardest metals then 
 cannot resist its power. But the same heat, 
 diffused a very little, is of no avail. And so do 
 we often see that the concentrated influence 
 of affection is strong enough, in the sacred 
 precincts of the family relation, to melt away 
 the dross from the most stubborn heart, and 
 shape the heart itself after the heavenly pat- 
 tern, when all influences out of doors, and all 
 the discipline of common life, have had no 
 effect 
 
42 HOME. 
 
 Again : it must be remembered that home 
 influence extends beyond home. The best 
 way to purify a stream is to cleanse its foun- 
 tains, and less effort will accomplish the work 
 if begun there. The great current of society 
 is created by those thousand little streams, 
 which are pure or impure according to the 
 character of our homes. To purify them, or 
 to keep them pure, is chiefly woman's work ; 
 and if truly done, the current would roll on, 
 pure as a mountain stream, to the eternal 
 ocean. If it be not well done, all the How- 
 ards and Wilberforces can only succeed in fil- 
 tering, here and there, a little of the corrupted 
 water. 
 
 So true is this, that the strongest and most 
 enduring influence which any of us exert, is 
 that which begins at home, and goes out wi- 
 dening and deepening into the world. Wheth- 
 er men or women, the day of judgment will 
 probably show this to be true. A celebrated 
 preacher once said, that the most successful 
 sermon he ever preached was to an audience 
 of one person, on a very stormy day. That 
 
HOME. 43 
 
 one person was converted and became the in- 
 strument of doing good to thousands. The 
 mother has an audience of five or six, to whom 
 her life preaches, and if she can have the bless- 
 ing of God to convert them from sin to holi- 
 ness, from the world to God, she accomplishes 
 a work which God only can measure. I 
 doubt if any woman, who devotes herself, both 
 mind and heart, to its accomplishment, would 
 call the sphere ignoble or the work insignifi- 
 cant. It seems so only to those who have not 
 heart enough to appreciate it rightly, or mind 
 enough to understand its greatness ; and they 
 will waste themselves in peevish complaint, 
 because they have not a wider sphere of ac- 
 tion, when the real difficulty is, that they are 
 incompetent to the work which God has al- 
 ready given them to do. I know many who 
 are unfit for this home duty, none who are de- 
 graded by it. The reason why there is so 
 much left for philanthropists to do, is this, 
 that home work is done so badly. The great 
 primal reform is needed there, and will never 
 be accomplished until woman does it. The 
 
44 HOME. 
 
 man may help her or hinder; but however 
 loudly he may eall himself the head of the 
 family, she is the heart ; and it is the heart 
 which creates the life-blood and diffuses it 
 through the whole system. 
 
 There is an unworthy estimate of home and 
 home-life, which values it only for its physical 
 comforts, and under which my language would 
 be extravagant. Some men think of it only 
 as a more convenient and pleasant way of liv- 
 ing than is found in hotels or eating-houses ; 
 and according to their view, woman is little 
 more than a cooking and mending animal, a 
 kind of upper servant, sometimes with reduced 
 wages, whose duty is to provide for the wants 
 of her lord and master and take good care of 
 his children. Perhaps we should say that 
 some men used to think thus ; for such opin- 
 ions are now generally discarded or acknowl- 
 edged to be very coarse. Yet they are not 
 quite out of date, and occasionally you will 
 hear the vulgarism of the great Napoleon ap- 
 plauded, that " she is the most eminent wo- 
 man who has had the most children," or the 
 
HOME. 45 
 
 equal vulgarism of a less man, that the most 
 important question as to a woman's education 
 is, whether she can prepare a good dinner, or 
 mend an old garment; questions which, if 
 made the most important, indicate that we 
 put the same estimate upon eating with the 
 glutton, and upon economy with the miser. 
 
 But on the other hand, we must not under- 
 value the humble details of household care, 
 which occupy so much of woman's time, the 
 world over. 
 
 A great part of the comfort and happiness, 
 and therefore of the good social influence of 
 home, depends upon the manner in which 
 these trifling details are attended to. A slov- 
 enly house, or a badly ordered table, or ill- 
 clothed children, make an uncomfortable home, 
 and a man must be a saint to resist its un- 
 happy influence on his character. Just as it 
 is the man's duty to provide a home for his 
 family, and to supply it with conveniences ac- 
 cording to his means, i A , is woman's duty to 
 adorn it with the excellent graces of good 
 taste, and either by her own industry or the 
 
46 HOME. 
 
 well-directed industry of those who serve her, 
 to fill it with the healthful influences of clean 
 liness, good order, and neatness ; so that every 
 thing may minister to the comfort and enjoy- 
 ment of those she loves. From these duties 
 nothing can excuse her, except the disability 
 of sickness. For their omission, no excellen- 
 ces in other things can compensate. She may 
 not neglect them, even to find time for study 
 or reading, in the improvement of her mind ; 
 not even for works of philanthropy or in reliev- 
 ing the poor; much less for idle gossiping or 
 visits of etiquette, or the perusal of the last 
 novel. We care not how high she may be in 
 her social standing, nor how humble her lot ; 
 if she has a home, whether it be a palace or a 
 single room, the ordering of her own house- 
 hold, with all its trifling occupations, is her 
 first duty and should be her first care. With- 
 out it, her home influence, and therefore her 
 chief influence, is lost. 
 
 But while we rate such humble duties at 
 their highest value, considered as means to a 
 spiritual end, we say that the man who prize* 
 
HOME. 47 
 
 woman chiefly because she is capable of per- 
 forming these and similar tasks, does not de- 
 serve to have a good wife. He should merely 
 employ a housekeeper and pay her good wa- 
 ges. And the woman whose idea of duty 
 stops here, whose highest ambition is to keep 
 house well, has but very low conceptions of her 
 proper dignity, and is unworthy to be the wife 
 of a sensible man. There are social, moral, 
 and spiritual uses, proceeding from^he wise 
 regulation of the household, which bestow dig- 
 nity on what would otherwise be trifling, and 
 give value to things which would otherwise 
 serve only to please the taste or gratify the 
 senses. The ple.asantness and comfort of 
 home is the machinery with which woman 
 works, if she well understands her office, for 
 the education of the heart, for purifying thq 
 character, of each member of her family. It 
 is thus she shuts out the temptations of the 
 world. It is thus that she teaches her hus- 
 band and her children to depend on the quiet 
 enjoyments of the fireside, which elevate while 
 they refresh. Her home is her Garden of 
 
48 HOME. 
 
 Eden, or she has none, and she knows that 
 the more carefully the flowers are cultivated 
 and the fruit ripened, not only the r lore beau- 
 tiful, but the more healthful both for mind and 
 body, will it be. She thus expresses her grat- 
 itude to God from whom her blessings pro- 
 ceed, and her affection to her friends and kin- 
 dred, for whose happiness her mind is contin- 
 ually watchful, and on whose behalf she makes 
 a hundred sacrifices, so unpretending that they 
 are often unobserved, but not the sweetness 
 of temper from which they proceed, while she 
 seeks her own best delight in the enjoyment 
 of others. With a spirit like this no occupa- 
 tion is trifling, no duty insignificant. The ed- 
 ucated woman sometimes complains of the 
 petty nature of her cares and the increasing 
 perplexity of trivial things ; but let her mind 
 be elevated, let her have a noble ultimate de- 
 sign, and you change every thing. Give her 
 that spirit in the service of God, by which we 
 live above the world while we live in it, and 
 by which she can look through all the vexa- 
 tions that annoy her, to the hearts of those for 
 
HOME. , 49 
 
 whose happiness her care is expended, and 
 you impart beauty to the most ordinary rou- 
 tine of her life ; to the humblest domestic du- 
 ties which poverty or the unreasonable exac- 
 tions of unreasonable men can lay upon her. 
 Under such circumstances we may sometimes 
 regard her, though busied in what seem me- 
 nial labors, with feelings little short of rev- 
 erence. 
 
 Go into the poor man's house, when he is at 
 his hard toil in the world, and witness the pa- 
 tient, uncomplaining industry of his wife, who 
 seems to forget that she has wants of her own, 
 in her busy zeal to supply the wants of oth- 
 ers, and in whose eye the unbidden tear rises 
 when, at his return home, she is greeted with 
 no word of praise or kindness; for which she 
 excuses him in her heart, because he is tired 
 in body and anxious in mind. Or look upon 
 the widow upon whom has devolved the labor 
 of supporting and educating her children, as 
 she sits almost unmoving from early morn far 
 into the hours of night, plying that little in- 
 strument, her needle, until her eyes ache and 
 4 
 
50 HOME. 
 
 her fingers are stiff, and yet her heart is buoy- 
 ant with gratitude to God, because she can 
 find work to do; and I think we si all be able 
 to understand that the sphere in which their 
 souls work is greater, in proportion as the la- 
 bor of their hands seems less. 
 
 It requires a great heart to turn small things 
 to heavenly uses. The cup of cold water given 
 to the thirsty, in the name of Jesus Christ, be- 
 comes a heavenly work and obtains the ap- 
 proval of the Heavenly Father. It is not what 
 we do, outwardly considered, but the spirit in 
 which it is done, that constitutes the greatness 
 or littleness of our work. The details of all 
 our lives are insignificant, and in this respect 
 few have a right to boast over the rest. The 
 merchant, the farmer, the mechanic, the law- 
 yer, spend three fourths of their time in labors 
 which are respectable only because of the ob- 
 ject in view. Men sometimes speak contemp- 
 tuously of woman's work, forgetting how much 
 their happiness depends upon its faithful dis- 
 charge ; and women are too apt to admit that 
 their employments are unimportant, compared 
 
HOME. 51 
 
 with those of men. But, for myself, as a care- 
 ful observer of both, I cannot perceive why 
 woman, who is working with a smile that be- 
 stows a charm on the plainest occupation, in- 
 geniously contriving to make a little go a great 
 way, and of small means obtaining great com- 
 fort, is not employed in work quite as digni- 
 fied as trading for sugar and coffee, or the 
 selling of cotton and woollen goods, or the 
 chaffering about freights and exchanges. From 
 the way in which men sometimes talk, you 
 would suppose that dollars and cents are the 
 only respectable thing in the universe ; that 
 successful speculation is the only true hero- 
 ism, and that the hope of making twenty per 
 cent, profit is enough to bestow dignity upon 
 meanness itself. But careful thought will 
 show us, that our comfort, our happiness, our 
 improvement, our general well-being, depend 
 more upon what is called woman's work than 
 upon man's. They depend, not so much on 
 the success of our counting-rooms and work- 
 shops, and a good balance-sheet at the end of 
 the year, as upon the judicious management 
 
52 HOME. 
 
 and skilful ordering of domestic life. We may 
 be happy with a very small income, if the 
 home department is so managed that every 
 thing is. used to the best advantage, and good 
 taste made to supply the place of luxuries ; 
 and there will still be something left, out of 
 what would otherwise have been wasted, for 
 
 the poor. But who can be contented in a 
 
 
 house, where style is substituted for neatness, 
 
 and large expenditure brings little comfort, and 
 the idleness of the inmates gives abundant 
 time for fretfulness? We can educate our 
 children to be useful and happy, however poor 
 we may be ; but not in a household which 
 witnesses daily contention and complaining, 
 where frivolous amusement is made to take 
 the place of rational enjoyment, where the 
 influence of the mother fails to commend 
 virtue and religion to her sons and daughters. 
 We would not imply that every thing in the 
 home depends upon the female members of it. 
 Some men are so selfish or depraved, so ill- 
 natured and petulant, so unreasonable in their 
 expectations, and so thankless when they have 
 
HOME. 53 
 
 no room to be dissatisfied, that, if they were 
 to find angels at home, they would contrive, 
 by their own presence, to prevent them from 
 an angel's bliss. But we speak in general 
 terms when we say, that, in civilized Christian 
 communities, the praise of well-directed fam- 
 ilies and the blame of disorderly ones belong 
 chiefly to the woman. Let man be ever so 
 wise in his own conceit, the credit chiefly be- 
 longs to her; let her be ever so ingenious in 
 excuses and in throwing the fault from herself 
 upon the circumstances by which she is sur- 
 rounded, to herself principally may the fault 
 be traced. That exceptions exist, we know, 
 but what we have now said is, generally 
 speaking, true. 
 
 We desire to magnify, although we cannot 
 exaggerate, the importance of the institution 
 of home. The more so, because this is the 
 best means of elevating woman in the scale 
 of social life, to the point which belongs to her 
 of right, but has not yet, in any part of the 
 world, been fully conceded. In this country, 
 every thing depends upon it. It is the nur- 
 
54 HOME. 
 
 sery of republicar simplicity and republican 
 virtue. It is the wholesome restraint upon our 
 eagerness, the conservative influence which 
 prevents radicalism from excess ; an influence 
 stronger than patriotism and from which the 
 purest patriotism springs. It binds us to the 
 love of peace. It counteracts the angry feel- 
 ings of political contention and the conflicting 
 interests of different parties. Destroy it, or 
 our love for it ; make this whole nation an 
 out-of-door people ; teach them to find their 
 amusement, their happiness, away from home, 
 .in gardens, in cafes, in the streets, as it is in 
 France and Italy, and it would be as diffi- 
 cult to maintain our republic, as it has been to 
 establish one in Paris or Rome. No one who 
 has ever visited those cities, or Naples, or Ven- 
 ice, or who has studied the habits and customs 
 of their population, can fail to see the cause 
 of their violent commotions, and uneasy, rest- 
 less striving. The mass of the people are with- 
 out homes and home influences. They live 
 out of doors, in perpetual excitement, and the 
 only idea of home to thousands of them is 
 
HOME. 55 
 
 a place to sleep ia By this means, woman 
 is, for the great part, shut out from her proper 
 influence on society. She is deprived of her 
 rightful working-place, and cannot work to 
 good advantage. She becomes the drudge, or 
 the toy and plaything, or at best the ornament 
 of society, instead of being the messenger of 
 truth, the guardian of virtue, the angel of 
 mercy. 
 
 The foundation of our free institutions is in 
 our love, as a people, for our homes. The 
 strength of our country is found, not in the 
 declaration that all men are free and equal, 
 but in the quiet influence of the fireside, the 
 bonds which unite together the family circle. 
 The corner-stone of our republic is the hearth- 
 stone. Therefore let men see that it is care- 
 fully laid; let woman's hand keep it clean 
 and bright ; around it let happy faces gather 
 and happy hearts beat in gratitude to God. 
 From the corroding cares of business, from 
 the hard toil and frequent disappointments of 
 the day, men retreat to the bosom of their 
 families, and there, in the midst of that sweet 
 
56 HOME. 
 
 society of wife and children and friends, re- 
 ceive a rich reward for their industry, and are 
 reminded that their best interests are insepa- 
 rable from public and social morality. How 
 different would it be, if, instead of this, he 
 turned to the resorts of public pleasure, to the 
 partisan debates of political clubs, or any 
 other organization from which woman's influ- 
 ence is excluded, for the refreshment of his 
 mind and body. The merry talking of chil- 
 dren's voices is a more eloquent persuasive to 
 virtue and patriotism, than the speeches of 
 6rators or demagogues. The feeling that 
 here, in one little spot, his best enjoyments 
 are all concentrated, made pure through being 
 shared with female purity ; the consciousness 
 of dependence, through the strong affections 
 of his heart, upon those who for protection 
 and support depend upon him ; his almost un- 
 conscious yielding to the gentler influence of 
 one who is second to him, only because her 
 good sense yields the precedence ; all this 
 gives a wholesome tendency to his thoughts, 
 and is like the healing oil poured upon the 
 wounds and bruises of the spirit. 
 
HOME. 57 
 
 Nor is it a fancy picture which we have 
 now drawn. In ten thousands of homes, each 
 day, at set of sun, in every part of our happy 
 land, are these strong but quiet influences at 
 work. In every one, woman is proving her- 
 self a true philanthropist, a conservator of 
 public order, the promoter of social harmony. 
 While she does this work faithfully, al- 
 though Providence may open a wider sphere 
 of action, under the revolutions of modern 
 society, she cannot have a nobler sphere, 
 nor one wherein she can be more useful or 
 more happy. 
 
 We know that different scenes are often ex- 
 hibited. Uniformly our best blessings may be 
 abused to become the worst evils. It is not 
 every roof-tree under which we may sit, with 
 none to molest or make us afraid. It is not 
 every woman who knows how to make home 
 pleasant. Something more is requisite than 
 boarding-school accomplishments and a milk- 
 and-water character ; something more than 
 an education in a female college, with the de- 
 gree of Mistress of Arts. There are houses 
 
58 . . HOME. 
 
 enough, in which woman is content to be lit- 
 tle better than a doll to wear finery or a child 
 to be amused ; and there are others, in which 
 sufficient proof is given of Solomon's words, 
 that " a continual dropping in a very rainy 
 day and a contentious woman are alike." 
 
 But still, after all exceptions have been 
 made, in our homes is our chief strength. 
 There is our best happiness as a people. 
 There the strongest influences in favor of vir- 
 tue and religion are at work. They are the 
 school-houses, in comparison with which all 
 other schools and colleges, both public and 
 private, are of no importance, and in them is 
 woman's place and woman's work. The Em- 
 peror of the French said, which is a partial 
 offset to his absurd saying already quoted, that 
 the chief necessity in reforming the system of 
 national education was well-educated mothers. 
 With equal force may it be said that the pros- 
 perity of our land, the permanence of our in- 
 stitutions, can be secured only through the in- 
 fluence, which must be the home influence, of 
 sensible and virtuous women. Legislators are 
 
HOME. 59 
 
 good in their place, but for our happiness and 
 virtue as a people, we must depend upon that 
 legislation which is spoken in the gentle voice, 
 so excellent a thing in woman ; urged by the 
 pleadings of woman's love, enforced by the 
 penalties of woman's displeasure. 
 
 If the views now presented are correct, we 
 do not degrade woman by teaching that 
 home is her rightful place, the sphere of her 
 chief influence. If she has a heart large 
 enough and a mind sufficiently educated to 
 perform her duties there, looking well to the 
 ways of her household and eating not the 
 bread of idleness, she is the equal of any man, 
 however great or good or wise he may be. 
 She is his equal in position, his equal in prac^ 
 tical usefulness. 
 
