Proper Education

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Health is a great treasure. It is the richest possession we can have. Wealth, honor, or learning, is dearly purchased, if it be at the loss of the vigor of health. None of these attainments can secure happiness if health is wanting. It is a terrible sin to abuse the health God has given us. Every abuse of health enfeebles for life, and makes us losers, even if we gain any amount of education.

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Parents who are wealthy, in many cases do not feel the importance of giving their children an education in the practical duties of life, as well as in the sciences. They do not see the necessity, for the good of their children’s minds and morals, and for their future usefulness, of giving them a thorough understanding in useful labor. This is due their children, that, if misfortune should come, they could maintain noble independence, having a knowledge how to use their hands. If they have a capital of strength, they can not be poor, even if they have not a dollar. Many, who in youth are in affluent circumstances, may be robbed of all their riches, with parents and brothers and sisters dependent upon them for sustenance. Then how important that the youth be educated to labor, that they may be prepared for any emergency. Riches are indeed a curse when the possessors let them stand in the way of their sons’ and daughters’ obtaining a knowledge of useful labor, that they may be qualified for practical life.

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Those who are not compelled to labor, frequently do not have active exercise sufficient for physical health. Young men, for want of having their minds and hands employed in active labor, will acquire habits of indolence, and will frequently be obtaining, what is to be most dreaded, a street education, lounging about stores, smoking, drinking, and playing cards.

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The young ladies will read and excuse themselves from active labor, because they are in delicate health. Their feebleness is generally the result of their lack of exercising the muscles. They may think they are too feeble to do housework, but will work at crochet and tatting, and preserve the delicate paleness of their hands and faces, while their care-burdened mothers toil hard in washing and ironing their garments. These ladies transgress the fifth commandment. They do not honor their parents. But the mother is most to blame. She has indulged and excused her daughters from bearing their share of household duties, until work becomes distasteful to them, and they love, and enjoy, delicate idleness. They will eat, and sleep, and read novels, and talk of the fashions. Their lives are useless.

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Poverty, in many cases, is a blessing; for it prevents youth and children from being ruined by inaction. The physical should be cultivated and properly developed, as well as the mental. The first and constant care of parents should be that their children may have firm constitutions, that they may be sound men and women. It is impossible to attain this object without physical exercise. Children, for their own physical health and moral good, should be taught to work, even if there is no necessity as far as want is concerned. If they would have virtuous and pure characters, they must have the discipline of well-regulated labor, which will bring into exercise all the muscles. The satisfaction children will have in being useful, of denying themselves to help others, will be the most healthful pleasure they ever enjoyed. Why should the wealthy rob themselves and their dear children of this great blessing?

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Parents, inaction is the greatest curse that ever came upon you. Your daughters should not be allowed to lie late in bed in the morning, sleeping away the precious hours lent them of God to be used for the best purpose, and for which they will have to give an account to God. The mother is doing her daughters great injury in bearing the burdens the daughters should share with her for their own present good and future benefit. The course many parents have pursued in allowing their children to be indolent, and to gratify a desire for reading romance, is unfitting them for real life. Novel and story-book reading are the greatest evils that youth can indulge in. Novel and love-story readers always fail to make good, practical mothers. They live in an unreal world. They are air-castle builders, living in an imaginary world. They become sentimental, and have sick fancies. Their artificial life spoils them for anything useful. They are dwarfed in intellect, although they may flatter themselves that they are superior in mind and manners. Exercise in household labor will be of the greatest advantage to young girls.

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Physical labor will not prevent the cultivation of the intellect. Far from this. The advantages gained by physical labor will balance them, that the mind shall not be overworked. The toil will then come upon the muscles, and relieve the wearied brain. There are many listless, useless girls who consider it unlady-like to engage in active labor. But their characters are too transparent to deceive sensible persons in regard to their real worthlessness. They will simper and giggle, and are all affectation. They appear as though they could not speak their words fairly and squarely, but torture all they say with lisping and simpering. Are these ladies? They were not born fools, but were educated such. It does not require a frail, helpless, overdressed, simpering thing to make a lady. A sound body is required for a sound intellect. Physical soundness and a practical knowledge in all the necessary household duties, are never a hindrance to a well-developed intellect, but highly important for a lady.