 But we have reason to fear that the views 
 now presented are not sufficiently regarded. 
 Home is not made so sacred a place as it 
 ought to be. Its influence is not exclusively 
 given to the cause of temperance and right- 
 eousness. Even where its general influences 
 are good, frequent and melancholy exceptions 
 
60 HOME. 
 
 are made, by conforming to wrong usages and 
 the continuance of foolish customs. When 
 the festive board is spread and all the re- 
 finements of woman's skill have been ex- 
 hausted to make it attractive, its crowning 
 glory is found in the wine "which moveth 
 itself aright, but at last stingeth like a serpent 
 and biteth like an adder." Her hand becomes 
 ingenious to fill the sparkling bowl, and her 
 encouragement is given to those " that tarry 
 long at the wine, who rise up early in the 
 morning that they may follow strong drink, 
 that continue until night till wine inflame 
 them." I would not go beyond the limits of 
 propriety, to interfere with the social arrange- 
 ments prevalent among us. Every person 
 claims the right of directing the affairs of his 
 own family, and of receiving his friends ac- 
 cording to his own ideas of hospitality. I do 
 not dispute the right, but wish it were exer- 
 cised more discreetly. I am afraid that the 
 strongest influence on the side of intemper- 
 ance, and the hardest to overcome, is that of 
 the social circle, the hospitable board. In our 
 
HOME. 6 1 
 
 homes, which should be the centre of every 
 good influence, that bad influence is at work. 
 In every citadel of our safety, the most dan- 
 gerous enemy gains free admission. It is 
 there that the thoughtless habit which ends in 
 dissipation is begun. There it finds encour- 
 agement, under all the appliances of luxury 
 and elegance, until it shows itself in the un- 
 steady step and reeling brain. I have known 
 many young men to be betrayed into con- 
 firmed habits of intemperance, by their fre- 
 quent acceptance of this well-intended kind- 
 ness. There are probably those who will have 
 been, this week and the next, intoxicated for 
 the first time in their lives, because it is so dif- 
 ficult and awkward to refuse the reiterated in- 
 vitations of woman's hospitality. Is it not par- 
 ticularly to be regretted, that Christmas day, 
 the commemoration of the Saviour's birth, 
 and the close of the year, which should call 
 for reflection and repentance, and the begin- 
 ning of the new year, which ought to be hal- 
 lowed by virtuous resolutions, become to 
 many the first step towards ruin ? Can we 
 
52 HOME. 
 
 not be hospitable in a less dangerous way ? 
 Can we not make our friends welcome with- 
 out exposing them to danger? Is not the 
 pleasant smile and the grasp of a friendly 
 hand and the feast which cheers without ine- 
 briating, are not these enough ? If any re- 
 quire more, let them seek it where they may 
 sell their virtue for a price. Let not woman's 
 hand lead the way to temptation. Let not 
 her pleasant home lend its attractions to the 
 sins which so easily beset us. 
 
 Is there a mother who would place tempta- 
 tion in the way of her son ? Is there a sis- 
 ter who would make virtue difficult to her 
 brother ? Is there a maiden who would place 
 in the hand of him whom she is already be- 
 ginning to love, the poison which may find, 
 and perhaps has already begun to find, its way 
 to his heart ? Is there a wife who would sur- 
 round her husband -with snares, so skilfully 
 covered that he may fall into them almost un- 
 awares? You may have the utmost confi- 
 dence in those you love, as we all have; for 
 love casteth out fear: but is it worth while 
 
HOME. 63 
 
 to try experiments, when the stake at issue 
 is so tremendous? We may be very sure 
 that they are in no danger ; but is it not well 
 to remember that prayer, " Lead us not into 
 temptation," and shall woman be the tempter ? 
 If not for the sake of those whom she herself 
 loves, yet for the sake of those whom others 
 love, let her refuse to become the minister of 
 evil. 
 
 Those who are tempted may not be her 
 own friends and kindred ; she may look upon 
 them with entire indifference, and offer the 
 temptation only because custom requires it : 
 but there are hearts beating sadly for those 
 who yield ; there are wives and mothers and 
 sisters who will have reason to mourn over 
 the day when the temptation was offered, and 
 the custom which permitted it. 
 
 Nor is it only upon one day in the year, 
 but frequently, almost as a needful part of 
 hospitable entertainment, the subtle and al- 
 most irresistible attack is made upon the vir- 
 tue of those who only desire an excuse for 
 yielding. Festive assemblies which begin 
 
64 
 
 HOME. 
 
 with all the splendor that wealth can purchase, 
 and at which the beauty, the fashion, and the 
 elegance of the city are gathered, sometimes 
 end with scenes in the private parlor which 
 would not be creditable to the public tavern. 
 At such times even woman's eye sparkles 
 with an unwonted fire, and the gayety of her 
 merriment is something more than the natu- 
 ral flow of her own spirits. To the whole 
 she lends her countenance ; and her influence, 
 as the presiding genius of the household, is 
 given to that which in heart she despises and 
 hates. 
 
 I have no expectation of changing general 
 customs by my feeble voice. I know how 
 tyrannical fashion is, and that there are many 
 persons who would commit any sin or incur 
 any danger sooner than be accounted unfash- 
 ionable. " Custom lies upon us as a weight, 
 heavy as frost," arid not one in a hundred has 
 the strength or courage to throw it off, though 
 conscience may command and the safety of 
 those whom he best loves require it. But the 
 improbability of success is no reason for being 
 
HOME. 65 
 
 silent. They who attempt nothing are quite 
 sure to accomplish nothing. Social usages, 
 like those to which I refer, can be more easily 
 changed than we at first suppose. If a com- 
 paratively small number of those who are 
 raised by their wealth and hospitality above 
 the accusation of meanness, and by their 
 standing above the suspicion, so dreadful to 
 endure, of being unfashionable, if a few of 
 such families were to begin the change, there 
 would be many to follow, and twelve months 
 would show great and general improvement. 
 The young would have reason to bless such a 
 change, for one of their chief dangers would 
 be removed. Still more would they have 
 reason to bless it, who have once yielded to 
 temptation and are now exerting themselves 
 to resist. Too often have I seen those, who 
 have held firmly to their resolution through 
 a whole year, inadvertently betrayed into the 
 ruin from which they had almost escaped, 
 by the multiplied temptations which custom 
 has prescribed. 
 
 And am I wrong in thinking that it is 
 5 
 
66 HOME. 
 
 woman's influence to which we must look for 
 the change required ? Do I overrate it, when 
 I say that, if she really wishes for the change, 
 it will be accomplished ? There are undoubt- 
 edly some men so arbitrary and self-willed, 
 that they will not be directed even by the 
 gentlest hand and for their own good. But 
 under the worst of circumstances she can 
 moderate the evil and greatly diminish its al- 
 lurements. Generally speaking, in well-regu- 
 lated families, it is so far under her control, 
 that what she heartily wishes she can easily 
 accomplish. 
 
 I commend it, therefore, to your serious, 
 may I not say to your religious attention. It 
 is a serious subject, upon which the best in- 
 terests of society depend. Do not treat such 
 things as conventionalities, that must take 
 their own course ; for you have an influence 
 to exert, a duty to perform, which cannot be 
 neglected without sin. It is a duty which 
 rests upon you as mothers, as wives, as sis- 
 ters, as daughters, as friends : yes, as women. 
 Not one of you can escape from it. If it 
 
HOME. 67 
 
 were faithfully performed, if the influence 
 were heartily exerted, I believe that the whole 
 great question of temperance would be tri- 
 umphantly carried. Men are not brutal 
 enough to love intoxication, unless they learn 
 to love it in woman's society. Their first step 
 she can easily prevent ; but afterwards, when 
 she begins to loathe their presence, even her 
 voice fails to call them back. 
 
 Let these things sink into our hearts. I 
 have spoken of them, because I think they 
 need to be spoken of. Their neglect will be 
 our ruin. The necessity of a change is al- 
 ready felt, and before many years are past, 
 many of these usages, now fashionable, will 
 be accounted, not only dangerous, but vulgar. 
 By adopting the right principle as our guide, 
 let us go in advance of fashion, and do 
 what we can to discountenance wrong cus- 
 toms. We may do it silently, or as quietly 
 as you please ; but let it be done decidedly, 
 and it will be effectual. At least it will be 
 the performance of our own duty, and a proof 
 that we fear God more than we fear man. 
 
68 HOME. 
 
 It will make our homes the sanctuary of 
 virtue, as they ought to be. " It must needs 
 be that temptations come " ; but to that as- 
 sertion of the Saviour another is added, well 
 calculated to startle us in view of our own 
 accountability : " Woe unto them through 
 whom the temptation cometh." 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 DUTIES. 
 
 " Her children rise up and call her blessed ; her husband also, and ha 
 praiseth her." Proy. xxxi. 28. 
 
 THE object of my last lecture was to show 
 that the best interests of society are, to a great 
 extent, in woman's keeping. In the depart- 
 ments of morality and religion, of refinement, 
 of good taste, of philanthropy, of education, 
 and of all the other great agencies of civiliza- 
 tion, she has at least an equal share, both in 
 the work to be done and the end to be accom- 
 plished. If men would frankly acknowledge 
 this, it would elevate her more highly in their 
 estimation. They would respect her more 
 and pay more deference to her opinions ; they 
 would take more pains to give her the advan- 
 tages of education, so as to secure the proper 
 
70 DUTIES. 
 
 use of that influence which, either for good or 
 evil, she is sure to possess. We fear that they 
 are now more willing to pay the tribute of ad- 
 miration than of respect. They regard her 
 only as a being to be cherished and protected, 
 and whose loveliness is never so great as when 
 she leans upon them for support. They take 
 pains to please her, very much as we try to 
 please children ; and she very often consents 
 to be pleased with toys and playthings and 
 flattering words and unmeaning phrases, with 
 dress and equipage and jewelry and other tri- 
 fles lavished upon her quite as much through 
 worldly pride as from sincere affection. It 
 may be all right in its way, nor do I speak 
 now with a view to its condemnation ; but 
 when this kind of adulation, this money-bought 
 worship, is the only or the best evidence of our 
 respect, we are in fact contributing to degrade 
 her whom, for our own amusement, we seem 
 to exalt, and are treating her as a child whom 
 we ought to treat as an equal. 
 
 It would be better if the adulation were less 
 and the respect greater. She can dispense 
 
DUTIES. 71 
 
 with the empty compliments, which men are 
 skilful to use in proportion to the shallowness 
 of their own brains, in consideration of receiv- 
 ing a more silent homage, the language of real 
 esteem. We seldom compliment directly 
 those whom we respect, and whenever we do 
 so, it is with delicacy and hesitation, showing 
 that we feel ourselves to be upon dangerous 
 ground. The language of compliment is gen- 
 erally the language of superiority. We flatter 
 those whom we think beneath us, and who 
 will therefore be pleased by our notice and 
 approval. Towards those who are above us, 
 more deferential language and fewer words 
 are used. Only when with our equals, whom 
 we acknowledge to be such, do we offer and 
 receive those expressions of cordial friendship 
 and sympathy, which are more pleasant thai 
 any other form in which praise can come. 
 
 In the compliments which men pay so free- 
 iy to the gentler sex, I am afraid that they 
 give greater evidence of their own self-conceit 
 and assumed superiority than of any thing else. 
 I think, therefore, that if men would learn the 
 
72 DUTIES. 
 
 real truth as to woman's influence, that they 
 themselves are moulded, in mind, in affec- 
 tions, in character, by woman's hand, it 
 would do them good, both by teaching a les- 
 son of modesty, and by reminding them to be 
 just before they talk so much of being gener 
 ous. 
 
 On the other hand, it is equally important 
 to woman herself to understand her true posi- 
 tion. In civilized communities she is actually 
 exerting an influence to which no limit can be 
 placed. As I said in a former lecture, she is 
 the lawgiver of social morality ; she fixes the 
 standard of right and wrong in social inter- 
 course, according to which men shape their 
 ideas, and to which they conform their prac- 
 tice. Individually she may seem very weak, 
 but as a sex, in the different relations of life, 
 she is all but omnipotent. No effort to ad- 
 vance society can succeed* which does not 
 begin with her and receive her cooperation. 
 Whether it be temperance or charity, religion 
 or education, the most essential thing is to ex- 
 cite her interest and give to her correct ideas, 
 
DUTIES. 73 
 
 arousing her to a sense of duty and responsi- 
 bility. When that is done, the battle is half 
 gained, and what is more, it is the first half, 
 and almost sure to be followed by complete 
 triumph. If woman felt this, it would inspire 
 her with greater self-respect ; it would enable 
 her to place its proper value on the flippant 
 praise of which she is now sometimes so fond ; 
 to smile at the words of flattery, but not on 
 him who uses them. She would feel herself 
 entitled to higher respect than such words im- 
 ply. She would feel the responsibility which 
 so great influence imposes, and prepare her- 
 self, by self-education and religious self-disci- 
 pline, for the duties which properly devolve 
 upon her. 
 
 Let us look, then, more particularly at the 
 different relations in real life which woman 
 actually holds, and the important position in 
 which she is placed. When we have done 
 this, we shall be prepared to ask whether her 
 education, as now generally conducted, is 
 what it ought to be ; and I think that the an- 
 swer to this question will be more evident than 
 satisfactory. 
 
74 DUTIES. 
 
 First, we speak of that sacred relation in 
 which our love towards her is mingled with 
 veneration ; in which, while she is living, if we 
 are wise, and certainly after she is dead, she 
 becomes to our hearts almost as the saints in 
 heaven, through our remembrance of her pa- 
 tient suffering, her unwearied love, her gentle, 
 sad, yet hopeful rebukes ; her pleading voice 
 when we were wrong ; her sympathy when we 
 were tempted; her readiness to forgive when 
 we committed sin ; her encouragements when 
 we tried to do right ; her tenderness when she 
 wiped away our tears ; her gladness when she 
 shared in our joys, and all the nameless but 
 unforgotten tokens of a MOTHER'S love. 
 
 That is the gentlest, the sweetest word 
 which falls from human lips. It speaks of a 
 human relation, but mingles with religion it- 
 self. The great reason why the worship of the 
 mother of Christ has obtained so strong pos- 
 session of a large part of the Christian world, 
 is this : that the word itself excites a yearning 
 in the human heart, calling up its dearest as- 
 sociations, exciting its tenderest affections. 
 
DUTIES. 75 
 
 and giving to men an opportunity of express- 
 ing, in religious homage, the feelings of grati- 
 tude, penitence, and filial love, which the name 
 of mother never fails to excite. How much 
 we owe to her, none can tell. The treasures 
 of love which she has expended upon us, God 
 only knows ; for she herself is scarcely con- 
 scious how rich and inexhaustible they are. 
 As she holds her infant smiling in her lap, her 
 first-born, a new existence has begun to her. 
 She watches the half-formed smile, and her 
 own smile answers it. She catches the first 
 ray of intelligence, from eyes which look won- 
 dering upon this strange world into which the 
 heavenly visitant has entered, and gaze around 
 uncertainly, without expression, until the beam- 
 ing light of the mother's face is caught, and 
 that first ray of conscious intelligence is but 
 the reflection of the mother's love. From day 
 to day, how carefully she guards him, and at 
 night his gentlest movement arouses her to 
 renewed watchfulness. His playfulness in 
 health is her chief delight, and the distant ap- 
 proach of sickness fills her with dread. To 
 
76 DUTIES. 
 
 say that she would die for him would be but 
 little; she would die for him a thousand times, 
 for the dearest charm in her own life is in the 
 life of her child. 
 
 The image of God's providence is found in 
 the mother's love. As he is good to the un- 
 thankful and the evil, so is her love never es- 
 tranged by our utmost waywardness, by our 
 worst desert. The love of an earthly father 
 may sometimes be withdrawn, and the stern- 
 ness of his nature may drive the sinful child 
 from his presence, with words of anger almost 
 like imprecation. He may pronounce a curse 
 which drives the offender to despair. But the 
 mother cannot curse ; her love cannot be with- 
 drawn. The sorrow of her child's guilt has 
 pierced her heart, only to make it more ten- 
 der; her hand seeks to draw him back, even 
 when unwilling to return ; her prayers are for 
 him when he will not pray for himself; and 
 upon her bosom he finds a resting-place, where 
 he may again lay his weary head, as confi- 
 dently as when he reposed it there in the up 
 questioning trust of infancy. 
 
DUTIES. 77 
 
 Bui if, escaping from the snares of sin and 
 strengthened under the temptations of the 
 world, her child grows up in the strength of 
 virtue, in the purity of religion ; if she sees 
 her sons and daughters respected and useful 
 and happy, by their affection endeavoring to 
 return their mother's love and shield her from 
 the harms so frequent to declining age ; 
 then, who can tell the mother's joy, or the ear- 
 nestness of her thanksgiving, except the God 
 before whom she kneels in silent gratitude ? 
 That is indeed a blessing with which her cup 
 runneth over. Her children are her pride, her 
 joy, the jewels that circle her brow, the orna- 
 ments more becoming to her age than any 
 other; and her face, although it may show the 
 lines of advancing years, retains its youthful- 
 ness of expression and a smile more lovely 
 than that of youth itself, when the names of 
 her children are spoken with praise, and- the 
 record of their usefulness brought to her ears. 
 
 O, if we could but understand the depths 
 of a mother's love, the complete disinterested- 
 ness of her strong affection, the days of our 
 
78 DUTIES. 
 
 early life would be stained with fewer sins 
 and our memory in after days less heavily 
 burdened. If we could but understand how 
 heartless it is, for the sake of some transient 
 pleasure, some worthless dissipation, for the 
 indulgence of a whim or the gratification of 
 ungoverned temper, to send the pang of grief 
 to that loving heart, to bring the shade of mor- 
 tification over that hopeful face, we should be 
 more careful in our pleasures, more reluctant 
 to do wrong. There is no method *by which 
 we can pay the debt of gratitude to her, except 
 by lives which are an answer to her prayers 
 for our sake. If she hears of our disappoint- 
 ments, she is sad; our sorrows and bereave- 
 ments are hers, not less than our own ; but 
 these, as we are not able to escape from them, 
 she is ready to receive as the discipline of 
 God's providence, for her good and for ours. 
 But our sins lie like a weight upon her soul. 
 To our departure from God she cannot recon- 
 cile herself. That is a grief she scarcely knows 
 how to bear, and under which her gray hairs 
 are brought in sorrow to the grave. Let me 
 
DUTIES. 79 
 
 appeal to you, to you who are young, for her 
 sake. Let your thoughtlessness be checked, 
 let your folly be stayed. If not for God's 
 sake, nor for Christ's sake, yet for your moth- 
 er's, sake, hold back your hand from sin ! 
 Lay not up for yourselves that store of re- 
 pentance which comes from the remembrance 
 of a mother's grief, of a mother's unanswered 
 prayers ! 
 
 While I speak, we feel how great must be 
 the influence of a mother's character upon us; 
 that if she is a faithful woman, God-fearing 
 and God-trusting, we become almost as wax 
 in her hands, softened by the warmth of her 
 love, moulded by her gentle touch, until we 
 grow to the years of mature life, and find our- 
 selves, in a great degree, what she has made 
 us. We would not say absolutely that it de- 
 pends upon her what her children shall be in 
 time and in eternity, for that would be attrib- 
 uting to human strength more than it can 
 properly claim. Our best skill and wisdom, 
 even the influence of a good example, some- 
 times fail. Children who are educated under 
 
80 DUTIES. 
 
 the most judicious system, and for whom no 
 pains are spared, sometimes disappoint all 
 our hopes ; while those who are most neglect- 
 ed, and under the worst influences of bad ex- 
 ample in their parents and of depravity in the 
 world, are snatched like brands from the burn- 
 ing and grow up in piety and usefulness. We 
 must not therefore feel that it depends upon 
 us alone. We are not sufficient to ourselves 
 in any thing, least of all in the performance 
 of our duty as parents, and if there is any one 
 on whom the command to pray without ceas- 
 ing is especially enjoined, it is the Christian 
 motlter, when her children are around her. 
 She cannot feel too strongly, in her family, the 
 necessity of God's grace, guiding and protect- 
 ing those she loves. 
 
 Moreover, in speaking of the mother's influ- 
 ence over her children, we must remember 
 that her wisest efforts are sometimes defeated 
 by influences which she cannot control. I 
 have known instances in which the father has 
 taken pains, even in their early childhood, to 
 lead them in the paths of wickedness, to teach 
 
DUTIES. 81 
 
 them contempt for religion, to repeat for their 
 learning words of. blasphemy, to carry them 
 into bad company and to place them at six 
 years old upon the counter of a bar-room to 
 learn the first lesson of drunkenness. In such 
 a case shall the mother be blamed for the 
 fruitlessness of her efforts, or should we expect 
 any thing but the ruin of her child? and even 
 in cases less flagrant than this, a bad temper 
 and tyrannical disposition will bring almost as 
 bad results. The labor of directing her chil 
 dren and governing them is sometimes left 
 exclusively to the mother, without any as- 
 sistance from her husband, and is some- 
 times made almost hopeless by his angry in- 
 terference. Under such circumstances human 
 strength shrinks from the task, and nothing 
 but a mother's love would undertake it. But 
 notwithstanding all this, we sometimes see 
 the success of the Christian mother, in the 
 midst of the greatest difficulties, training up 
 her sons and daughters in the love of truth, in 
 the practice of goodness and religion, when 
 the father has thrown the Arhole weight of his 
 6 
 
82 DUTIES. 
 
 precept and example on the side of wicked 
 ness ; and I have felt, at such times, that a 
 mother's influence, if wisely and prayerfully 
 exerted, is second only to that of God himself. 
 Let her not despair. Still let her be hopeful 
 against hope, and her love, through the bless- 
 ing of God, will ultimately prevail. 
 
 Seldom, however, is her work so discourag- 
 ing. Generally she has a better field of work- 
 ing, in which a moderate degree of exertion, 
 together with a true Christian character in her- 
 self, will secure an answer to her prayers^ In 
 the majority of families, other influences are 
 not very decided, either for good or evil, and 
 become one or the other according to that 
 of the mother's character. The atmosphere 
 which her children breathe is that of religion 
 or irreligion, of worldliness or of piety, at her 
 bidding. They may advance in goodness al- 
 most by a natural growth, and from their 
 early lisping of the Lord's Prayer till their 
 characters are confirmed in goodness, her hand 
 leads them so gently, that they do not know 
 how much they owe to her, until they them- 
 
DUTIES. 83 
 
 selves have children to guide. I heard it said 
 of one who was eminent in goodness, that it 
 was impossible to understand how he could 
 be so pure, so excellent, until you had seen 
 and known his mother; but that in her face 
 and manners you would at once read the 
 vvhole history. Perhaps it was not saying too 
 much. It is difficult to estimate how large a 
 part of the excellence of the best men is due 
 to a mother's counsel, and is the reflection of 
 a mother's character. We do not need to be 
 taught that the mother of Howard was a good 
 woman, and the mother of Washington is re- 
 vered in history almost as much as Washing- 
 ton himself. 
 
 On the other hand, there must be another 
 side to the picture. The frivolous and heart- 
 less woman, who makes religion secondary to 
 fashion, who pursues pleasure so eagerly as to 
 forget her duty, who neglects her children and 
 intrusts their moral guidance to servants or 
 leaves it to chance, is unworthy of the place 
 she holds, and if her children grow up well, 
 it is a blessing she does not deserve. Nor is 
 
84 DUTIES. 
 
 such a result at all probable. Their lives be- 
 gin wrong and under wrong influence, and 
 they grow up in that worldliness and irre- 
 ligion, which scarcely seems to them wrong, 
 because commended by their mother's ex- 
 ample. It is a rare thing for the son of an 
 irreligious woman to become religious. It is 
 a rare thing for the daughter of one whose 
 chief glory is in the ball-room, and to whom 
 the pleasures of home seem tame unless its 
 quiet is changed to revelry, to become any 
 thing else than an indifferent copy of a bad 
 original. 
 
 I know very well how commonplace are 
 these remarks. If they were not common- 
 place they would not be worth making. It is 
 their universally acknowledged truth that gives 
 them importance. It is a demonstration of 
 what we wish to prove, that the mother is 
 the chief instrument, in God's hands, for the 
 moral and religious training of the young. 
 You will scarcely accuse me of exaggeration 
 in saying, that, if this influence can be made 
 right, all other influences will come right. If 
 
DUTIES. 85 
 
 tnis influence is wrong, no other can counter- 
 act it. It is strictly true, that all our efforts 
 in philanthropy aim to accomplish imperfectly 
 what the mother alone can accomplish well. 
 
 But we pass to another relation in which 
 woman is early placed, and the importance 
 of which is not sufficiently regarded by those 
 who hold it. No relationship is more pure 
 than that between the SISTER and her brother. 
 It confers no authority and implies no depen- 
 dence, and is therefore free from the wayward- 
 ness and constraint that might otherwise 
 exist. The brother regards his sister with a 
 feeling closely akin to the chivalric protection 
 of woman in olden times, and she looks to 
 him with correspondent affection and pride. 
 Her influence on him is silent, seldom acknowl- 
 edged, but very great. He forms his estimate 
 of the whole sex by her character, and woman 
 is to him an object of respect or of contempt, 
 according to what he sees of his sister's mind 
 and heart. |tFH I V'E E SI1 
 
 She cannot, therefore, be too careful in 
 teaching him to respect as well as love her 
 
86 DUTIES. 
 
 She cannot confer upon him a greater kind- 
 ness, than by giving him an exalted idea of 
 womanhood. She cannot inflict a greater 
 injury, than by leading him to think that all 
 women are trifling and heartless, indolent ex- 
 cept in the pursuit of pleasure, and greedy of 
 admiration, because he sees that such is the 
 character of his own sister. I suspect that a 
 good deal of the frivolous and contemptuous 
 treatment which men show toward the other 
 sex, would find its explanation in their want 
 of respect towards those whom they have 
 known in the home of their childhood. But 
 on the other hand, the young man who has, 
 in his mother and his sister, a correct ideal 
 of what woman ought to be, learns to respect 
 woman for some higher qualities than dress 
 or ornament, and knows how to place a cor- 
 rect estimate on those whom he meets in 
 society. He will make a wise selection of 
 female friends, and be effectually guarded 
 against those deceptions, those false appear- 
 ances in public, under which many an un- 
 fortunate man has made engagements for life, 
 
DUTIES. 87 
 
 which have proved a life-long disappoint- 
 ment. 
 
 We next speak of woman in the relation of 
 friend and BETROTHED. There is no period in 
 her life when her influence for good or evil is 
 more marked than in her first strong friend- 
 ship, and especially when she first engages 
 the affections of a lover ; and there is no 
 other in which her influence is more fre- 
 quently disregarded or heartlessly abused. 
 The man who loves, and thinks himself loved 
 in return, is easily led to a fulness of devo- 
 tion, that puts him almost at the mercy of 
 her to whom it is paid. She becomes his 
 idol for the time ; his happiness is in her 
 power. He can see no faults which are not, 
 by the magic of love, changed to beauties. 
 His whole nature is exalted by the hope, the 
 certainty, that the heart of one so pure and 
 good is given to him. He hesitates to believe 
 it, but at last rests happy in the conviction. 
 
 It is said that woman loves more strongly 
 than man ; but he loves more blindly. She 
 loves him notwithstanding his faults ; but 
 
88 DUTIES. 
 
 his love prevents him from seeing that she 
 has any. Jf, therefore, after he has thus be- 
 stowed his confidence and his best affections, 
 he finds himself deceived, and that she, whom 
 he thought so lovely, deserves neither respect 
 nor love ; or if, through her coquetry and 
 fickleness, he is suddenly repulsed, by averted 
 looks and the cold answer that she is sorry 
 her feelings have been so much misunder- 
 stood, how great will be the revulsion in his 
 feelings, and how serious the injury done to 
 his whole character! His friends may truly 
 tell him that he has had a lucky escape, and 
 he may believe them ; but his affections are 
 not the less blighted, and his confidence in 
 woman gone. That disappointment in his 
 first misplaced confidence will perhaps make 
 him a worse man than he would otherwise 
 have been, and serve as an excuse for many 
 wrongs against the sex by which he has been 
 injured. Such is the influence on him, 
 while perhaps she, who has wrought so great 
 a fraud upon his credulity, plumes herself 
 upon the conquest, and goes deliberately to 
 work to make another. 
 
DUTIES. 89 
 
 The world is very one-sided in its judg- 
 ments. If a man acts thus towards a woman, 
 it is a crying sin and shame ; but if the 
 shadow falls on the other side, it is only a 
 thing of daily occurrence, and some stale jest 
 is made about " men's not dying for love." 
 Perhaps not; and pride will make them cover 
 over the mortification by mirth and festivity, 
 but by so much the harder is the inward strug- 
 gle. Men are not devoid of strong feeling, 
 and, although they may not prate about be- 
 trayal and a broken heart, they feel no in- 
 sult so deeply as that of which I now speak. 
 Women should be more careful than they are. 
 The love of a manly heart is not to be light- 
 ly regarded ; it should never be trifled with. 
 She who takes pains to fix it on herself, when 
 she is unable to return it, and then makes 
 it her amusement or scorn, deserves to be 
 called by some worse name than coquette, if 
 a worse name can be found. Her own sex 
 should rebuke her, and from men she should 
 receive that which is to her the only severe 
 punishment, neglect. 
 
90 DTTTIEb. 
 
 We next speak of the stronger and holier 
 relation, in which woman becomes the WIFE. 
 When that word is first spoken, her position 
 in the world is completely changed. She has 
 placed her happiness in the keeping of an- 
 other, and the whole complexion of her life 
 for good or evil is fixed, according to the 
 character of him to whom she has surrendered 
 her liberty. By human law his power is made 
 so great, that she cannot easily escape from 
 it even when harshly exercised, without bring- 
 ing reproach upon herself and perhaps unde- 
 served shame. Still more, her affections hold 
 her so closely to him, that, long after he has 
 deserved her contempt or hate, she continues 
 to follow him with love. She may see his 
 unworthiness, but she does not the less love 
 him. He may be cold, severe, tyrannical, but 
 a few words of tenderness make her forget it 
 all, and his slightest assurances of love are 
 readily believed. She may wait upon him 
 in the sickness which guilt has brought, and 
 witness his brutal sleep, and look with sorrow 
 upon his bloated face, and yet under all she 
 
DUTIES. 91 
 
 sees the form of him whom she first loved ; 
 the words of his first endearment still are 
 ringing in her ears. 
 
 It is very wonderful that this should be so, 
 but such is the fact. I have heard many 
 women express the utmost astonishment at 
 such devotion in others, and say that nothing 
 would induce them to submit to such hard- 
 ships, and that they could not love a man 
 under such circumstances ; but wherever the 
 trial comes, the same experience is apt to be 
 repeated. There is scarcely any limit to wo- 
 man's devotedness, where she has once devot- 
 edly loved. You cannot judge her by any rule 
 of reason, of expediency, of worldly advan- 
 tage, or of commonplace affection. Men can- 
 not understand it, and perhaps woman herself 
 cannot; but it is as though she had given her- 
 self away, and had no power to recall the gift. 
 
 Such is the practical law of married life, to 
 oer who has once loved. It should teach her 
 to be very careful in bestowing her love, and 
 still more careful in giving her hand, as the 
 crowning proof of love, in marriage. The risk 
 
92 DUTIES. 
 
 which she runs is great enough, even at the 
 best. If her husband is a man of good princi- 
 ple and worthy of being loved, he may still 
 have faults of temper and peculiarities of taste, 
 of which she can know nothing until the inti- 
 mate relations of home make them known to 
 her, and by which the trials of married life be- 
 come sufficiently great. But let there be good 
 moral and religious principle to begin with, 
 and there is hope for the future. Without 
 them, her influence will be comparatively 
 slight, and will become less every day; but 
 with them as the basis, she becomes his best 
 teacher and surest guide. 
 
 Of this, which is her proper influence, we 
 would say a few words. It is very great or 
 very little, according to her manner of using 
 it. If exerted chiefly in direct advice, fault- 
 finding, and complaining, it will not accom- 
 plish much. If it is the influence of gentle- 
 ness, of a well-governed temper, of cheerful- 
 ness and industry, she will find few men able 
 to resist it, unless they are already placed by 
 confirmed bad habits quite beyond her reach. 
 
DUTIES. 93 
 
 Whoever wishes to put himself in such cir- 
 cumstances that virtue will every day seem 
 more lovely and vice more hateful, let him 
 choose for his wife a virtuous, sensible, and 
 . religious woman, and having provided for her 
 a home which she can call her own, not a 
 boarding-house, but a home, let him supply it 
 with the needful comforts and conveniences, 
 and he may safely commit the guidance of his 
 life to her. She will fill his house with an 
 atmosphere of love and peace, in which the 
 roughness of his temper will be smoothed, his 
 happiness secured, and his whole character 
 elevated. But unless she is amiable, sensible, 
 and virtuous, he will find a different result. 
 He must choose her, therefore, not for her styl- 
 ish excellences, but for the substantial quali- 
 ties of a good mind, good manners, and a 
 good temper, exemplified in neatness, indus- 
 try, and piety. 
 
 The wife's influence, so far as good, is 
 measured by such qualities. Her precept 
 may be very wise, her advice very sound, her 
 complaints very just, and a wise man will 
 
94 DUTIES. 
 
 never turn a deaf ear to them ; but her exam- 
 ple is far more efficacious. I am sometimes 
 asked by the wife, " How shall I make my 
 husband more religious ? " But there is only 
 one answer. Be truly religious yourself; let 
 him see that your religion is making you 
 sweet-tempered under the vexations of life 
 and faithful under its trials, and if you have 
 any influence over him, that is the surest way 
 to exert it. If he is capable of being saved, 
 you will by this means accomplish it. We 
 believe that few women who pursue a course 
 of this kind will fail, and all other methods of 
 management and directing may be laid aside. 
 The very name of management, on the part 
 of a wife towards her husband, excites derision 
 or disgust, and the least indication of it com- 
 pletely destroys her influence. 
 
 Finally, we speak of the DAUGHTER. Her 
 influence is that of gentleness, obedience, and 
 love. Before she is ten years old, her presence 
 .n the family, if she is well-mannered and well- 
 taught, is like a gleam of sunshine. As she 
 trips with a light step from room to room, a 
 
DUTIES. 95 
 
 smile on each face follows her. She grows 
 up in innocence and truth. She divides her 
 mother's cares, although herself free from care. 
 She is busied with household duties and makes 
 them a pleasant recreation by the cheerfulness 
 and good taste with which they are performed. 
 She makes industrious use of her advantages, 
 and thus repays those who provide them for 
 her. She is wise enough to defer her own 
 wishes to those of her parents, and to return 
 their affection by that artless obedience which 
 seems to be the natural expression of love. 
 Such is the daughter as she ought to be. It 
 is impossible to tell the pride which her par- 
 ents feel in her. Her father's eye rests upon 
 her with a quiet satisfaction that no worldly 
 success can impart. She is the very joy of his 
 heart, the sweetest pleasure of his life. He 
 may love his sons equally well, but there is a 
 shade of tenderness towards his daughter, by 
 which she seems nearer to him. 
 
 Such is the daughter as she ought to be, 
 and such the relation which should exist be- 
 tween her and her parents. Her influence 
 
96 DUTIES. 
 
 then is very marked in the family circle. Her 
 presence modifies the tone of conversation , 
 her hands give the finishing touch to every 
 thing in the household, so that an indefinable 
 grace and tastefulness pervade all. Her ab- 
 sence is felt by all as an evil, and no one is 
 aware how useful she has always been, and 
 how much of their social happiness depended 
 upon her, until they learn it by this means. 
 
 But if I were to speak with equal truthful- 
 ness of the daughter as she sometimes is, and 
 of the relation which she holds in some fami- 
 lies to the different members of the household, 
 you would think that I was dealing in satire, 
 or endeavoring to be severe. She contrives, 
 not unfrequently, to become as absolutely use- 
 less as it is possible for a living person to be ; 
 a hinderance to all work, a preventive of all 
 thought, a source of anxiety to her father and 
 of unceasing trouble to her mother. She has 
 hands and fingers, which the keys of the piano 
 will testify and the glitter of rings, but they 
 seem to have been made for nothing useful, 
 and shrink like a sensitive plant from any 
 
DUTIES. 97 
 
 thing that can be called work. She has feet 
 and strength to use them, as the dance will 
 testify, where from nine o'clock until daylight 
 she undergoes an amount of physical exertion 
 quite wonderful to behold ; but there her ener- 
 gy is exhausted, and it is a weary task to walk 
 a mile, or to wait on herself, or to do any thing 
 else worth doing. She has undoubtedly tKe 
 faculty of thought, but nothing in her conver- 
 sation proves it. The introduction of a serious 
 subject is a hint for her to retire, and to ask 
 her opinion upon any question of literature or 
 politics or social morality, is to her only a 
 proof of your dulness. But introduce the sub- 
 ject of dress or ornament or the latest fashion, 
 and the volubility of tongue will amaze, if it 
 does not delight you. An excellent prepara- 
 tion this for the serious duties of life, and a 
 happy prospect has he who takes such an one 
 to share with him the real trials of the world ! 
 Still worse, it is sometimes quite shocking to 
 see with what levity these young ladies, who 
 would themselves be shocked if you call them 
 young women, will incur expenses which their 
 7 
 
98 DUTIES. 
 
 fathers are reluctant to pay, and spend their 
 time in the most frivolous idleness, while their 
 mothers work like servants in the kitchen and 
 the nursery. To meet them on the street in 
 their elegant array of silks and finery, for 
 the display of which I cannot but think the 
 street a most unsuitable place, or in the as- 
 sembly-room, where full dress is measured by 
 its costliness, not its quantity, you would not 
 suspect that their fathers are vexed in mind 
 how to pay for the extravagance. Sometimes 
 their mothers, not to be thrown into the shade, 
 share with them to the utmost of their folly, 
 and mother and daughter are rivals for the 
 same flippant, unmeaning attentions ; and 
 sometimes, which is worse for the one, but 
 better for the other, the daughter's extrava- 
 gance is atoned for by the mother's self- 
 Denial. 
 
 I do not mean to speak lightly or harshly, 
 but I think there is need of speaking plainly. 
 Good taste, not less than good morals and 
 religion, require of the young lady to become 
 useful as well as ornamental. It is surely to 
 
DUTIES. 99 
 
 be much regretted that fashion and dress and 
 admiration of silly men engross so much of 
 her thoughts. Let her learn a greater degree 
 of self-respect. Let the refinements and ele- 
 gances of life continue ; let her presence dif- 
 fuse brightness and dispel gloomy thought ; 
 but there is no need of her being idle or use- 
 less. If she strives to be as beautiful ajid 
 attractive as an angel, she ought to remember 
 that an angel's best prerogative is to serve 
 God faithfully, to be ready for every mission 
 of kindness, to engage in every good work* 
 
LECTURE IV. 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 *MTo know wisdom and instruction ; to perceive the words of under- 
 standing. Prov. i. 2. 
 