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All the powers of the mind should be called into use, and developed, in order for men and women to have well-balanced minds. The world is full of one-sided men and women, because one set of the faculties are cultivated, while others are dwarfed from inaction. The education of most youth is a failure. They over-study, while they neglect that which pertains to practical business life. Men and women become parents without considering their responsibilities, and their offspring sink lower in the scale of human deficiency than they themselves. Thus we are fast degenerating. The constant application to study, as the schools are now conducted, is unfitting youth for practical life. The human mind will have action. If it is not active in the right direction, it will be active in the wrong. And in order to preserve the balance of the mind, labor and study should be united in the schools.

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There should have been in past generations provisions made for education upon a larger scale. In connection with the schools should have been agricultural and manufacturing establishments. There should have been teachers also of household labor. There should have been a portion of the time each day devoted to labor, that the physical and mental might be equally exercised. If schools had been established upon the plan we have mentioned, there would not now be so many unbalanced minds. E. G. W. —

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God prepared for Adam and Eve a beautiful garden. He provided for them everything their wants required. He planted for them trees of every variety, bearing fruit. With a liberal hand he surrounded them with his bounties-the trees, for usefulness and beauty, and the lovely flowers, which sprung up spontaneously, and flourished in rich profusion around them, were to know nothing of decay. Adam and Eve were rich indeed. They possessed beautiful Eden. Adam was monarch in this beautiful domain. None can question the fact that Adam was rich. But God knew that Adam could not be happy unless he had employment. Therefore he gave him something to do. He was to dress the garden.

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The Creator of man never designed that he should be idle. The Lord formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. It was the law of nature, therefore the law of God, that brain, nerve, and muscle, should be in active motion. Young gentlemen and ladies that refuse to labor because they are not compelled to, and because it is not fashionable, are not guided and controlled by enlightened reason. Those who shun manual labor, cannot have physical stamina. In order for the young to enjoy perfect health and perfect happiness, every organ and function must be in perfect operation as God designed they should be. If all the organs act their natural part, life, health, and happiness, will be the result. Too little exercise, and staying in-doors too much, will bring on feebleness and disease of some one or more of the organs. It is sinful to impair or weaken one of the powers God has given us. The great Creator designed that we should have perfect bodies, that we might preserve them in health, and render to him the offering of a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

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Exercise in useful labor will be carrying out the original plan of God, when he bade Adam and Eve to dress the garden. Life is precious, and should be preserved intelligently by regarding the laws of our being.

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Fashionable idlers, who have plenty of leisure, fail to attain happiness. They have been educated to regard honest labor as only fit for the poor, while it would degrade the wealthy. They rob the brain and nervous system, by fashionable indolence, of a supply of animal energy that keeps the machinery of the body in healthful activity.

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In order for the brain to have clearness and strength of thought, retentive memory, and mental power, the muscles of the body should have exercise a portion of each day in order to preserve and improve health.

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Adam was in glorious Eden. He was perfectly developed, and then set to work by his Maker that in exercise all his muscles should preserve their elasticity. Many young men and ladies are too proud, or too lazy, to engage in useful labor in the house or in the garden.

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The world is full of women with but little vitality, and less common sense. Society is in great need of healthful, sensible young women, who are not afraid to work and soil their hands. God gave them hands to employ in useful labor. God did not give us the wonderful human machinery of the body to become paralyzed by inaction. The living machinery God designed should be in daily activity, and in this activity or motion of the machinery, is its preserving power. Manual labor quickens the circulation of the blood. The more active the circulation the more free will be the blood from obstructions and impurities. The blood nourishes the body. The health of the body depends upon the healthful circulation of the blood. If work is performed without the heart being in it, it is simply drudgery, and the benefit which should result from the exercise is not gained.

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Toiling mothers, who have given their children the advantages of education, and have brought them up without disciplining them to self-denial and physical labor, and have given them liberty to follow their own pleasure, will not receive much happiness and comfort from these children. In my travels I have seen that those women who entered upon the married life wholly unprepared for domestic duties, were not happy. They did not receive the training and the education in their youth that fitted them for the responsible position they had by most solemn covenant agreed to fill. The parents had made a great mistake. When children, they were excused from exertion in order «to enrich the mind.» They could play an instrument of music, but were not educated to take responsibility. They enjoyed burying their minds in novels, but had no love to keep their houses in order. They were as incompetent for the responsible position of mothers as a girl of fifteen years. Economy of means they knew nothing of, and yet these are the mothers that are bringing up children to take their place upon the stage of action, to act their part in the drama of life. The characters of youth should not be spoiled by over-fond mothers. Parents should consider that as they neglect to thoroughly educate their daughters in domestic labor and economy, they are giving characters to them which will make their future married lives miserable. There will be disappointed husbands, and neglected children, because of inefficient wives and mothers. E. G. W. —