 MY subject to-night is Female Education 
 We have heretofore spoken of the different 
 relations in which woman is placed, and of 
 the influence she unavoidably exerts. As 
 society becomes more refined, her influence 
 increases, and the question therefore becomes 
 more important, How shall her education be 
 so conducted as to make it good ? In other 
 words, How shall she be prepared for the 
 proper performance of the real duties of life ? 
 It is the same question that we ask concern- 
 ing men, and the importance of a right an- 
 swer is then universally acknowledged ; but 
 female education is left very much to chance 
 
EDUCATION. 101 
 
 influences, and its direction intrusted to those 
 who know little about what it ought to be. 
 The remarks which I shall now make are not, 
 however, intended to develop a system, but 
 rather to direct your thoughts to the subject, 
 as one which has been too much neglected. 
 
 The education of the young should have 
 chiefly two objects in view : First, the devel- 
 opment of the individual mind ; and, secondly, 
 to fit each individual for the position in life 
 which will probably be held. These are the 
 great objects of education, so far as this world 
 alone is concerned. They belong to one sex 
 as well as the other, and in the education of 
 boys and young men, no one would think of 
 neglecting them ; but in the education of girls 
 they are almost systematically disregarded, 
 and from their neglect arise many of the 
 mistakes which we have so much reason to 
 lament. 
 
 In the first place, the girl or young lady 
 should be educated with reference to her own 
 absolute wants. She should be treated as a 
 rational being, who has a mind to think with, 
 
102 EDUCATION. 
 
 dutias to perform, and a soul to save. She 
 should be taught from the beginning to make 
 the best of her own faculties, and all the 
 means of intellectual improvement which her 
 parents are able to afford should be given to 
 her. These will be great or little, according 
 to her station in society and the degree of 
 wealth. To the poor, the means of education 
 must be limited, but the rich may make them 
 as great as they please. Even the compara- 
 tively poor may make them much greater 
 than they do, if brought to feel that the ob- 
 ject is worth self-denial in its attainment. 
 
 But the limit of education should be fixed, 
 not by some arbitrary idea of how much a 
 woman ought to know, or how much it is 
 safe to teach without spoiling her as a good 
 housekeeper or a faithful drudge, the prin- 
 ciple on which the education or no education 
 of the slave is conducted, but the limits 
 of female education should be fixed, as of 
 the man's, by the capacity of the individual 
 scholar and the external means within reach. 
 
 We say to the boy or to the young man, 
 
EDUCATION. 103 
 
 " Mako the best of yourself; there is no dan- 
 ger of your learning too much; read, study, 
 think, for the sake of gaining maturity of judg- 
 ment, and a well-disciplined mind. Lose no 
 opportunity of attaining knowledge, whether 
 it promises to be of immediate use or not. It 
 is good for its own sake. Its acquisition will 
 strengthen the mind, as exercise strengthens 
 the body." We advise him to educate him- 
 self by all the means within his reach, not only 
 nor chiefly that he may become a more suc- 
 cessful merchant or a more eminent lawyer, 
 but because the education is in itself good. 
 It makes a man of him. It takes him out 
 from the littleness of humanity, and interests 
 him in the great things of life, virtue, truth, 
 honor, beauty, and religion. It makes him in- 
 dependent, to a great degree, of external cir- 
 cumstances, and frees him from the necessity 
 of riches, which common men feel, by giving 
 him inward and inexhaustible wealth. The 
 educated man can say, " My thoughts to me 
 my kingdom are," and whether rich or poor, 
 whether mechanic or merchant or professional 
 
V 
 
 104 EDUCATION. 
 
 scholar, whether he is a married or a lonely 
 man, will prize his education as one of the 
 best temporal gifts which Providence has be- 
 stowed. 
 
 But why is not this as true of woman as 
 of man ? If she is a rational being, why 
 should we not treat her as such ? Why 
 should she not be made to feel from the days 
 of girlhood, that it is her duty to make the 
 best of herself, in the development of her whole 
 mind, in the proper use of all her faculties? 
 Why should she not be taught that knowledge 
 is good, whether immediately useful or not, 
 that the object of her studying is not merely 
 to learn something which she can put to prac- 
 tical use when she becomes a wife and moth- 
 er, but self-improvement for the improvement's 
 sake? Why should she feel, as she often does, 
 that the whole uses of education are attained, 
 if she appears well in society and avoids those 
 mistakes which betray ignorance ? Why 
 should manners be regarded as almost every 
 thing, and the substance of a cultivated intel 
 lectual nature almost nothing? 
 
EDTJC1TION. 105 
 
 I am afraid that comparatively few young 
 ladies are accustomed to think of education in 
 this way. They think of it as a schooling to 
 be continued until the age of sixteen or seven- 
 teen, the object of which is to make them ap- 
 pear as well as others in their own circle, and 
 therefore to give them an equal chance of suc- 
 cess. They seldom think of it as the begin- 
 ning of self-culture, the end of which is ma- 
 turity of character and the full excellence of 
 womanhood. We say to the boy, 'Make a 
 man of yourself; be diligent, that when you 
 come to manly years you may have a manly 
 character. Why not say to the girl, Make 
 a woman of yourself, that when you come to 
 womanly years you may have a womanly 
 character ? But instead of it we say, Learn to 
 be ladylike ; remember that when you become 
 a lady you will be quite ashamed to speak bad 
 grammar or to enter a room in a stiff or awk- 
 ward way. This is a much lower standard 
 and reduces every thing to outside appear- 
 ances. It makes the cultivation of the mind 
 wait on the prettiness of the body. It makes 
 
106 EDUCATION. 
 
 a woman's education less important than her 
 manners, and the dancing-master more indis- 
 pensable than any other teacher. It degrades 
 womanhood. It prevents the girl from seeing 
 the real excellence of knowledge, the essential 
 value of intellectual improvement. The young 
 lady is not taught to respect herself for what 
 she is, but for what she appears to be. She 
 does not labor to improve herself because she 
 has a mind that needs improvement, and fac- 
 ulties the exercise of which is the truest hap- 
 piness, but her labor ceases when a certain de- 
 gree of indispensable knowledge and outward 
 polish is attained. The accomplishments 
 which belong to the fingers and the feet are 
 much more highly prized than those of the 
 mind and character. Some show of study or 
 some general plan of reading is kept up, for 
 six or twelve months after leaving school, or 
 until she stands at the marriage altar, and 
 then, the great purposes of education having 
 been secured, the further improvement of the 
 mind is accounted unnecessary. 
 
 I do not mean to be guilty of sarcasm. It 
 
EDUCATION. 107 
 
 is an easy kind of wit, which any body with 
 an observing eye and a bad temper can attain. 
 I should be sorry, therefore, if in my remarks 
 I seem sarcastic, where I only intend to speak 
 the truth ; but it seems scarcely too much to 
 say, and female writers themselves make the 
 .complaint more strongly than I would venture 
 to do, that female education is often conduct- 
 ed, both in school and afterwards, as if the 
 chief end of woman were to be married, and 
 the chief object of education to secure a good 
 establishment. Whatever will conduce to 
 that end, by rendering her attractive, by mak- 
 ing her the object of admiration, by enabling 
 her to appear well in society and to take cap- 
 tive the hearts of men, all of this is valued. 
 No part of it is omitted. For its attainment 
 no expense is spared. But the education 
 needed to make her think, to make a woman 
 of her, to teach her self-respect and self-reli- 
 ance, is comparatively neglected. 
 
 This is the great error by which, more than 
 by any thing else, woman is prevented from 
 taking her right position in society, and from 
 
108 EDUCATION. 
 
 exerting her full influence. She is not edu- 
 cated for her own individual sake, but with 
 reference to a certain effect to be produced on 
 those around her, and a certain result to be 
 attained. She is not taught to enjoy study ; 
 she is not supplied with those intellectual re- 
 sources which would make her independent 
 of praise or blame. Her ideas of usefulness 
 and happiness are associated with her estab- 
 lishment in life as a married woman, and she 
 does not prepare herself by self-education and 
 self-discipline to be useful and happy, through 
 the force of her own character and a cultivated 
 mind, in whatever position she may be placed. 
 I admit that " marriage is honorable," and 
 that both man and woman should look for- 
 ward to it with hope and joyful expectation. 
 It is unquestionably needful to our highest 
 usefulness and best happiness. Without it, 
 our nature is but half developed, and we. are 
 in great danger of becoming selfish and nar- 
 row-minded. It is the appointment of Provi- 
 dence, the gift of Divine love, and if evaded or 
 refused, no complete compensation for the loss 
 
En T CATION. 109 
 
 can be found. Under ordinary circumstances, 
 therefore, it is a serious misfortune to either 
 sex to remain in what is called single, in op- 
 position, I suppose, to the twofold blessedness. 
 But surely this is not true of woman alone ; 
 it is equally true of man. If any thing, it 
 is more true ; for man's nature, being more 
 rough and harsh, stands in greater need of the 
 softening, purifying influences of the family 
 circle. 
 
 How often do we see that among the gen- 
 tlest and loveliest of their sex, everywhere wel- 
 come, everywhere honored, are those who 
 have accounted the prize of matrimony not 
 great enough for their acceptance ! They are 
 often the most important members of the 
 family, the consolers of grief, the unwearied 
 attendants in the chamber of sickness, the 
 visitors of the poor, finding in the exercise of 
 all beautiful charities and kindly affections, 
 if not the full happiness of which they are 
 capable, yet enough to make their lives a 
 continual expression of gratitude to God, and 
 themselves a blessing to all they love. We 
 
110 EDUCATION. 
 
 may know many such, and in the excellent 
 disinterestedness of their lives, they are num- 
 bered among the saints of the earth. But 
 how seldom do we find a. parallel instance 
 among those of my own sex ! Notwithstand- 
 ing all the flippant jests upon the subject, my 
 observation leads me to think that a single 
 life is much more fatal to man's happiness 
 and usefulness than to woman's. 
 
 But how absurd it would be if, in his edu- 
 cation, every thing were made to turn upon 
 such considerations! The best way to edu- 
 cate him to become a good husband and father 
 is to make him a good man. Give him the 
 best education in your power with that view, 
 and you do that which is best for him under 
 all circumstances. So in woman's education, 
 it should be conducted primarily with a view 
 to make her a thoughtful, intelligent, well- 
 educated person. However much her hap- 
 piness may be increased by^an establishment 
 in life, she should have resources of mind and 
 character, such as to secure her happiness at 
 all events. 
 
EDUCATION. Ill 
 
 Secondly, female education should be con- 
 ducted with reference to the duties which 
 woman is called upon to fulfil in the differ- 
 ent relations of life. Not, as I have already 
 fiaid, merely with a view to her entering on 
 such relations, which is the education of out- 
 side show and accomplishments ; but with 
 reference to the duties which devolve upon 
 her as a married woman, if circumstances 
 lead her to become such. But this view of 
 the subject compels me in part to repeat what 
 I have already said ; for how would you pre- 
 pare one to become a good wife and a judi- 
 cious mother, except by making her an intel- 
 ligent and sensible woman ? Other things 
 being equal, the more highly educated a per- 
 son is, in whatever situation placed, the greater 
 his influence, and more worthy he will be of 
 respect. This is true of one sex as well as of 
 the other. The time has passed when it was 
 taken for granted that the more contracted a 
 woman's education, the more likely she is to 
 become a good wife and mother. Those 
 were the days when wife and servant meant 
 
1 12 EDUCATION. 
 
 nearly the same thing. Civilization has ad 
 vanced too far, education is too generally dif- 
 fused, for such ideas to prevail. It is ex- 
 pected, nay, required, that every woman in 
 good society shall be well informed, well edu- 
 cated. Without this, her general influence in 
 society is small, and even her moral influence 
 in the domestic circle greatly lessened. For a 
 certain degree of intellectual development is 
 necessary to command respect, and she whose 
 mind is narrowed by prejudice, or who is ig- 
 norant upon subjects of ordinary interest in 
 science and literature, labors under great dis- 
 adv&ntages in all the relations of life. She 
 need not be afraid of knowing too much. 
 The New England idea on the subject is 
 correct, that every girl should be educated 
 well enough to become a teacher in case of 
 necessity ; that with this view she should be 
 taught thoroughly so far as she goes, 'and 
 should go as far as time and opportunity allow. 
 Such an education will unfit her to be the 
 wife of a silly or ignorant man, unless to be- 
 come his teacher ; but fortunately it would 
 take awav the desire as well as the fitness. 
 
EDUCATION. 113 
 
 When thus taught, she is prepared, if she 
 becomes a wife, to be the head of her house- 
 hold ; she is the companion and equal of her 
 husband, capable of being his confidential 
 adviser and assistant. He prizes her more 
 highly in the performance of her domestic du- 
 ties, because he respects her understanding. 
 He is glad to receive counsel from her, be- 
 cause he sees that she has laid up materials 
 for thought, and that she knows how to use 
 them. It is a very good thing for a man to 
 have a wife whom he can thus regard, and if 
 1 were preaching to young men, I would ad- 
 vise them to take no ^ther. No one can tell 
 how much he gains from daily intercourse 
 with a well-educated and sensible woman, 
 who at the same time performs her own du- 
 ties well, so as to make his home pleasant, 
 and is able to share his thoughts, to enter 
 into his cares, to suggest good counsel, and 
 to direct his mind not less than engage his 
 heart. That is a helpmeex indeed ; buv to 
 become such, a woman must not be afrai^ ^ 
 knowledge nor unwilling to think. 
 8 
 
Ill . EDUCATION. 
 
 A good education is equally important to 
 the mother. As the minds of her children 
 are developed, their " obstinate questionings 
 of sense and outward things " are enough to 
 puzzle even the wisest; but if she is able to 
 lead them aright in their first seeking after 
 truth and knowledge, to 'give them a taste 
 for reading and direct them in their early 
 choice of books, she will accomplish, almost 
 without being aware of it, the most impor- 
 tant part of their education. I have often re- 
 marked the difficulty, even in the best schools, 
 of giving a good education to children, es- 
 pecially to girls, w r hose mother is illiterate or 
 ignorant. You may provide for them the 
 most accomplished teachers, who will carry 
 them through books enough to entitle therr 
 to a degree in college, and yet the illiterate 
 home-atmosphere, the uneducated mother- 
 tongue, will half neutralize your efforts. Par- 
 ticularly is this true with regard to the little 
 refinements of education, and the right cul- 
 tivation of taste, which go so far towards 
 characterizing the lady and the gentleman in 
 
EDUCATION. 115 
 
 society . What is learned from the mother is 
 thoroughly learned, and it requires a great 
 deal of drilling at school to undo her mistakes 
 and remedy her false teaching. But if she is 
 able to help the teacher, the school work will 
 go on profitably, or, if circumstances require, 
 may be dispensed withi 
 
 We do not say that the education of chil- 
 dren should be intrusted to the mother as her 
 duty, for she seldom has either time or strength 
 for its performance; but it is certainly desira- 
 ble for her to be competent to the task, as to 
 her own education. She will then aid the 
 teacher and supply the unavoidable deficien- 
 cies of school education, while, at the same 
 time, she brings her children more immedi- 
 ately under her own influence, and teaches 
 them to respect her more. A new relation 
 to them is established, and her duties as a 
 mother receive new dignity. Even the drudg- 
 eries of household care, from which but few 
 ladies can escape, become less irksome, be- 
 cause of the spiritual and intellectual influ- 
 ence which she is consciously exerting over 
 
116 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 those whom she loves. No greater mistake 
 can be made, than to suppose that an ignorant 
 woman is more likely to become a good house- 
 keeper than one who is well educated. It is 
 like the antiquated mistake, that a man is 
 spoilt -for a merchant, if he is a scholar or a 
 gentleman. A pedant, who knows just enough 
 to be self-conceited, is out of place either in 
 the counting-room or nursery ; not because of 
 too much education, but too little. A super- 
 ficial mind, imperfectly instructed, is unfitted 
 for all real duties. A sound and good educa- 
 tion both stimulates and enables us to do the 
 best we can, under whatever circumstances 
 we are placed. 
 
 But when we speak of a good and sound 
 education, what do we mean? It is not that 
 which comes from school-books and a hired 
 teacher alone, but includes the physical, mor- 
 al, and religious training, which are the work 
 chiefly of home influence and of individual 
 self-discipline. Upon these points it is ne- 
 cessary to say something, for the worst mis- 
 takes in education proceed from their neglect. 
 
EDUCATION. 117 
 
 Schools are good things and books are good 
 things, but a healthy mind in a healthy body 
 is far better, and the education which neglects 
 these is likely to do as much harm as good. 
 What we need for the real duties of life is not 
 the knowledge of geography, arithmetic, and 
 grammar, but manliness and womanliness of 
 character. What we learn is chiefly valuable 
 in teaching us to think, in developing the 
 mind, in elevating the tastes, in maturing the 
 judgment. We thus become men and wo- 
 men, and learn to put away childish things. 
 But under the system of periodical cramming 
 and display, adopted in many schools, partic- 
 ularly for girls, the mind is scarcely educated 
 at all. The memory becomes apt and the per- 
 ception quick, by which means a good recita- 
 tion is produced ; but the art of thinking is 
 not taught. Girls very often leave school with 
 a "finished education," whose education is 
 scarcely begun. The materials of thought 
 have been put in their minds, but not the abil- 
 ity to use them. They become women, but 
 not womanly. They continue to think as the 
 
1 IS EDUCATION. 
 
 child, to speak as the child, and to understand 
 as the child, and do not put away childish 
 things. The idea of continued improvement, 
 of self-culture, of an education which contin- 
 ues through life, does not even enter their 
 minds. They have finished. As I once heard 
 a child say, when passing from the first to the 
 second part of his primer, that " he had got 
 through prose and had begun poetry" ; so the 
 learning part of their life is over, and they now 
 look for its enjoyment. Their school-books 
 and almost all other books are laid upon the 
 shelf, and the externals of life engage the un- 
 divided attention. 
 
 An education which leads to such a result 
 is not worth the prices sometimes paid for it. 
 It is a sham quite as much as a substance ; 
 but the fault is not chargeable upon the teach- 
 er alone, nor upon the school, although a part 
 of it must rest there. It is still more charge- 
 able upon the parents, and results from the 
 want of right influences at home. If the mor- 
 al and religious education is there neglected, 
 the school will be building upon a sandy foun- 
 
EDUCATION. 119 
 
 dation, and the superstructure, however pretty 
 to look at, will not endure the wear of actual 
 life. 
 
 Let us consider this point still more care- 
 fully, for it is our principal subject this even- 
 ing. The tendency at the present day is to 
 overrate the education of books and to under- 
 rate the education of character. At the risk, 
 therefore, of seeming to contradict myself, I. 
 would show that moral and religious culture 
 is, beyond comparison, the most important. 
 We can do without books; we cannot do 
 without virtue and religion. The use of edu- 
 cation is to make us wiser and better ; other- 
 wise it is an evil instead of a good. It is a 
 Bad thing to see the character neglected for the 
 sake of learning, for knowledge then becomes 
 an instrument of iniquity. After all, the edu- 
 cation upon which we chiefly depend for our 
 usefulness and happiness is not that which 
 comes from books or schools. Men may learn 
 to think without the printed page ; they may 
 learn to act usefully, wisely, and honorably, 
 by the grace of God. 
 
120 EDUCATION. 
 
 We have known men, for example, to whom 
 the meagre education of a primary school was 
 all with which they began life ; being forced, 
 at the age of ten or twelve years, to enter up- 
 on the career of active industry. 
 ? In the strength of a resolute purpose, and 
 by virtue of what is properly called mother 
 wit, they have steadily advanced, not only in 
 , the accumulation of property, but in the at- 
 tainment of useful knowledge. Their practi- 
 cal observation of men and things has served 
 to develop their thinking faculties ; good prin- 
 ciple has saved them from the errors so often 
 fatal to the young ; industry has gradually 
 supplied the place of early education ; com- 
 mon sense has been matured by experience, 
 until it has grown into that soundness of judg- 
 ment which is the best practical wisdom, and 
 the attainment of which is one of the highest 
 objects of education itself. Thus, by the time 
 the years of middle life have come, they have 
 put themselves in the foremost ranks of soci- 
 ety, in usefulness and respectability, among 
 merchants, mechanics, or statesmen. Such is 
 
EDUCATION. 121 
 
 the history of some of the most useful and dis- 
 tinguished men in our country. Undoubtedly 
 they always feel the inconvenience of imper- 
 fect early education ; they would give one 
 half they are worth to supply the deficiency 
 The college student will smile at their mis 
 takes in conversation, and they will smile with 
 him, not because they despise knowledge, but 
 because they are free from affectation. 
 
 But compare such persons with the student, 
 who sits all day with his feet on the fender 
 and his head in the clouds ; or with the litera- 
 ry man, who reads every thing and does noth- 
 ing ; and which is the better, the nobler, the 
 more respectable? Nay, which is the better 
 educated? Is not the self-education which 
 has made a strong character and a manly life 
 better than the really bad education which 
 ends in idleness and a dream ? The highest 
 education of the intellect is worthless, unless 
 the moral nature is developed and manliness 
 secured. 
 
 Still more true is this of woman. However 
 important the education of books, that of the 
 
122 EDUCATION. 
 
 heart and character is better, and goes far to 
 take its place. The truly accomplished wo- 
 man needs both, but very often the greater is 
 sacrificed for the less. I do not advocate 
 ignorance, but I have known women to whom, 
 the writing a letter is a serious undertaking, 
 and the whole range of whose reading is the 
 Bible, a prayer-book, or perhaps some time 
 hallowed book of sermons or a religious news* 
 paper, who are yet sensible persons, capable 
 of performing all the duties of life gracefully 
 and well. 
 
 In former days, when the opportunities of 
 education were less than now, such instances 
 were not 7 unfrequent. Shall I describe such 
 a one to you ? The dancing-school has done 
 nothing for her, yet her step is quick and light, 
 and near the bed of sickness her motions are 
 so gentle, that the sufferer follows her with a 
 smile on his face and a tear in his eye. She 
 never knew the meaning of Psychology, but 
 she has watched the working of her own 
 heart, and the spirit of God has wrought with 
 her spirit, until her theory of the soul is, that 
 
EDUCATION. 123 
 
 " God worketh in her both to will and to do 
 of his good pleasure." She never opened a 
 book of moral philosophy, but she knows 
 enough to reject with scorn the learned theo- 
 ry of Paley, that selfishness is the root of all 
 goodness, for her Bible tells her that self-deni- 
 al is the beginning of virtue, and self-sacrifice 
 its perfect consummation. Her acquaintance 
 with geography and history is small ; but she 
 daily visits, in faith, the hallowed places where 
 the Saviour trod, and every chosen passage 
 of Scripture is familiar to her as household 
 words. She has received no instruction from 
 the singing-master, but a well-governed tem- 
 per has taught her to modulate her voice, so 
 that it is always musical and never too loud 
 or too sharp. She looks with astonishment 
 at the books which her children bring home 
 from school, but while regretting her inability 
 to aid them in their studies, she can teach 
 them habits of attention and make them 
 cheerful under their first discouragements ; 
 nor did it ever occur to them to despise their 
 mother because ignorant of things which she 
 
124 EDUCATION. 
 
 never had opportunity to learn, for they love 
 and revere her too much to think her ignorant 
 of any thing. Thus will the pure mind give 
 the most beautiful adorning ; thus will a heav- 
 en-directed spirit refine and elevate itself, and 
 gain many of the results of education, with- 
 out employment of its ordinary means. It 
 is, perhaps, an historical picture that I have 
 drawn, but has it not some traits of beauty 
 even to our eyes ? 
 
 I need not say, that this is not my ideal of 
 what woman ought to be. To make her such, 
 you must add mental culture and the refine- 
 ments of cultivated taste. Yet such an one 
 has an innate nobleness that entitles her to 
 respect and makes her greatly superior to 
 many whose school education is far more 
 complete. Compare her with those fancifully 
 educated ladies, who dip into a hundred 
 books without understanding any ; who have 
 a smattering of half a dozen languages, but 
 cannot express themselves with simplicity in 
 their own ; who have a great deal of knowl- 
 edge, but veiy few ideas ; who have spent 
 
EDUCATION. 125 
 
 months and years in the acquisition of accom- 
 plishments, but have no industry to accom- 
 plish arty thing useful ; who have, in a word,, 
 enjoyed the advantages of polite education, 
 but have never been taught that self-discipline 
 which is the result of moral and religious 
 training, and which is so indispensable to so- 
 cial and domestic life : and how immeasura- 
 bly superior does the education of heart and 
 life appear, to that which is chiefly of the in- 
 tellect and manners, but which is, even in 
 these departments, so imperfect. 
 
 Under a right system of education, there is 
 no necessity of neglecting one part for the 
 other. We say of the merchant or mechanic, 
 that integrity of character, good judgment, 
 and a practical knowledge of his business, are 
 more important than general information. If 
 he loses them, he loses every thing; but the 
 latter ought not to be neglected. Make him 
 a well-informed man, and his integrity, judg- 
 ment, and practical knowledge will be worth 
 twice as much as before. So in woman's 
 education, the attainment of knowledge and 
 
126 EDUCATION. 
 
 improvement of the manners, the cultivation 
 of taste, the accomplishments of music, draw- 
 ing, and dancing, need not be neglected, and 
 ought not to be ; but they must be made 
 secondary and subordinate to moral culture. 
 They should become the handmaids of relig- 
 ion and virtue ; branches grafted into the 
 healthy tree of home education. The woman 
 should regard them, first, as the means used 
 for her own improvement and happiness, and 
 secondly, as instruments in making her home 
 pleasant and attractive, so as to fill her place 
 in life gracefully and well. But very often the 
 refinements of education are so managed as 
 to unfit her for practical life. She is not only 
 kept ignorant of all the details of household 
 duty, by which means the beginning of her 
 married life is often made a series of blunders, 
 both mortifying and costly ; but she wants 
 the moral training of temper and disposition, 
 without which it is so hard for her to learn. 
 The result is sometimes, not only painful, but 
 ludicrous. The husband not unfrequently dis- 
 covers that he has made a fatal error, and, to 
 
EDUCATION. 127 
 
 use the quaint language of HENRY COLEMAN, 
 "that, for all the purposes of domestic life, he 
 might as well have put a skilfully painted 
 picture in the parlor, and a statue of Venus 
 de Medicis in the kitchen." 
 
 Let it be remarked, however, that the defi- 
 ciency of which we now complain is not mere- 
 ly of skill in the management of household 
 affairs ; although this is to be regretted. It is 
 want of that moral and religious education, 
 which gives habits of industry and economy, 
 a contented disposition, a cheerful heart and 
 pleasant manners, a willingness to oblige, fa- 
 cility in thinking of the wants of others and 
 corresponding forgetfulness of one's self, an 
 amiable temper and devotedness of mind. 
 Give her these, and she will soon learn her 
 duty, whatever it may be. She will learn to 
 conform herself to her circumstances in a 
 palace or a single room. She will find that, 
 however valuable the cultivation of her intel- 
 lect has been, the habits of thoughtfulness in 
 duty and of prayer compose " the one thing 
 needful." 
 
128 EDUCATION. 
 
 These things, let me again say, are not 
 learned only or principally at school. They 
 are not taught most effectually by the paid 
 teacher nor by the printed book. They are 
 the result of home education ; they come from 
 Bible instruction ; they are the reception by 
 the soul of heavenly influences, through the 
 mother's example and advice, sustained by the 
 father's authority. 
 
 Such views of the subject have always 
 made me adverse to boarding-school educa- 
 tion, and to all modes of educating girls away 
 from their own homes. Peculiar circumstan- 
 ces may justify a resort to them, for there are 
 exceptions to every general rule. The incom- 
 petency of mothers themselves sometimes re- 
 quires it, in which case we have nothing to 
 say but to express our regret. In a new coun- 
 try, also, we naturally wish to avail ourselves 
 of the better institutions in older communities, 
 and many go to great expense in so doing. 
 But I believe the general rule remains, that 
 no superiority of such institutions can coun- 
 terbalance the loss of good home influences 
 
EDUCATION. 129 
 
 upon the female mind and character. Even 
 to young men the trial is very great, and the 
 apparent necessity of sending them to college, 
 where all home influence is lost, is fraught 
 with dangers which are often more than an 
 offset to the advantages gained. But to the 
 young lady the evil is far greater ; for the 
 most important part of her education consists 
 in the harmonious development of those affec- 
 tions and sympathies which can be developed 
 nowhere but at home, and at no period of life 
 except in childhood and early youth. The 
 home education must go on together with 
 that of the school, so that while the head is 
 learning from books, the heart may be learn- 
 ing from example, and the hands from prac- 
 tice. The character is thus formed while the 
 rmnd is instructed, and in proportion as she 
 learns more, she is prepared to be more useful 
 and more happy, in whatever station of life 
 God has placed her. She is thus educated 
 for her position, not above it nor aside from it, 
 and there is no danger of making her tastes 
 too refined or her intellect too cultivated. The 
 9 
 
130 EDUCATION, 
 
 correcting influence of home is daily applied, 
 so that whatever may be learned is incorpo- 
 rated with what is practised. But too often 
 those educated away from home are trained 
 for a mode of life quite different from that 
 in which they must actually live. Through 
 five or six years they have no one's comfort to 
 think of but their own ; no duties to perform 
 except to study a certain number of hours, 
 and to conduct themselves, in the presence of 
 their teachers or of company, with a certain 
 prim propriety, which is a sure indication that 
 they are rude and hoydenish everywhere else. 
 Even when such institutions are conducted on 
 the best principles and with the best instruct- 
 ors, the loss of a mother's influence and care 
 is very, great and must be seriously felt ; but 
 as they are sometimes conducted, money-mak- 
 ing concerns, with much show and little sub- 
 stance, they are nothing but ingenious contri- 
 vances to keep the scholar ignorant of every 
 thing she ought to know, and to unfit her for 
 every thing she ought to do. Too often, from 
 such institutions, where young ladies have 
 
EDUCATION. 131 
 
 been kept year after year in luxury and indo- 
 lence, at the expense, perhaps, of parents who 
 have denied themselves common comforts for 
 the sake of giving them the best advantages, 
 they return to their homes vain and selfish, 
 with their heads full of false notions and idle 
 plans, looking upon industry as the height of 
 vulgarity and upon indolence as a ladylike 
 trait of character. The probability of their 
 being happy at home, or of adding to the hap- 
 piness of parents, is very small. If they are 
 by nature very good girls, they may soon 
 learn to repair the error and become sensible 
 women ; but commonly it is pretty safe to 
 prophesy, that they will make some absurd 
 settlement of themselves in life, and rue the 
 consequences to the day of their death. For 
 she who leaves home a girl, and returns a 
 young lady, is almost a stranger to her own 
 parents, and does not know how to make 
 them, as they ought to be, her confidants. 
 She has grown up away from them, and does 
 not know how to trust herself to their sympa- 
 thies. Her intimacies are very apt to be* out 
 
132 EDUCATION. 
 
 of her own home, and although under her 
 parents' roof, she virtually lives at a distance 
 from them. She therefore enters upon the 
 world untried, and almost unprotected. With 
 more self-reliance than wisdom, she is exposed 
 to frequent deception, and suffers frequent and 
 sometimes the severest disappointment. 
 
 However much, therefore, we may value 
 what are called the advantages of education, 
 I think that very imperfect instruction at 
 school, together with good home influences, is 
 better than the best boarding-school educa- 
 tion ever devised. Let parents have the wis- 
 dom to encourage our own schools, by paying 
 as much for their daughters at home as it 
 costs when sent abroad, and the motive for 
 sending them away will soon cease. Let 
 their children grow up under their own roofs, 
 and when no longer children they will become 
 intimate friends, and the necessity of parental 
 authority will yield to the influence of filial 
 love. 
 
LECTURE V. 
 
 FOLLIES. 
 
 " Whose adorning, let it be that of a meek and quiet spirit, which is In 
 the sight of God of great price." 1 Peter iii. 3, 4. 
 
 IF my remarks last Sunday evening were 
 at all correct, the most important part of a 
 woman's education is that which she must 
 accomplish for herself. Not only during her 
 school days, but after they are passed, the 
 work of self-improvement should steadily go 
 on. Her aim should be, not only to become 
 ladylike and agreeable, but a thoughtful, well- 
 informed, and useful woman. In other words, 
 the education of her character and the just 
 development of her mind is the object to be 
 obtained. To this end her teachers may help 
 her more or less, according to the manner in 
 which she is taught to read, to study, and to 
 think. The parents, and particularly the 
 
134 FOLLIES. 
 
 mother, may do still more by judicious in- 
 struction, and by the example of a Christian 
 life. But after all, and above all, she must 
 lay .hold of the work herself. She must per- 
 ceive its necessity, and resolve that nothing 
 shall divert her mind from it. It is a slow work, 
 requiring years for its faithful performance, 
 and is in fact never completed while life con- 
 tinues. Humanly speaking, self-improvement 
 is the great business of life, and is only an- 
 other expression for making the best of all 
 our faculties, for the glory of God and by his 
 nelp. The young lady, therefore, instead of 
 losing sight of it when she leaves her school- 
 books, should feel that the work is just begun. 
 As the carpenter, during his apprenticeship, 
 has done little more than learn the use of his 
 tools, and has his life's work of building and 
 designing before him ; so ought she to feel that 
 her school education has only unlocked the 
 door through which she must go in the further 
 acquisition of knowledge, in the exercise of 
 thought, in the discipline of her mind, in the 
 formation of a complete womanly character. 
 
FOLLIES. 135 
 
 We need not say that such views would 
 materially change her course of life, particu- 
 larly in the early years of womanhood. It 
 would be for the most part an intellectual, 
 and to many a moral regeneration, second 
 in importance only to that spiritual birth by 
 which we are born into the kingdom of God. 
 Moreover, the first change would be conducive 
 to the second, because the same hinderances 
 which prevent intellectual and moral improve- 
 ment also keep her from the religious life. 
 By teaching her to think seriously, and to feel 
 that the object of her life is not enjoyment, 
 but improvement, you remove her from the 
 frivolities which consume so much time to so 
 little purpose ; for you thereby not only teach 
 her that such frivolity is foolish, but you take 
 away her taste for it, except, perhaps, as an 
 occasional recreation, to which the mind 
 stoops when tired. 
 
 As such, we say nothing against it. Young 
 persons must have their times of sport, and 
 we are never so old as to dispense with them 
 altogether. It would probably be better for 
 
136 FOLLIES. 
 
 many of us to recognize this necessity ; for 
 if the mind is kept on the continual stretch 
 of serious duty, it will lose its healthy action. 
 The teacher needs holiday more than the 
 scholar. We must have our times of rest, 
 when the armor of life is put off, and the 
 weapons of its conflict laid aside, or our du- 
 ties become too heavy a burden, and life itself 
 comes to a premature close. Nor need we 
 bring the hours of recreation under the too 
 rigid scrutiny of reason. The scrutiny of 
 conscience must be there and as strictly ex- 
 ercised as in our careful occupations. How- 
 ever pleasant it may be to do wrong, we have 
 no right to do it ; and sin committed in pur- 
 suit of pleasure is as great as if done for the 
 sake of profit. But having made this reser- 
 vation, the wisest of us can sometimes afford 
 to lay aside our dignity and become children. 
 As .ZEsop played at marbles, and the judg- 
 ment of the world has since declared that 
 under the circumstances he could not have 
 done a wiser thing ; so may our amusements 
 sometimes be trifling, in themselves consid- 
 
FOLLIES. 137 
 
 cred, for the same reason " that the bow needs 
 to be completely unbent." 
 
 I have said this, not for its own sake, but 
 as an introduction to other remarks. I do not 
 wish to take the unphilosophical, untenable, 
 and I think unchristian position, of condem- 
 ning every thing in life, unless invested with 
 soberness as a serious and momentous duty. 
 There is danger of making life so serious as 
 to become sad and gloomy. In that case, 
 even our duties will be less heartily performed 
 than if we permitted a little more of the 
 pleasant sunlight on our path. But if we 
 try to make it all sunlight, and ourselves to 
 sport continually in its beams, like insects of 
 the day, pleasure-seekers and frivolous in 
 heart, it is a very different thing. That which 
 may be excused or commended as an occa- 
 sional recreation, becomes very unmanly or 
 unwomanly, -if made the object of daily pur- 
 suit. 
 
 Dissipation is a hard word, and to say that 
 a young man is dissipated is to draw a black 
 line through his name, erasing it from the roll 
 
138 FOLLIES. 
 
 of those who are accounted honorable and 
 useful in the world ; for in that application 
 it implies self-indulgence, unsteadiness of 
 character, intemperance, and other faults de- 
 structive of usefulness and true respectability. 
 It is perhaps too harsh a word, therefore, for 
 our present use ; but we need some corre- 
 sponding term which implies the same fault 
 of character, although the external manifesta- 
 tion is different. Female dissipation is pleas- 
 ure-seeking, the love of admiration, devoted- 
 ness to fashion, or the like. These lead to 
 extravagance, waste of time, frivolity of char- 
 acter, neglect of duty, unwomanliness of con- 
 duct; in a word, to a selfish, worldly, and irre- 
 ligious life. All this may be without a single 
 act which can be called crime, almost without 
 any thing which, taken by itself, can be called 
 sinful. It is the making a business of pleas- 
 ure; the surrendering one's self, body and mind, 
 to the capricious rules of fashion and to the 
 superficial demands of social life ; so that the 
 enormous accumulation of trifles rests upon 
 the soul with almost as heavy weight as the 
 
FOLLIES. 139 
 
 greater faults which men commit. A single 
 feather may be an ornament; but you may be 
 buried under feathers, as effectually as under 
 the baser earth. Each day and hour may 
 seem to be lightly, almost harmlessly spent. 
 As you seek to defend each separate act, we 
 may admit that there is no great harm in it; 
 if really by itself, no harm at all. But a whole 
 winter spent in such a way, months and years, 
 sometimes a whole life, consecrated, nay, des- 
 ecrated to amusement as the real occupation 
 of the mind and heart, surely we need no 
 harsh words to make the folly and the sinful- 
 ness of such a course appear. 
 