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Men and women of this age who have a large amount of earthly treasure may be estimated as wealthy. But their riches, in comparison with the paradise of wealth given the lordly Adam, are very insignificant. Yet the so-called wealthy sometimes regard it degrading for them and their children to engage in useful physical labor. Their views are not in harmony with God’s original plans. They educate their children by precept and example that physical labor is beneath their exalted station, and, in order to be gentlemen and ladies, their hands must be unemployed, so far as useful labor is concerned. They are early sent to a boarding school or a seminary to obtain book knowledge, or they pass away their time in ornamenting their persons, or in gratifying their inclination for amusements. For this education, high and noble duties are neglected.

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We have no right, my Christian sisters, to waste our time, and give example to others who are less able than we to waste their time and energies, upon needless ornaments, upon dress or furniture, or to indulge in superfluities in food. We have religious duties to perform, and if we neglect these duties, and give our time to needless things, we will dwarf the intellect, and separate the affections from God. The Author of our existence has claims upon our time and our money. He has poor and suffering ones all around us that money may relieve, and cheering, encouraging words bless. Christ identifies himself with the wants of suffering humanity. As you neglected to visit the widow and orphans tried in the furnace of affliction, suffering want and privation, you did not realize that Christ would mark the circumstances against you in the book of records, as though you had neglected him.

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The impression that in order to be gentlemen and ladies the hands must be unskilled in useful employment, and delicate idleness be cultivated, is not in accordance with the Lord’s plans in the creation of man. These false notions open a wide door for temptation.

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Many professed Christian parents show by their course of action that the main object of their lives is to secure their own enjoyment. They follow inclination and look for happiness in amusements. Happiness is not secured by depending on various gratifications within our reach. All who imitate the life of Christ, and conform their character to his, and engage in active, useful labor in self-denying benevolence, will have happiness. «For even Christ pleased not himself.» He said, «I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.»

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Inaction and delicate idleness is weakening the life-forces of young women. There are those who spend hours of precious time in bed, which is not blessing them with increase of strength, or relieving others from burdens, but is bringing upon them debility and confirming them in wrong habits. These hours idled away needlessly in bed can never be regained. The sin of time thus lost is marked in the book of records.

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There is enough to do in this busy world of ours. There are enough in God’s great family who need sympathy and aid. If our own work does not demand our time, there are sick to be visited, the poor to be helped and encouraged. But while hours are being idled away, there is a pressure frequently of labor close at home. Rooms may need to be put in order, garments may need repairing, and there may be a variety of little duties that some one must attend to. There may be a necessity for careful oversight of provisions, that nothing may be wasted.

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I have observed a great deficiency in so-called educated ladies. They may have graduated with honors, but are shamefully deficient in the practical duties of life. They are destitute of the qualifications necessary for the proper regulation and happiness of the family. They may talk of woman’s elevated sphere and of her rights, while they themselves sink far below the true sphere of woman. God designed that women should become intelligent in the most essential duties of life. But very many in the scale of knowledge and efficiency are even below their hired servants. It is the right of every daughter of Eve in our land to be thoroughly educated in household duties, having a knowledge of all the branches of practical life in domestic labor. She may preside in her family as queen in her domain, her household being her kingdom. She should be fully competent to direct her servants. It is woman’s right to be qualified to direct the expanding minds of her children. It is her right to have an understanding of her own and her children’s organisms, that she may know how to treat her children, and save them from the poisons of doctors’ drugs. She may adore her gracious Creator as she contemplates how beautifully and simply nature carries on her work when she is not interfered with. She may be an intelligent nurse and physician of her own dear children, instead of leaving their precious lives in the hands of stranger physicians, to be drugged to death. It is woman’s right to know how to regulate her own habits, and those of her children, in diet and dress, in exercise and in domestic duties, and employment in the open air in relation to life and health.