 The young lady finishes her school days 
 with the feeling of one who has escaped from 
 thraldom. She has looked forward to the day 
 with longing eyes and exaggerated expecta- 
 tions. Her studies have perhaps been pursued 
 more closely, because the time when she could 
 stop studying was so near. She has labored, 
 as if the whole education of her mind must be 
 compressed into a few years, at the close of 
 which she would be done with books, except 
 
140 FOLLIES. 
 
 by way of amusement, for ever. The day 
 comes at last, although deferred by parental 
 command as long as possible, and at the age 
 when the mind is just attaining that maturity 
 of judgment which would make her studies 
 of real use, she passes in a month's time from 
 the discipline of girlhood to the recognized po- 
 sition of a young lady in society. She is now 
 diligently prepared to "come out," as though 
 the whole work of in-door education were com- 
 plete. The parents are given to understand 
 that no expense is to be spared, particularly 
 for her first season, and that every thing de- 
 pends upon a good impression being now 
 made. The house is thrown open for compa- 
 ny, and the game of life fairly begun. Cards 
 and invitations pour in and afford the prin- 
 cipal reading, and dress is the all-absorbing 
 subject of thought. Day after day is given 
 to visits of etiquette, to evening receptions, to 
 prolonged consultations about the latest fash- 
 ion, and to other things which are as nearly 
 nothing as it is in the nature of any thing to 
 be. The night is not spared, but at nine 01 
 
FOLLIES. 141 
 
 ten o'clock a young person's proper time 
 for retiring to rest the elaborate and long- 
 studied arrangement of dress is complete, and 
 the feverish excitement of the ball-room be- 
 gun, to be continued with increasing hilarity 
 until the night yields to morning. She re- 
 turns home too excited to feel weary, but com- 
 pelled to find, in the early part of the next day, 
 the repose needed for a renewal of the like oc- 
 cupations, which soon grow to what shall 1 
 call it but dissipation? In this way weeks 
 and months pass in alternating languor and 
 excitement; in the intense pursuit of pleas- 
 ure, which is more than half the time falsely 
 so called. 
 
 Now the first and most obvious fault to be 
 found with such modes of life is in the lam- 
 entable and destructive waste of time. If 
 all this fashionable dissipation were in itself 
 unobjectionable, which is far from the truth, 
 yet is it not a sad thing for a woman to give 
 so much of the best part of her life to trivial 
 amusement? It cannot be called recreation, 
 for it is itself a business which engrosses the 
 
142 FOLLIES. 
 
 thoughts, occupies nearly all the time, and 
 leaves neither strength nor inclination for any 
 thing else. The young lady under such cir- 
 cumstances may at first have some vague pur- 
 pose of self-improvement and some general 
 plan of reading, but she will soon find it im- 
 practicable, and after a few well-intended but 
 spasmodic efforts, will defer its execution to 
 the close of the season, when she expects to 
 have more time and less interruption. But 
 unfortunately, when the time comes, the incli- 
 nation is very likely to be gone. Three or 
 four months spent in a continued round of 
 company are a bad preparation for the quiet 
 hours of reading and reflection. The excite- 
 ment of the mind subsides, as the outward 
 stimulants are withdrawn, and a correspond- 
 ing lassitude is the inevitable result. The 
 body itself needs rest, and generally speaking, 
 in the fashionable world, several weeks or 
 months, and sometimes the whole summer, 
 must be devoted to recuperate the energies 
 and renew the flow of animal spirits, in prepa- 
 ration for another season, in which the same 
 follies will be repeated. 
 
FOLLIES. 143 
 
 How undignified, may I not say how un- 
 christian, is such a life ! How completely it 
 must unfit those who follow it for the duties 
 and the enjoyment of home ! What room 
 does it leave for intellectual self-culture, or re- 
 ligious self-discipline? Who can wonder that 
 the young, who pass directly from their school 
 days to such a career as this, never attain ma- 
 turity of character, but continue, even after 
 they have become wives and mothers, to de- 
 vote themselves to the pursuit of pleasure, the 
 willing devotees of fashion.? What wonder 
 is it that female education is at so low a 
 mark, and woman's influence so small com- 
 pared with what it should be when so many 
 are thus neglectful of their own improvement 
 and eager in the pursuit of trifles! 
 
 A second objection to the mode of life now 
 described is in the extravagance to which it 
 leads. This is a great and increasing evil 
 among us. There scarcely seems to be any 
 limit to the co*t of living required by fashion- 
 able life. Each one tries to outdo the other, 
 until a style of dress and entertainment is es- 
 
1 44 v FOLLIES. 
 
 tablished, enough to impoverish all but the 
 very rich, and to exclude all prudent and sen- 
 sible persons from the competition. But un- 
 fortunately few of us are either prudent or sen- 
 sible in such things. As our children grow 
 up, we do not wish to seclude them from the 
 world, and our own social ambition excites us 
 to do as others do. How far the fault is 
 chargeable to the mother and daughter, and 
 how far to the husband and father, we shall 
 not seek to determine ; bat it belongs to my 
 present subject to say, that the extravagance 
 into which the young lady is led by fashion- 
 able life, and in which she is encouraged too 
 often by the precepts and example of her 
 mother, is frequently beyond the bounds both 
 of reason and good taste. Even where there 
 is great wealth, it is barely excusable, for the 
 greatest wealth does not justify wastefulness. 
 But when, as the case commonly is, the ex- 
 penditure is not measured by the income, the 
 evil and the sin are both increased. I do not 
 ask for sumptuary laws, to bring our mode of 
 living under strict and arbitrary rules ; nor do 
 
FOLLIES. 145 
 
 I wish that the elegances of dress and enter- 
 tainment should be altogether abated. But I 
 do wish that a higher standard of taste could 
 prevail, and that extravagance for extrava- 
 gance' sake were accounted vulgar. The lady 
 who loads herself with jewelry and the annual 
 cost of whose wardrobe would support an or- 
 phan asylum, seems to me to have departed 
 as far from the canons of correct taste as from 
 those of propriety. Her apparel ceases to in- 
 crease her beauty, when admired only for its 
 splendor, and ornament fails in its purpose 
 when it diverts attention from the wearer. 
 The lady forgets herself, I think, and com- 
 promises her dignity, when she becomes, as it 
 were, an advertisement for the jeweller and 
 milliner. 
 
 I know how absolute are the requirements 
 of fashion, nor would I be so foolish as to put 
 myself in direct opposition thereto. We may 
 read in HUME'S History, that for two centu- 
 ries the whole priesthood of England expend- 
 ed their strength against certain insignificant 
 fashions ; but the historian says, that although 
 10 
 
146 FOLLIES, 
 
 they were able to excite the whole community 
 to the wars of the Crusades, in which both 
 blood and treasure were poured out like water, 
 the pointed shoes, with chains appended to 
 the knee, continued in spite of them. 
 
 We are compelled, almost, to conform our- 
 selves, in some measure, to the usages of the 
 world. Sound morality does not require, and 
 good taste does not permit us to become the 
 object of remark in our manner of dress and 
 living. Up to a certain point it is a matter of 
 indifference, in which a sensible person will be 
 content to follow those who wish to lead, and 
 the best general rule in all such things is to 
 avoid making one's self conspicuous. The 
 moment that we violate this rule, we offend 
 against good taste, whether it be by the affect- 
 ed disregard of custom, or by going to the ex- 
 treme of fashion and display. When the dress 
 is so splendid, that one can hardly help think- 
 ing that she .who wears it came only to be 
 looked at, she is giving evidence neither of 
 sound judgment nor good taste. It should be 
 painful to her, I think, to know that all eyes 
 
FOLLIES. 147 
 
 are turned towards her, and the admiring gaze 
 mingled with astonishment. But the love of 
 admiration is very greedy and not very dis- 
 criminating. The young gentleman appropri- 
 ates to himself the praise which belongs to his 
 tailor or to his horse, with as much self-com- 
 placency as if properly his own ; and the young 
 lady is almost as proud of the compliments 
 lavished upon her adorning, as if they were 
 paid to her own beauty or intellectual accom- 
 plishments. Nor is it only the admiration of 
 the judicious that gives pleasure. The praise, 
 bought at the expense of so much money and 
 time, is chiefly that of thoughtless, shallow- 
 minded people, of either sex, who are half the 
 time insincere in their commendations, and 
 who indemnify themselves for the* flattery giv- 
 en to one, by ridicule cast upon another, 
 both flattery and ridicule being directed to 
 the same subject, present or absent. 
 
 There is no passion which needs more care- 
 ful watching than this of which we now speak, 
 the love of praise. Under the best circum- 
 stances, when oxcited by real qualities of mind 
 
148 FOLLIES. 
 
 and character, and when the praise is given 
 by those whos3 good opinion is worth having, 
 it is dangerous. It spoils the simplicity of 
 our characters, and takes the place of higher 
 motives of conduct. But they who pride 
 themselves on the admiration of silly persons, 
 paid to outside accomplishments, are in a fair 
 way to become silly themselves. 
 
 Another material objection to the dissipa- 
 tions of fashionable life is found in the fre- 
 quent sacrifice of health. The physical edu- 
 cation of women is, at the best, too much dis- 
 regarded in this country. From the early life 
 of the school-girl there is a systematic neglect 
 of exercise, which prevents her from gaining 
 bodily strength. She is kept at her desk as 
 many hours as the boy, but carefully discour- 
 aged from entering into out-of-door games like 
 those which give to his blood renewed and 
 healthy circulation. Primness of demeanor 
 and what is called ladylike conduct are* en- 
 forced upon her, at eight years old, when it 
 would be much more natural to enjoy herself 
 as a child. Her dress, also, is arranged with 
 
FOLLIES. 
 
 regard to looks rather than comfort, and she 
 does not learn to bear the exposure of a chang- 
 ing climate. There is, therefore, great need of 
 reform. Every school should have its exercise- 
 room and its play-ground, where good, honest, 
 and hearty exercise can be taken. Let the 
 chest be developed, and the arms become 
 strong. The symmetry of the most graceful 
 figure will not be impaired by healthy devel- 
 opment of the muscles, while the prospect of 
 a useful and happy life is greatly increased. 
 
 But we cannot pursue the subject now. It 
 is enough to refer to what every body knows, 
 that the majority of girls now leave school 
 with very imperfect health. Two thirds of the 
 time, some bad tendency in the constitution 
 has been confirmed, and distressing headaches, 
 or weakness of the spine, or susceptibility to 
 pulmonary disorders, is the result. It is quite 
 a luxury to see a young lady of sixteen in 
 the enjoyment of sincere and vigorous health, 
 with a fresh natural color and a well-devel- 
 oped form. 
 
 This is not a promising state of things for 
 
150 FOLLIES. 
 
 their entrance on life ; but if, for two or three 
 years afterward, they could live a rational life 
 engaged in household duties, or in healthful 
 walking and riding, and in the enjoyment of 
 social amusements without dissipation or un- 
 reasonable exposure, the injuries of the school 
 life would probably be, to a great extent, re- 
 paired. The body would regain its vigor, and 
 a good measure of womanly health be se- 
 cured. At present, no such opportunity is 
 allowed. Before the school days are finished, 
 the social dissipation begins. The lessons are 
 learned with double diligence, so that the 
 evening and night may be given to the ball- 
 room. Through the next day compliments 
 and philosophy struggle for the mastery, and 
 the whole emulation of the school is required 
 to keep the overtasked body from yielding to 
 fatigue. 
 
 The appetite is thus whetted for the pleas- 
 ures of society, and as soon as the last school 
 examination has been endured, they are en- 
 tered upon with the eagerness of fresh delight. 
 She who is not strong enough to walk a few 
 
FOLLIES. 151 
 
 squares on a cold day or in the muddy street, 
 is quite able to spend half the day with the 
 dress-maker, and all night in the dance. 
 Whatever degree of exposure fashion may 
 require, she submits to with alacrity, and does 
 not learn until months or years are past, how 
 fatal is the result to her physical health. Even 
 after health is already gone, the love of excite- 
 ment remains; and I have known some to rise 
 from a sick-bed, throwing off the covering of 
 blankets for a covering of gauze, and mistak- 
 ing the feverishness of pulse for the natural 
 return of strength. How frequently, when the 
 winter is over, and the days of Lent or the 
 close of the season require the resumption of 
 a more staid manner of life, do we see young 
 ladies pale and languid, almost as if recover- 
 ing from a long sickness! How can we then 
 wonder that the number of healthy women, in 
 the higher classes of society, is so small? The 
 causes which I have now named explain it at 
 least in part, and while the laws of the physi- 
 cal nature are so much neglected at school, 
 and so much outraged in the earlier years of 
 
152 FOLLIES. 
 
 womanhood, there seems to be no reasonable 
 hope of amendment. It is said by the de- 
 fenders of such customs, that the exercise of 
 dancing is so healthful as to compensate for 
 the exposure. But exercise in a heated and 
 overcrowded room is not of much value, al- 
 though I admit that the dance, when con- 
 ducted in such a manner as not to offend 
 against modesty, is the least objectionable 
 feature of the ball-room or fashionable party. 
 The chief objections are found in late hours, 
 prolonged excitement, insufficient apparel, ex- 
 travagance, and foolish indulgence at the sup- 
 per-table. If these could be removed or mod- 
 erated, if they could be brought within the 
 bounds of reason, if they were so arranged 
 that a sensible man or woman could approve 
 of them, while engaging in them, we should 
 have less fault to find. What prospect there 
 may be of such a result, I do not know. From 
 one step to another, we are learning to imitate 
 the most foolish customs of European society, 
 and in many respects succeed in going be- 
 yond our teachers. The best hope is, that the 
 
FOLLIES. 153 
 
 
 
 extreme point may be soon reached, and then, 
 as some further change will be indispensable, 
 for the sake of novelty, if nothing else, good 
 sense may become fashionable. 
 
 I am fully aware of the degree to which 
 I am laying myself open to censure. The 
 charge of impertinence or of ministerial med- 
 dling would not in the least surprise me. It 
 may be said that I am talking of things I 
 know nothing about. It may be accounted 
 absurd for one who lives in almost complete 
 seclusion from society, to indulge in strictures 
 upon it. But perhaps he who stands upon 
 the outside may become, for that reason, a 
 more competent observer. In the review of 
 an army, one does not mingle in the ranks, 
 except for occasional inspection, but stands 
 at such a distance as to see the combined 
 movement. You must not be too near an 
 edifice, if you would perceive its true propor- 
 tions. With regard to social customs, it re- 
 quires only a common faculty of observation 
 to know what the world is ; and to one who 
 is accustomed to judge of human nature 
 
154 FOLLIES. 
 
 slight indications are enough to lead to a 
 correct result. Besides, I do not speak as a 
 cynical philosopher, who would put sour into 
 every sweet, and frown upon enjoyment mere- 
 ly because it is enjoyed. I am not a preacher 
 of gloom or of puritanism, but of modera- 
 tion. That is all I would ask, if I had the 
 power to command. It seems to me that the 
 young, and sometimes those who are not 
 young, are too thoughtless in the pursuit of 
 pleasure. Social enjoyment degenerates into 
 dissipation, intellectual improvement is effec- 
 tually stopped, and deterioration of character 
 effectually begun. Harmless things become 
 sinful by excess, and if in themselves not 
 harmless, but pernicious, they become an in- 
 creasing and at last a fatal evil. 
 
 At least, no one will deny that the longer 
 such a course of life is continued, and the 
 more heartily pursued, the less prepared one 
 must be for the real duties of woman's life. 
 She who lives on the daily food of admira- 
 tion, whose happiness depends more and 
 more upon the excitement of company, who 
 
FOLLIES. 155 
 
 gives the greater part of her time to trifles 
 light as air, and expends money as though it 
 cost no labor to earn it, is in a very bad prog- 
 ress of self-education. The quiet of home 
 gradually becomes distasteful, the mind is al- 
 most incapacitated for serious thought, habits 
 of extravagance are confirmed, and false no- 
 tions of gentility introduced ; altogether af- 
 fording not very good promise of a life of in- 
 dustry, economy, self-denial, and other homely 
 virtues, without which home itself becomes 
 miserable. A single season of such prepara- 
 tion is a permanent injury to the character; 
 a, succession of them for several years is 
 enough to ruin almost any. A great deal 
 of the unhappiness of married life is to be 
 ascribed to this cause ; for the wife must 
 either make a complete change from the pre- 
 vious mode of living and in the sources of 
 her enjoyment, a change which, if not com- 
 pulsory, requires more strength of character 
 than the majority possess ; or she must con- 
 tinue in the same habits of pleasure-seeking, 
 thereby neglecting her most important duties, 
 
156 FOLLIES. 
 
 and exerting a bad influence over th )se she 
 k>ves. Her husband finds that the expense 
 of married life is far greater than he antici- 
 pated, and the comfort less. He will perhaps 
 make the attempt to gain the domestic bliss 
 of which he has read in books ; but if his 
 wife has no relish for reading, and accounts 
 a quiet and a dull evening one and the same 
 thing, he will probably soon yield the point, 
 if not to her persuasions, yet to his own de- 
 sire to please her. He will, perhaps, remain 
 at board as long as he can, to avoid the more 
 expensive parts of fashionable life, or enable 
 himself to meet them, but will soon fall upon 
 a scale of expenditure which it demands his 
 utmost exertions to meet. So far as that 
 goes, great success in business and untiring 
 industry may make it right, and if he obtained 
 his money's worth, it would be a small mat- 
 ter. But as the social comfort is very apt to 
 become less as the expenditure increases ; as 
 he must see that his hard working on one 
 side is only to supply means of wastefulness 
 on the other, and that his children are grow- 
 
FOLLIES. 157 
 
 ing up with notions of life whi*h nothing 
 but continued riches can satisfy ; we need 
 not wonder that fault-finding and discontent 
 sometimes prevail. How much better it 
 would be, if young persons of both sexes 
 could form habits of more quiet enjoyment, 
 and learn to entertain more moderate expec- 
 tations. If their minds were sufficiently edu- 
 cated to enjoy reading and rational conversa- 
 tion ; if the cheerful industry of the domestic 
 circle had a charm in their eyes beyond that 
 of the theatre or ball-room ; if they knew the 
 value of money when expended for the poor 
 and suffering, or for the purchase of solid 
 comforts for themselves and others, how 
 great would be the gain to the young them- 
 selves and to society at large ! how much 
 better would the promise of life become to 
 those who trust their happiness to each others' 
 keeping, in the holy bonds of matrimony! 
 