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Of all the living organisms that God has created, none rank in the scale of value with him anywhere near to man. And if human beings would become intelligent in regard to their own bodies, and understand their relation to life and health, and regulate their habits of eating, of dressing, of working and resting, their lives would be prolonged in health and happiness. Many mothers do not take half the interest in the constitutional wants of their children that the intelligent farmer shows to the brutes around him. It is woman’s right to look after the interest of her husband, to have a care for his wardrobe, and to seek to make him happy. It is her right to improve her mind and manners, to be social, cheerful, and happy, shedding sunshine in her family, and making it a little heaven. And she may have an interest for more than «me and mine.» She should consider that society has claims upon her.

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The false education of young ladies leads them to regard uselessness, frivolity, and helplessness, as desirable attainments. Many parents give their daughters the advantages of literary attainments, support them in amusement, and relieve them from the burdens of domestic care. They give them an abundance of time and nothing to occupy it. Flattery and the artificial, without an object or aim-nothing substantial to satisfy the mind and strengthen principle -leave empty nothingness.

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I copy the following appropriate paragraph from «The American Woman’s Home,» by C. E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe:-

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«OUR LAND IS NOW FULL OF MOTORPATHIC INSTITUTIONS, TO WHICH WOMEN ARE SENT AT A GREAT EXPENSE TO HAVE HIRED OPERATORS STRETCH AND EXERCISE THEIR INACTIVE MUSCLES. THEY LIE FOR HOURS TO HAVE THEIR FEET TWIGGED, THEIR ARMS FLEXED, AND ALL THE DIFFERENT MUSCLES OF THE BODY WORKED FOR THEM, BECAUSE THEY ARE SO FLACCID AND TORPID THAT THE POWERS OF LIFE DO NOT GO ON. WOULD IT NOT BE QUITE AS CHEERFUL, AND A LESS EXPENSIVE PROCESS, IF YOUNG GIRLS FROM EARLY LIFE DEVELOPED THE MUSCLES IN SWEEPING, DUSTING, STARCHING, IRONING, AND ALL THE MULTIPLIED DOMESTIC PROCESSES WHICH OUR GRANDMOTHERS KNEW OF? A WOMAN WHO DID ALL THESE, AND DIVERSIFIED THE INTERVALS WITH SPINNING ON THE GREAT AND LITTLE WHEEL, DID NOT NEED THE GYMNASTICS OF DIO LEWIS, OR THE SWEDISH MOVEMENT CURE, WHICH REALLY ARE A NECESSITY NOW. DOES IT NOT SEEM POOR ECONOMY TO PAY SERVANTS FOR LETTING OUR MUSCLES GROW FEEBLE, AND THEN TO PAY OPERATORS TO EXERCISE THEM FOR US? I WILL VENTURE TO SAY THAT OUR GRANDMOTHERS WENT OVER, IN A WEEK, EVERY MOVEMENT THAT ANY GYMNAST HAS INVENTED, AND WENT OVER THEM WITH SOME PRODUCTIVE PURPOSE, TOO.»

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There are many popularly-educated women who have no love for domestic labor because they have cherished thoughts that their education placed them above household employment. Young women should be educated for their important life-work with the advantages of the highest moral and physical strength, and should receive the purest cultivation.

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God placed Adam and Eve in the garden to labor. They were both to unite their efforts in dressing and keeping the garden. If young women waste their time in uselessness, they are meeting with great loss. Their time should be employed in becoming rich in good works, and in this manner they are indeed cultivating the intellect for a purpose. The most essential education for youth is a knowledge of the branches of labor important for practical life.

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«THE AMERICAN WOMAN’S HOME» CONTINUES: «THERE HAS BEEN A GREAT DEAL OF CRUDE, DISAGREEABLE TALK IN THESE CONVENTIONS, AND TOO GREAT TENDENCY OF THE AGE TO MAKE THE EDUCATION OF WOMAN ANTI-DOMESTIC. IT SEEMS AS IF THE WORLD NEVER COULD ADVANCE, EXCEPT LIKE SHIPS UNDER A HEADWIND, TACKING AND GOING TOO FAR, NOW IN THIS DIRECTION, AND NOW IN THE OPPOSITE. OUR COMMON-SCHOOL SYSTEMS NOW REJECT SEWING FROM THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS, WHICH VERY PROPERLY USED TO OCCUPY MANY HOURS DAILY IN SCHOOL A GENERATION AGO. THE DAUGHTERS OF LABORERS AND ARTISANS ARE PUT THROUGH ALGEBRA, GEOMETRY, TRIGONOMETRY, AND THE HIGHER MATHEMATICS, TO THE ENTIRE NEGLECT OF THAT LEARNING WHICH BELONGS DISTINCTIVELY TO WOMEN. A GIRL OFTEN CANNOT KEEP PACE WITH HER CLASS IF SHE GIVES ANY TIME TO DOMESTIC MATTERS; AND ACCORDINGLY SHE IS EXCUSED FROM THEM ALL DURING THE WHOLE TERM OF HER EDUCATION. AS THE RESULT, THE YOUNG WOMEN IN SOME OF OUR COUNTRY TOWNS ARE, IN MENTAL CULTURE, MUCH IN ADVANCE OF THE MALES OF THE SAME HOUSEHOLD; BUT WITH THIS COMES A PHYSICAL DELICACY, THE RESULT OF AN EXCLUSIVE USE OF THE BRAIN AND A NEGLECT OF THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM, WITH GREAT INEFFICIENCY IN PRACTICAL, DOMESTIC DUTIES. THE RACE OF STRONG, HARDY, CHEERFUL GIRLS, THAT USED TO GROW UP IN COUNTRY PLACES, AND MADE THE BRIGHT, NEAT, NEW ENGLAND KITCHENS OF OLDEN TIMES-THE GIRLS THAT COULD WASH, IRON, BAKE, HARNESS A HORSE AND DRIVE HIM, NO LESS THAN BRAID STRAW, EMBROIDER, DRAW, PAINT, AND READ INNUMERABLE BOOKS-THIS RACE OF WOMEN, PRIDE OF OLDEN TIME, IS DAILY LESSENING; AND IN THEIR STEAD COME THE FRAGILE, EASILY-FATIGUED, LANGUID GIRLS OF A MODERN AGE, DRILLED IN BOOK LEARNING, IGNORANT OF COMMON THINGS. THE GREAT DANGER OF ALL THIS, AND OF THE EVILS THAT COME FROM IT, IS, THAT SOCIETY, BY-AND-BY, WILL TURN AS BLINDLY AGAINST FEMALE INTELLECTUAL CULTURE AS IT NOW ADVOCATES IT, AND HAVING WORKED DISPROPORTIONATELY ONE WAY, WILL WORK DISPROPORTIONATELY IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION.» E. G. W. —

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The prophet Ezekiel describes a class whose example Christians should not imitate. «Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.»

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We are not ignorant of the fall of Sodom because of the corruption of its inhabitants. The prophet has here specified the particular evils which led to dissolute morals. We see the very sins now existing in the world which were in Sodom, and which brought upon her the wrath of God, even to her utter destruction.

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It is important in the education and moral training of children and youth, to the formation of characters on which depend their own happiness and the happiness of those with whom they associate, that they are taught to cultivate habits of self-denial and a love to do good to others, as Christ in his life has given us an example.

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In all the teachings of Christ, he sought to impress upon the minds of his hearers that their happiness did not consist in self-gratification and amusements, but in the cultivation and exercise of useful lives in self-denying benevolence, as he was giving them an example in his own life. Idleness is sin in the wealthy as well as in those who are poor. Riches are a snare when their possession relieves from responsibilities which God designed we all should bear whether we are rich or poor. If God has intrusted to us riches, it is for the purpose of using his bounties to do good, to bless the needy, and thus glorify him. Said Christ, «How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!» He expressly warned his hearers, «Take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man’s life [health and happiness] consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.»

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The Lord illustrates how he estimates the worldly wealthy who lift up their souls unto vanity because of their earthly possessions, by the rich man who tore down his barns and built greater, that he might have wherewith to bestow his goods. Forgetful of God, he acknowledged not from whence came all his possessions. No grateful thanks ascended to his gracious Benefactor. He congratulated himself, «Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry.» The Master, who had intrusted to him earthly riches with which to bless his fellow-men and glorify his Maker, was justly angry at his ingratitude, and said, «Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee; then whose shall these things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.» An extensive fortune, or any degree of wealth, will not secure the favor of God. All these bounties and blessings come from him to prove and develop the character of man.