 Let the blame, as it now stands, be equally 
 divided, if you please ; but my present sub- 
 ject leads me to say, that if the fault co:ild 
 be corrected on woman's side, her influence 
 
158 FOLLIES. 
 
 would soon correct it on the other. If the 
 young wife is prepared by the graces of he* 
 character, as well as of her person, to make 
 the quiet hours pass pleasantly, if her tastes 
 lead her to find her own happiness at home, 
 her husband will soon learn that his happi- 
 ness is also there. The pleasures of the 
 world would be rarely sought, because they 
 would not be enjoyed. Life would become 
 more rational, not less cheerful. It would 
 take a higher tone, with which the dissipation 
 of fashionable life would produce an unpleas- 
 ant discord, to be introduced perhaps occa- 
 sionally as a discord into music, that it may 
 ie speedily resolved by a return to the social 
 harmony. Who will deny that it would be 
 a change for the better ? But the only thing 
 needed to effect it is a change of taste, of 
 character, in those whom the change would 
 benefit. 
 
 May I, therefore, in bringing my present 
 discourse toward a conclusion, make some sug- 
 gestions to those whom I now chiefly address, 
 not so much with the view of giving instruc- 
 
FOLLIES. 159 
 
 tion as of exciting thought. For this is the 
 great trouble. There is no danger of their 
 coming to a wrong decision, if they can only 
 be aroused to the necessity of thinking for 
 themselves, and of acting under a sense of 
 their individual responsibility to God. 
 
 I would urge them, therefore, in the first 
 place, to have some general plan of life. Let 
 there be a fixed purpose of intellectual and 
 moral improvement. Do not let one week 
 
 after another pass, until the whole year is gone, 
 
 < 
 
 under influences of which you scarcely know 
 whether they are good or bad. Let a part of 
 each day be given to reading, and let a part 
 of the reading be diligent study. Take pains 
 to form habits of industry, and do not be 
 afraid of bodily exercise. Remember that time 
 is a precious gift, for which you are responsi- 
 ble to God. If wasted, your mind, your soul, 
 is wasted with it. 
 
 Be not blind followers of fashion. To some 
 extent you must undoubtedly yield to its im- 
 perious demands; but conscience has its de- 
 mands also. There is a right and wrong in 
 
160 FOLLIES. 
 
 fashion, as in e /ery thing else. The most del- 
 icate sense of modesty should not be violated, 
 if all the fashionists of Paris and all the dan- 
 cing-masters of Europe were to demand it. 
 Poetry tells us that " the chariest maid is prod- 
 igal enough, if she unveil her beauties to the 
 moon," and the older she grows, particu- 
 larly if the maiden becomes a wife, the less 
 of poetry and the more of truth do the lines 
 contain. Simplicity of taste is generally good 
 taste, and extravagance always tends to vul- 
 garity. Eagerness for display shows want of 
 self-respect. With regard to apparel, there- 
 fore, it is a good rule, that, as to costliness, too 
 little is better than too much ; and as to quan- 
 tity, too much is better than too little. 
 
 Be not devotees of pleasure. There is no 
 harm in mirth or in laughter, and where there 
 is a healthy flow of spirits, they must have 
 vent ; but they do not the less need whole- 
 some restraint and judicious direction. The 
 exercise of a discriminating conscience is no- 
 where needed more than in the choice of our 
 amusements, and in determining their limits. 
 
FOLLIES. 1< 
 
 Every woman and every man should make i 1 
 a question, not only of pleasantness and CUP 
 torn, but of right and wrong, what amuse* 
 ments are to be selected, and how far and i* 
 what way to be followed. I speak somewhs^ 
 ignorantly here, but I suppose that every youn; 
 lad}, upon her first entering society, sees man* 
 things to shock her sense of propriety, but te- 
 which she gradually becomes accustomed and 
 which she soon learns to adopt. It would be 
 better if the tenderness of conscience could be 
 kept, even at the risk of seeming demure. 
 
 If we could remove from popular amuse- 
 ments and from fashionable modes of enter- 
 tainment, every thing objectionable, greater 
 moderation would probably be exercised in 
 their pursuit. I am told by those who seem 
 to know, that few persons become very fond 
 of cards, or other games of chance, unless the 
 excitement of loss and gain is added ; not so 
 much because they care for the money, as for 
 the excitement itself. And so with many oth- 
 er things, a certain degree of impropriety, a 
 dash of wrong, seems to add zest to the amuse- 
 11 
 
162 FOLLIES. 
 
 ment. The questionable character of a dance 
 seems to give it a preference over other modes 
 of the same amusement which are certainly 
 harmless. The masquerade, which, even if it 
 were harmless at first, is acknowledged to be 
 peculiarly open to abuse, and in itself one of 
 the most dangerous amusements in a commu- 
 nity so mixed and excitable as ours, almost 
 immediately becomes fashionable, although, I 
 hope, not permanently so. The wrong allu- 
 sions to which the drama frequently descends, 
 and stage exhibitions, the propriety of which 
 is more than doubtful, are often greeted with 
 most hearty applause. It is not, I suppose, 
 that in these things there is a deliberate seek- 
 ing for wrong, but, like the bread eaten in se- 
 cret, the hesitation which conscience excites 
 and the flutter of the feelings produce an ex- 
 citement ol the whole nature, and give one 
 something like the feeling of daring and victo- 
 ry, together with the laughter and the mirth. 
 The longing after forbidden things is not con- 
 fined to children, and what a scrupulous con 
 science forbids, if not with a stern but a ques- 
 
FOLLIES. 163 
 
 tioning voice, is sometimes all the more fresh- 
 ly enjoyed. It is an element in human nature, 
 until purified by religion, of which we have no 
 reason to be proud, and it should make us 
 very careful in the choice of our pleasures. 
 For as the palate becomes used to stimulants 
 and spices, and continually requires a stronger 
 infusion, so will one pleasure after another 
 seem tame and a higher relish be required. 
 We need, therefore, a great deal of self-watch- 
 fulnpss. I know too little of such subjects to 
 enter into detail, but it is safe to take this gen- 
 eral rule, that, in all questionable cases, it is 
 better to give the benefit of the doubt to mod- 
 esty and a tender conscience. 
 
 Finally : the givers of advice are proverbi- 
 ally loquacious, and I will conclude abruptly, 
 although -not easier to do so than it would 
 have been a half-hour ago. The correctnrss 
 of my remarks may be called into question ; 
 but this would not disturb me. I desire, as I 
 have repeatedly said, not so much to direct 
 your thoughts, as to excite them. Where 
 there is a general good intention, as I presume 
 
164 FOLLIES. 
 
 there is with all who hear me, to think at all 
 upon such subjects is to think correctly. A 
 great deal of what has been said is applicable 
 to one sex as well as the other, and a part of 
 the time I have been preaching to myself, not 
 less than to you. We should all be seekers 
 together for that wisdom " which guides the 
 young, with innocence, in pleasure's path to 
 tread " ; we should remember that life is a 
 reality, upon which eternal realities depend. 
 The best adorning, therefore, even to the young 
 and beautiful, is not that of worldly elegance, 
 " but a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the 
 sight of God of great price." 
 
LECTURE VI. 
 
 WOMAN'S MISSION. 
 
 "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good 
 works, and glorify your Father which is hi heaven." Matthew v. 16. 
 
 MY object this evening will be to show the 
 relation which woman holds to morality and 
 religion. I shall attempt to prove that she is 
 bound, not only by a general sense of duty, 
 but by peculiar obligations, to promote those 
 great interests, both directly and indirectly, by 
 every means in her power. 
 
 It needs but little consideration to see that 
 her own interests, individually and as a sex, 
 are in fact inseparable from those of which I 
 speak. Whenever she speaks a word against 
 them, whenever she does any thing, either de- 
 liberately or carelessly, to their prejudice, she 
 becomes her own worst enemy. Similar re- 
 
166 WOMAN'S MISSION. 
 
 marks may indeed apply to man ; for we all 
 gain in comfort and happiness by the ad- 
 vancement of the highest interests of society; 
 but although true of all, it is particularly true 
 of woman. 
 
 Her whole dignity, even her respectability, 
 depends upon the degree of her virtue. She 
 is made the equal and helpmeet of man much 
 more by her moral qualities than by those 
 which are purely intellectual. Her mind, pu- 
 rified by communion with Heaven, elevated 
 by strong and self-denying affections, rises to 
 an equality, often to more than equality, with 
 that of the profoundest scholar or the wisest 
 philosopher. But her road to this eminence is 
 seldom through the regions of abstract thought 
 or abstruse inquiry, which she seldom enjoys 
 and for which the ordinary occupations of her 
 life afford but little opportunity. To a few 
 women, now and then, at long intervals in the 
 world's history, the opportunity and ability 
 are given of rising to fame and honor inde- 
 pendently of those qualities which adorn her 
 moral character ; but such instances are rare, 
 
WOMAN'S MISSION. 167 
 
 and when they occur, fail to excite admiration. 
 Generally speaking, they are lowered in our 
 respect by the apparent exaltation. 
 
 Men may command a certain degree of re- 
 spect, and may rise to a great height of world 
 ly dignity, although depraved in character. I 
 am speaking now of the world as it is, not as 
 it ought to be ; and the history of our own 
 land, as well as every other, proves what I 
 say. A man may command admiration as a 
 scholar or as a statesman, as historian, poet, 
 or novelist ; his fame may be so extended that 
 his writings are found on every table, and his 
 name on every tongue, although he himself 
 may be notoriously a bad man and his works 
 confessedly impure. 
 
 We might give many instances, if needful, 
 in proof of this assertion ; but your own mem- 
 ory will supply them. We do not say that 
 one can rise to the highest eminence under 
 such conditions, or that his fame- will be of the 
 most enduring kind; for I believe that, almost 
 without exception, the SHAKSPEARES and MIL- 
 TONS and NEWTONS are men who in their 
 
168 WOMAN'S MISSION. 
 
 lives have been pure, and in their writings 
 advocates of goodness. But still, there are 
 the BYRONS and VOLTAIRES and a hundred 
 others, more than enough to prove my asser- 
 tion. Distinguished men are tried, at the bar 
 of public opinion, too much by the laws of 
 intellect, and too little by those of morality 
 But to women a stricter rule is applied 
 [What would become of the fame of Miss 
 EDGEWORTH, Mrs. OPIE, or HANNAH MORE, if 
 you divest their works of a pure moral tone, 
 or their characters of good moral principles ? j 
 Can you imagine a female author to occupy 
 a position ( like that of STERNE, or SWIFT, or 
 even like that of HUME, or GIBBON? What 
 influence would they have, and what degree 
 of respect would they command ? Let the 
 names of FRANCES WRIGHT, recently dead, or 
 of Madame GEORGE SAND, still living, a by- 
 word and an astonishment, give a sufficient 
 answer. The pages of biography give no in- 
 stance of more complete or sad disappoint- 
 ment in life, than that experienced by her 
 whom I have just named as having recently 
 
169 
 
 died. I remember her distinctly when she first 
 came to this country, the daughter of a noble 
 family in Scotland, and received with cordial 
 hospitality at the seat of government, by those 
 whose friendship conferred distinction. I re- 
 member her tall and commanding presence 
 and her keen intellectual glance, not quite 
 womanly, perhaps, but full of vigor, and awa- 
 kening thought in those to whom it was di- 
 rected. She came in company with the great 
 LA FAYETTE, and for a time divided with him 
 the public attention. She gave promise of 
 rising to the highest fame, and our country 
 began to congratulate itself at her coming. 
 But her mind was already divorced from re- 
 ligious faith ; she hoped to be wiser than the 
 Gospel, and to reorganize society under laws 
 of less restraint; and although her general pur- 
 pose seems to have been good, her whole life 
 became a mistake, a sadness, and a loss. She 
 accomplished nothing that she had hoped to 
 accomplish ; her fame passed into unenviable 
 notoriety; she became a warning, instead of 
 an example, to her sex, and at last, although 
 
170 WOMAN'S MISSION. 
 
 possessed of great property by inheritance, she 
 died among strangers, with no kindred hand 
 to close her eyes, and the place which once 
 knew her shall know her no more for ever.jjSo 
 strict is the standard by which woman's fame 
 is measured. The first requisition is that she 
 shall stand upon the side of virtue and religion, 
 or her fame becomes infamy, and her name a 
 reproach. | No degree of talent will save her 
 from it, and even her mistakes, though well 
 intended, if they place her in opposition to the 
 great interests of society, are visited upon her 
 as crimes. 1 
 
 In the more private circles of life, also, moral 
 delinquency is punished with greater sternness 
 in woman than in man. This proceeds, in 
 part, from the fact, that men make the laws 
 and fix public opinion, and are therefore more 
 lenient to their own sins ; perhaps because 
 they better understand their own temptations, 
 and perhaps because it is always easier to see 
 the mote in another's eye, than the beam in 
 one's own. It is a difference, therefore, caused 
 partly by selfishness, and is in so far unjust 
 
171 
 
 We have a right to complain and we do 
 complain of the injustice, when woman is 
 trampled under foot and shut out from all 
 possible return to a good life, and almost 
 from the hope of salvation, for the same sins 
 that are easily excused in man. But we be- 
 lieve that the apparent injustice proceeds also 
 in part from the difference in the natural ele- 
 ments of the male and female character, and 
 sometimes the greater severity of which we 
 speak is indicative of grperte^^s^pfcc^ 
 woman's moral nature, 
 
 A good woman is the equfc 
 I do not mean by offsetting the"* 
 qualities of the one against the higher intel- 
 lectual qualities of the other; but her pure 
 and moral nature, when rightly cultivated, 
 elevates and ennobles the intellectual, and 
 gives her a clearness of thought, an accuracy 
 of judgment, and a comprehensiveness of un- 
 derstanding, which place her fairly upon a 
 level with the highest. We need not, there- 
 fore, be surprised at the saying of an eminent 
 
172 WOMAN'S MISSION. 
 
 statesman, that he had never taken a wrong 
 course in public affairs, when he had first asked 
 his wife's opinion concerning it. He found 
 her conclusion generally correct, even when 
 she could not tell the exact premises from 
 which derived. Perhaps many of us who are 
 not statesmen would gain by similar consul- 
 tation with those whom we now scarcely con- 
 descend to inform whether we are rich or 
 poor, and whom we seldom allow to share 
 our more serious thoughts. There would be 
 a great many less failures in business, and a 
 great deal less wildness of speculation, if all 
 to whom Providence has given good wives 
 could also obtain wisdom enough to advise 
 with them in the conduct of their affairs. For 
 a sensible woman will generally advise mod- 
 eration, and will readily consent to a diminu- 
 tion of luxury or comfort, rather than have 
 her husband a slave to business, or engaged 
 in pursuits which his judgment declares un- 
 safe, or his conscience wrong. The wife ia 
 very often guilty of great extravagance, be- 
 cause ignorant of the cost at which it is main- 
 
WOMAN'S MISSION. 173 
 
 tained. She does not know the wear and 
 tear of mind and conscience to which the 
 splendor of the household often subjects those 
 who support it. It would, therefore, be a 
 great gain to both parties, if she were more 
 fully informed, where she is so deeply inter- 
 ested. Let the husband treat her as his equal 
 and he will find that she is fully so. 
 
 But, on the other hand, an indifferent 01 
 bad woman does not rise to the poor equality 
 with an indifferent or bad man. Little as 
 may be our respect for a man without good 
 principles, a woman without good principles 
 deserves and will receive less. We do not 
 mean that her sin before God is greater, but 
 that her present degradation is more deep. 
 The sin of every departure from right is im- 
 mutably the same, whether by man or woman, 
 by the monarch or the beggar, by the scholar 
 or the clown ; or we should rather say, it is 
 varied in degree only by the strength of temp- 
 tation, the power of resistance, and other cir- 
 cumstances of which God alone can judge 
 correctly ; and under this judgment, woman 
 
174 WOMAN'S MISSION. 
 
 may deserve the lighter sentence as often as 
 man. But man is composed of harsher ma- 
 terial, and the stain left by sin, though equally 
 deep, is not equally evident. As a st 
 made of. granite or freestone seems uninjured I 
 by the handling, when the marble is soiled by A 
 the dust falling on it, and stained by the 
 lightest touch, so with the nature of woman ; 
 her organization is the more delicate, and by > 
 BO much the more her worth depends upon 
 keeping that delicacy unimpaired. She lives 
 more in her affections, and by so much the 
 more they must be kept pure and generous, to 
 secure either her happiness or the beauty of 4 
 her character. By goodness and truth, by 
 modesty and a gentle demeanor, she becomes, 
 in the performance of her humblest duties, an 
 object of admiration ; in the lowliest sphere 
 
 worthy of the highest honor. But sin de- 
 
 t 
 
 stroys her utterly. It seems to leave noth- 
 ing in her to love or respect. Every wrong 
 thought, every deviation from modesty, every 
 unladylike or unwomanly action, every selfish 
 or worldly pursuit, degrades her in mind, in 
 
 j 
 
 v 
 
175 
 
 heart, in character. No strength of intellect, 
 no mental accomplishments, no scholar-like 
 attainments, much less can beauty and ele- 
 gance and a fashionable manner, compensate 
 for the loss. Woman's only strength is in her 
 mnraj f>Yr^l]fprP She cannot find her true 
 dignity apart from goodness. That is the 
 only means by which 'she can obtain the re- 
 spect and consideration on which her happi- 
 ness depends. 
 
 Again, she has a great deal at stake in the 
 moral and religious character of the comma- ** 
 nity where she lives. The regard paid to * ' 
 
 woman in society depends very much upon 
 the standard of public morality. If she wishes 
 to be more highly respected, and her claims 
 to be more justly considered, her best means 
 of accomplishing it is to labor for the general 
 diffusion of knowledge, refinement, and virtue. 
 So true is this, that you may measure the 
 moral elevation of a community by the esti? 
 mation in which woman is held. As we look 
 over the different nations of the earth, we 
 cannot find a single exception to this rule. 
 
 le. 
 he\ 
 ti, \ 
 
176 WOMAN'S MISSION. 
 
 Learn the manner in which woman is re- 
 garded, and you can tell the standard of mo- 
 rality, of refinement, of general intelligence. 
 Of course we do not now refer to her treat- 
 ment in courts and palaces, but to the place 
 she is allowed to hold in social life generally. 
 Nor do we mean by respectful treatment the 
 deferential bowing and complimentary salu- 
 tations, in which the most heartless profligates 
 are sometimes most profuse; but we mean 
 the genuine respect which leads to justice and 
 generosity in our treatment of woman, to 
 giving her the protection which is her due, to 
 providing for her proper means of education, 
 to placing her in all things in the honorable 
 position to which she has a rightful claim. 
 In proportion as we become civilized, in pro- 
 portion as man rises to the knowledge of his 
 spiritual wants and interests, in proportion as 
 he becomes wise and good, this treatment 
 is extended to her. The Christian religion 
 proves itself to be that of the highest civil- 
 ization by this as much as by any thing 
 else, the position in social life which it 
 
awards to her. Therefore, if she would be a 
 friend of her own sex, if she understands her 
 own highest interests, it should be her prime 
 object to exert all her influence in the promo- 
 tion of truth and righteousness. 
 