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Men may have boundless wealth, yet if they are not rich toward God, if they have no interest to secure to themselves the heavenly treasure and divine wisdom, they are accounted fools by their Creator. Labor is a blessing. It is impossible for us to enjoy health without labor. All the faculties should be called into use in order to be properly developed, and that men and women may have well-balanced minds. If the young had been given a thorough education in the different branches of labor, and had been taught labor as well as the sciences, their education would have been of greater value to them.

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The rich have greater temptations to neglect the cultivation of the very things which are essential to their health and happiness in this life than their less wealthy neighbors. The wealthy are frequently led to encourage indolence and self-indulgence, and they fail to educate their children to develop valuable characters; such as God estimates, and which will give them moral worth fit for the society of the heavenly angels.

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I clip from an exchange the following on

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«EVERY-DAY RELIGION. «WE MUST COME BACK TO OUR POINT, WHICH IS NOT TO URGE YOU ALL TO GIVE YOURSELVES TO MISSION WORK, BUT TO SERVE GOD MORE IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR DAILY CALLING. I HAVE HEARD THAT A WOMEN WHO HAS A MISSION MAKES A POOR WIFE OR A BAD MOTHER; THIS IS VERY POSSIBLE, AND AT THE SAME TIME VERY LAMENTABLE; BUT THE MISSION I URGE, IS NOT AT ALL OF THIS SORT. DIRTY ROOMS, SLATTERNLY GOWNS, CHILDREN WITH UNWASHED FACES ARE SWIFT WITNESSES AGAINST THE SINCERITY OF THOSE WHO KEEP OTHER VINEYARDS AND NEGLECT THEIR OWN. I HAVE NO FAITH IN THAT WOMAN WHO TALKS OF GRACE AND GLORY ABROAD, AND USES NO SOAP AND WATER AT HOME. LET THE BUTTONS BE ON THE SHIRTS, LET THE CHILDREN’S SOCKS BE MENDED, LET THE HOUSE BE AS NEAT AS A NEW PIN, AND THE HOME BE AS HAPPY AS HOME CAN BE. SERVE GOD BY DOING COMMON ACTIONS IN A HEAVENLY SPIRIT, AND THEN, IF YOUR DAILY CALLING ONLY LEAVES YOU CRACKS AND CREVICES OF TIME, FILL THEM UP WITH HOLY SERVICE. — SPURGEON .»

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I AM DELIGHTED TO FIND THE FOLLOWING IN THAT INVALUABLE WORK ENTITLED «THE YOUNG LADY’S COUNSELOR,» BY REV. DANIEL WISE, A. M.; IT CAN BE OBTAINED AT ANY METHODIST BOOK ROOMS:-

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«PERMIT ME, BY WAY OF ILLUSTRATING ANOTHER FEATURE OF THIS QUESTION, TO LEAD YOU INTO THE SITTING-ROOM OF A RESPECTABLE AND PIOUS LADY. SHE IS NEATLY BUT PLAINLY ATTIRED, AND IS BUSY, WITH THE AID OF A SERVANT, DUSTING AND CLEANING THE ROOM. THE DOOR-BELL RINGS, AND THE GIRL HASTENS TO SEE WHO IS THE VISITOR. SHE FINDS THE LADY’S PASTOR AT THE DOOR, AND, WITHOUT CEREMONY, USHERS HIM INTO THE SITTING-ROOM. THE LADY’S FACE IS SUFFUSED WITH BLUSHES, AS SHE CONFUSEDLY LAYS ASIDE HER DUSTING-BRUSH AND OFFERS HER HAND TO THE MINISTER, SAYING, ‘SIR, I AM ASHAMED YOU SHOULD FIND ME THUS.’

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«‘LET CHRIST, WHEN HE COMETH, FIND ME SO DOING,’ REPLIES HER PASTOR.

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«‘WHAT! SIR; DO YOU WISH TO BE FOUND IN THIS EMPLOYMENT?’ EARNESTLY INQUIRED THE ASTONISHED LADY.

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«‘YES, MADAM, I WISH TO BE FOUND FAITHFULLY PERFORMING THE DUTIES OF MY MISSION, AS I HAVE FOUND YOU FULFILLING YOURS.’