 Again, we are led to the same result, be- 
 cause the consequences of all wicked customs 
 in society affect women more nearly than 
 men. Even where man is the greater sinner, 
 woman is the greater sufferer. She is physi- 
 cally the weaker, and the strength of man, if 
 unrestrained by principle, compels her to sub- 
 mit to insult and suffering. She is confined 
 to the narrow limits of home, and is there 
 subject to petulance, anger, and unreasonable 
 demands, and even to vile treatment, from 
 men who are stupid enough to feel themselves, 
 and sometimes brutish enough to call them- 
 selves, her masters. In a community where 
 licentiousness prevails, where dissipation is 
 fashionable, and the dramshop a place of daily 
 resort, you may see disorder and contention 
 in the streets, and evidences enough of the 
 prevailing corruption may meet your eye and 
 12 
 
1*78 WOMAN'S MISSION. 
 
 ear : but if you would know the worst, follow 
 the drunkard to his home; see his children 
 shrink away from his approach ; see his wife 
 weeping for herself and for them, but thought- 
 ful of him, receiving him with kindness, but 
 repaid with a curse or a blow, bound to him 
 even in his degraded state, by an amazing 
 fondness, which makes her at once his victim 
 and his slave. If the wife is unreasonable and 
 wicked, the husband may escape from her, and 
 in active pursuits of industry or the gay com- 
 panionship of the world find partial relief. 
 But for her there is no retreat, no escape, nay, 
 the very nobleness of her nature and the dis- 
 interestedness of her affections sometimes pre- 
 vent her from accepting deliverance, if offered ; 
 and through the long, dreary day, with perse- 
 vering care and decreasing means, she is com- 
 pelled to labor in sorrow of heart, in mortifica- 
 tion of soul, until the closing hours bring back 
 the suffering. 
 
 It is one of the great mysteries of Providence 
 that the sins of the guilty are visited on the 
 innocent; and therefore, if woman would be 
 
WOMAN'S MISSION. 179 
 
 happy, it is not enough to be pure and good 
 herself, she must strive to promote purity and 
 goodness among those with whom her lot is 
 cast, and in society at large. She can escape 
 from servitude and suffering only when men 
 become worthy of loving her, and herself wor- 
 thy of being loved. 
 
 The social interests of women are therefore 
 inseparable from those of good order and so- v 
 cial morality; still more are they inseparable A 
 from religion. I believe that, if she under- >^ 
 stands her own nature or her own interests, 
 she will be religious herself and do all she can 
 to promote religion. 
 
 In the first place, she is herself led to a re- 
 ligious life by the natural tendency of her af- 
 fections. Her nature disposes her to trust, to 
 confide, to believe, to hope. Doubt and dis- 
 trust are, painful to her, and she is happier to 
 believe without evidence than not to believe 
 at all. The strength of her affections and the 
 irrepressible yearning of her heart for those 
 that are dead ; the consciousness of inexhaus- 
 tible fountains of love in her soul, which time 
 
180 WOMAN'S MISSION. 
 
 has only opened, when death comes to close 
 them ; the tenderness of her 3onscience, and, in 
 short, the whole construction of her mind and 
 heart, make it pleasant for her to receive the 
 doctrines of life and immortality brought to 
 light. She more easily perceives the obliga- 
 tion and the glory of self-sacrifice. She trusts 
 in God because she loves to trust. She wor- 
 ships him because she loves to revere. When 
 she explores the unknown depths of her heart, 
 unknown even to herself, she cannot believe 
 that those whom she loves so much shall per- 
 ish for ever because their frail bodies die, and 
 although her mind may listen to the whisper- 
 ing voice of doubt, her heart is strong enough 
 to silence or to overrule it. 
 
 Sceptical men sometimes scoff at religion, 
 by saying that the majority of believers are 
 women ; but they prove, thereby, the folly of 
 their own hearts, rather than the depth of their 
 understanding. The tendency of woman's na- 
 ture to religion is her best praise. It is not 
 because she is unable to think, but because 
 she is compelled to feel. Her mind is capable 
 
181 
 
 of discerning the verbal objections and the 
 more serious difficulties, on account of which 
 religion is rejected by so many ; but they all 
 sink into insignificance, compared with the 
 infinite consolation which religion gives ; they 
 all fade away under the necessity, which her 
 heart creates, of a God in whom she can trust, 
 of a Redeemer in whom she can hope, of a 
 heaven where her loved ones dwell. 
 
 Religious scepticism is not the proof of a 
 strong mind. Recall the names of the great- 
 est and wisest men that ever lived, and almost 
 without exception their authority is on the 
 side of religion. CONFUCIUS and ZOROASTER, 
 HOMER and SOCRATES and PLATO, VIRGIL and 
 CICERO and TACITUS, together with nearly all 
 of whom ancient history speaks as the heroes 
 of the race, the benefactors of mankind, were 
 confirmed believers in religious truth, accord- 
 ing to the best light that God gave to them. 
 There is scarcely an exception, among all 
 whose names history has thought worth pre- 
 serving. In more modern times, how many 
 of the most acute metaphysicians, the most 
 
182 
 
 enlightened statesmen, the most thorough 
 scholars, may be named as defenders of the 
 Christian faith ! In our own country the tes- 
 timony of the wise and good in favor of re- 
 ligion is peculiarly strong. Nearly all of our 
 statesmen, nearly all of our best writers and 
 of our first poets and philanthropists, have 
 been men of religion; while among those who 
 have devoted themselves exclusively to relig- 
 ious things, as the study of their lives, are 
 numbered not a few of the best minds the 
 world has ever produced. The corrupt age of 
 Charles the Second and the troubled times of 
 the French Revolution produced sceptics by 
 the hundred, and they flattered themselves, no 
 doubt, that a death-blow had been given to 
 the religion of Christ; but the result has falsi- 
 fied their predictions, and although the world 
 listened to their arguments and was for a time 
 shaken in belief, the tendency of strong minds 
 has been a return to religion, and "wisdom is 
 mstified of her children." Take the world's 
 history through, and scepticism shows but a 
 poor array of strength. If we can learn any 
 
WOMAN'S MISSION. 183 
 
 thing from observation, or if the philosophy of 
 the mind proves any thing, then may we con- 
 fidently say, that infidelity is the proof either 
 of a bad heart or a badly balanced intellect. 
 The strong mind yearns after eternal truth. 
 The noble heart is not satisfied with things 
 that perish. 
 
 The tendency of woman's nature to religion 
 is therefore a witness in her own favor, and 
 not against that in which she believes. Those 
 same scoffing men of the world, who pride 
 themselves on doubt, as if it were the pro- 
 foundest, instead of a superficial exercise of 
 the mind, are ready enough, when trouble and 
 bereavement and sickness and death come 
 near them, to seek shelter under the religion 
 which was before an object of scorn; thereby 
 proving that they were kept from being re- 
 ligious, not by their vigor of intellect, but by 
 the strength of their passions. They show the 
 superiority of their nature, by waiting until 
 the storm drives them, with torn sails and a 
 shattered vessel, to the safe harborage of Faith, 
 instead of anticipating the tempest and saving 
 themselves from loss. 
 
184 WOMAN'S MISSION. 
 
 Again, as it is always true that our best in- 
 terests are secured by following our best im- 
 pulses, so is it with woman, when she becomes 
 the advocate of religion. The moral qualities 
 for which she is chiefly honored receive their 
 highest value, not from worldly considerations, 
 but from their relation to eternity. It is be- 
 cause we hope to live hereafter, that purity 
 and gentleness and love are highly esteemed. 
 The character which is made strong by the 
 affections is prized, because the affections will 
 find their best development in the world to 
 come. The majority of men pride themselves 
 on their superior strength and their better 
 adaptation to the rough uses of this world ; 
 but the more intelligent overlook such consid- 
 erations, because the entrance on a future life 
 will equalize them all, and the soul, whether 
 of man or woman, which is purest in its life 
 and noblest in its faith, will stand nearest to 
 God. Hence it is, that religious men are al- 
 ways the most forward to admit the claims 
 and maintain the rights of woman. In a com- 
 munity of sceptics and infidels, she is sure to 
 
WOMAN'S MISSION. 185 
 
 % 
 be treated either as a plaything for man's 
 
 amusement, or a servant for his convenience. 
 Men have the power in their own hands and 
 must always have it, and, unless they are re- 
 strained in its exertion by religious sympathy, 
 and directed by religious principle, they are 
 sure to abuse it in their treatment of the 
 weaker sex. This is true of individuals, and 
 still more true of communities. 
 
 When, therefore, I meet a sceptical woman, 
 or hear her express opinions derogatory to re- 
 ligion, I feel like saying to her, either your 
 mind is most unfortunately constituted, or 
 you do not know on what your happiness 
 depends. If she is so foolish as to affect a 
 masculine style of thought, thinking to evince 
 by scepticism superiority to her sex, she is 
 giving sufficient evidence of a weak mind and 
 narrow heart. An unbelieving woman is an 
 anomaly, a contradiction in terms, and, al- 
 though her character may be masculine, you 
 will rarely find her intellect strong. 
 
 In Christian lands gratitude alone should 
 bind her to religion as her best protection and 
 
186 WOMAN'S MISSION. 
 
 
 defence. The Mohammedan prizes his horse 
 
 higher than his wife, and the prophet himself 
 could find no place in heaven for her whom 
 he admitted to be the chiefest adornment of 
 earth. But the religion of the Bible, and es- 
 pecially of the New Testament, breathes a 
 different spirit. Jesus found woman degraded, 
 and stretched out his hand for her protection. 
 When the severities of the Mosaic law were 
 pointed out for his approval, he said, " In the 
 beginning it was not so." He taught that 
 " a man should leave father and mother and 
 cleave unto his wife," thereby declaring that 
 the relationship of marriage is the most sacred 
 of all human ties. He taught what was a 
 new revelation to the world, that all souls 
 are equally precious in the sight of God ; 
 nor is there any thing more conspicuous in 
 his history than the careful respect with which 
 the women of the Gospel were treated. 
 Wherever his religion is received, its first in- 
 fluence is to elevate her and defend her from 
 oppression. 
 
 We might enlarge indefinitely upon these 
 
WOMAN'S MISSION. 187 
 
 topics ; but more than enough has been said 
 to show that every woman is bound, by her 
 self-respect and by her desire for the respect 
 of others, by the principles of her nature and 
 by her social interests, by her own sense of 
 duty and by allegiance to her sex, to devote 
 herself, heart, soul, mind, and strength, to 
 promote the cause of true religion and pure 
 morality. Thus will she best work for the 
 glory of God, and at the same time most 
 effectually elevate herself to the place in so- 
 ciety for which God designed her. It may 
 be well enough for her, if she has a fancy for 
 it, to declaim about her rights, and to hold 
 conventions for the removal of her civil dis- 
 abilities ; for we do not deny that she has 
 had in time past, or that she has now, many 
 causes of just complaint. But the wrong can 
 be made right, not by altering here and there 
 a law, but only by the progress of true civili- 
 zation. As men become better and wiser 
 and more religious, woman will have con- 
 tinually less cause of complaint. 
 
 It was my intention to speak in this dis- 
 
188 
 
 course of woman's duties towards the poor 
 and suffering; but I have said so much on 
 other topics, that I can say nothing on this. 
 It is an important subject, which has never 
 been treated as carefully as it deserves. The 
 poor will never be properly provided for until 
 they are placed more directly under woman's 
 care. Poor-laws, almshouses, and commit- 
 tees of men are useful in their place, but 
 charity is doubly blest when administered by 
 woman's hand. Let her have the opportunity 
 of learning by experience, so as to avoid being 
 betrayed by her sympathies or by well-con- 
 trived imposture into injudicious action, and 
 the same money will do more good and go 
 further in her hands than in any other way. 
 But I should incur the risk of tiring your 
 patience, already too severely taxed, if I were 
 to enlarge upon the subject now, and hope 
 that at some future time I may find an op- 
 portunity of bringing it before you. 
 
 Here, then, is the true idea of woman's 
 mission. In her own place, wherever it may 
 be, and with all her influence, whether it 
 
189 
 
 seem to be great or little, let her count herself 
 as the missionary of Christ's religion, a laborei 
 with him in the cause of righteousness. Lei 
 her light so shine before men, that they, see- 
 ing her good works, may glorify the Father 
 who is in heaven. Let her become the salt 
 of the earth, remembering also, that if the 
 salt lose its savor, the purifying influence of 
 religion, it becomes more worthless even than 
 common dust. I know that this is man's mis- 
 sion too, and that his life also becomes de- 
 based, unless consecrated to goodness. But 
 woman is bound to the same cause by pecu- 
 liar motives, and is able to prosecute it under 
 peculiar advantages. She is able to begin at 
 the beginning, to direct the first development 
 of the mind, and almost to secure its growth 
 in righteousness. She controls the affections 
 of men, and thereby moulds their character. 
 If she could only understand the importance 
 of her position and the greatness of her work) 
 as the educator of the human race, she would! 
 find enough to employ all her faculties, andjv 
 to satisfy her highest ambition. Society haa 
 
190 WOMAN'S MISSION. 
 
 no other hope than this ; for if woman be 
 comes worldly and irreligious, society is edu 
 cated in the same spirit, and its tendencj 
 must be continually downward. 
 
 In view of such great responsibility resting 
 on her, have we not a right to demand of 
 society, that greater means for woman's edu- 
 cation should be provided? The education 
 of the young is exclusively in her hands, and 
 her natural capacity of teaching is greater 
 than man's, so that the schools of our whole 
 land are likely to be under her control ; yet 
 the provision for her own education is so im- 
 perfect, that she requires an unusual degree of 
 diligence to become a well-educated person. 
 In this respect society seems blind to its own 
 interests. Legislators experiment in law- 
 making, and incur the risk of dividing fami- 
 lies by making a separate purse between hus- 
 band and wife and by granting every facility 
 of divorce, experiments at which I cannot 
 help looking with a good deal of distrust; 
 but they do comparatively little to elevate the 
 standard of woman's education. A state is 
 
191 
 
 seldom ten years old, perhaps not passed from 
 the leading-strings of territorial government, 
 before it has colleges and universities and 
 high schools for boys and young men ; but 
 for females, the village school, with or with- 
 out a beggarly appropriation, is accounted 
 enough. But legislators do as their constit- 
 uents demand, and the blame therefore rests 
 where the punishment is felt; for the conse- 
 quence is that women are but half-educated, 
 and their duty as mothers and teachers but 
 half performed. 
 
 Nor does the neglect cease with the school 
 days. The whole arrangements of society, 
 even in the most advanced cities of the world, 
 seem to indicate that it is not expected of 
 women to read or think, but that, as a gen- 
 eral thing, it is enough, after her routine of 
 duties is over, to enjoy herself and be agree- 
 able. 
 
 We have lately seen in the newspapers de- 
 scriptions of magnificent hotels in Eastern cit- 
 ies, built and furnished at a cost beyond that 
 of palaces ; and among the arrangements we 
 
192 WOMAN'S MISSION. 
 
 find every appliance of luxury and elegance. 
 For gentlemen, a reading-room is supplied 
 with newspapers and journals from every part 
 of the world, and with every facility for using 
 them. But for ladies, Turkey carpets and silk 
 curtains are enough, and neither book nor 
 journal nor newspaper is provided for their 
 use. Would it not be a popular, as it would 
 certainly be a judicious movement, to provide 
 a reading parlor or circulating library, together 
 with other luxuries ? 
 
 Care enough is taken of woman's comfort, 
 but it would be well to think more of the in- 
 tellectual enjoyment, and not compel her to 
 resort to gossip or shopping, for the sake of 
 passing the time. 
 
 In our library associations, also, which adorn 
 every city and will soon become the pride of 
 ours, how small encouragement is given, ex- 
 cept to men, for their use ! The lady may 
 visit them as a matter of curiosity or for the 
 selection of a book, but no place is assigned to 
 her, where she can feel at home, for the pur- 
 pose of reading books which she may no* 
 
WOMAN'S MISSION. 193 
 
 wish to take away, or where she may be quite 
 sure that she is not intruding. I think that 
 she should have equal rights and privileges in 
 all such institutions. Give her the facilities 
 of continued self-education and she will prob- 
 ably use them. Nearly all of us, whether 
 men or women, conform ourselves, in a great 
 degree, to what is expected of us. Let so- 
 ciety expect and require of the young lady 
 to be fond of reading and diligent in self- 
 culture, and she will probably be glad to be- 
 come so. 
 
 But after all the aids that society can give, 
 the work of moral and intellectual improve- 
 ment is chiefly in our own hands. It is a 
 work of self-culture more than any thing else. 
 The Scriptures teach that even our salvation 
 must be worked out, under Divine direction, 
 for ourselves. The same is true of education 
 in knowledge and virtue, in the present life. 
 The young must take hold of it with an indi- 
 vidual purpose. They should Use the means 
 within their reach to the best advantage, and 
 13 
 
194 WOMAN'S MISSION. 
 
 they will find that small opportunities well 
 improved are better than the greatest if used 
 less carefully. Let me end, therefore, as I be- 
 gan, in urging upon them the necessity of 
 thoughtfulness and industry. Let the young 
 lady determine that she will not be a trifler, 
 devoted to pleasure, desiring only to be waited 
 on, greedy of admiration, driven to and fro by 
 every wind of fashion. Let her be at least as 
 careful in the adorning of her mind as of her 
 person. Let her have principles of conduct, 
 from which neither the example nor persua- 
 sions of thoughtless people can make her 
 swerve. However highly she may prize the 
 elegances of life, let her prize still more highly 
 the substance of life, which is found in mod- 
 esty and a well-governed temper; in gentle- 
 ness of manners and a womanly character. 
 Some may smile at the homeliness of my ad- 
 vice, and they may find a more attractive and 
 easier way in the routine of fashionable life. 
 They may say that they have no particular 
 desire to be wise and well-instructed, judicious 
 
WOMAN'S MISSION. 195 
 
 and good women, and that they are satisfied 
 to enjoy themselves as they go along. Theii 
 conduct proves the sincerity of their words, 
 but they will probably live to see the daj 
 when all their fascinations will not save them 
 from neglect, and the real trials of life wib 
 prove the necessity of real strength of char* 
 acter. 
 
 Finally, let the foundation of character be 
 laid where alone it can be well laid, in re- 
 ligion. " Remember thy Creator in the day? 
 of thy youth." Hold fast to that religion 
 which has redeemed your sex from servitude 
 and degradation, and which is needed to re- 
 deem your own souls from the servitude of the 
 world and the degradation of a selfish heart 
 Be religious ; not sectarian or bigoted, as if 
 the riches of God's grace were confined within 
 the limits of this or that church ; nor with a 
 sentimental piety, very devout on Sunday ana 
 very worldly through the week ; but be re 
 ligious with genuine, sincere faith, with hu 
 mility towards God and charity towards man 
 
196 WOMAN'S MISSION. 
 
 Learn to be followers of Jesus Christ, who first 
 understood the depths of woman's nature, and 
 whose religion bestows upon her a strength 
 which is not her own. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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