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«AND WAS NOT THE MINISTER RIGHT? HE RECOGNIZED A GREAT, BUT A DESPISED, TRUTH. HE SAW AS HIGH A MORAL IMPORTANCE IN THE HUMBLE TASK OF THE LADY AS IN THE MISSIONS OF GABRIEL TO THE ANCIENT PROPHETS; FOR BOTH DID THE WILL OF GOD IN THEIR RESPECTIVE SPHERES, AND DIVERSITY OF SPHERE DOES NOT NECESSARILY INVOLVE REAL INFERIORITY IN THE EMPLOYMENT. THE LADY IN HER HOME COULD EXHIBIT AN AFFECTION AS TRUE, AND AN OBEDIENCE AS SINCERE, AS THE ANGEL IN HIS SPHERE. IT WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO SHOW WHEREIN HER EMPLOYMENT WAS MORALLY AND NECESSARILY INFERIOR TO HIS, INASMUCH AS THE CHARACTER OF AN ACT DERIVES ALL ITS MORAL GREATNESS, NOT FROM THE SPHERE OF THE ACTOR, BUT FROM ITS CONFORMITY TO THE WILL OF GOD.

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«DO YOU PERCEIVE THE BEARING OF MY ILLUSTRATION UPON THE QUESTION OF WOMAN’S SPHERE? IT SHOWS YOU THAT YOUR SEX IS NOT NECESSARILY INFERIOR TO THE OTHER, BECAUSE IT IS CALLED, BY GOD AND NATURE, TO ACT IN A DIFFERENT SPHERE. YOUR EXCLUSION FROM THE STAGE OF PUBLIC LIFE DOES NOT IMPLY YOUR INFERIORITY-ONLY THE DIVERSITY OF YOUR POWERS, FUNCTIONS AND DUTIES. INDEED, IT WOULD DEFY THE LOFTIEST POWERS TO SHOW WHEREIN THE WORK, THE MISSION OF THE SPHERE OF WOMAN, IS A WHIT BENEATH THAT OF HER MORE BUSTLING AND PROMINENT COMPANION, MAN.

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«WHAT IS THE SPHERE OF WOMAN? HOME, THE SOCIAL CIRCLE. WHAT IS HER MISSION? TO MOLD CHARACTER, TO FASHION HERSELF AND OTHERS AFTER THE MODEL CHARACTER OF CHRIST. WHAT ARE HER CHIEF INSTRUMENTS FOR THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF HER GREAT WORK? THE AFFECTIONS. LOVE IS THE WAND BY WHICH SHE IS TO WORK MORAL TRANSFORMATIONS WITHIN HER FAIRY CIRCLE. GENTLENESS, SWEETNESS, LOVELINESS AND PURITY ARE THE ELEMENTS OF HER POWER. HER PLACE IS NOT ON LIFE’S GREAT BATTLE FIELDS. MAN BELONGS THERE. IT IS FOR HIM TO GO FORTH ARMED FOR ITS CONFLICTS AND STRUGGLES, TO DO FIERCE BATTLE WITH THE HOSTS OF EVIL THAT THRONG OUR EARTH AND TRAMPLE UPON ITS BLESSINGS. BUT WOMAN MUST ABIDE IN THE PEACEFUL SANCTUARIES OF HOME, AND WALK IN THE NOISELESS VALES OF PRIVATE LIFE. THERE SHE MUST DWELL, BESIDE THE SECRET SPRINGS OF PUBLIC VIRTUE. THERE SHE MUST SMILE UPON THE FATHER, THE BROTHER, THE HUSBAND, WHEN, RETURNING LIKE WARRIORS FROM THE FIGHT, EXHAUSTED AND COVERED WITH THE DUST OF STRIFE, THEY NEED TO BE REFRESHED BY SWEET WATERS DRAWN ‘FROM AFFECTION’S SPRING,’ AND CHEERED TO RENEWED STRUGGLES BY THE MUSIC OF HER VOICE. THERE SHE MUST REAR THE CHRISTIAN PATRIOT AND STATESMAN, THE SELF-DENYING PHILANTHROPIST AND THE OBEDIENT CITIZEN. THERE, IN A WORD, SHE MUST FORM THE CHARACTER OF THE WORLD, AND DETERMINE THE DESTINY OF HER RACE. HOW AWFUL IS HER MISSION! WHAT DREAD RESPONSIBILITY ATTACHES TO HER WORK! SURELY, SHE IS NOT DEGRADED BY FILLING SUCH A SPHERE. NOR WOULD SHE BE ELEVATED, IF, FORSAKING IT, SHE SHOULD GO FORTH INTO THE HIGHWAYS OF SOCIETY AND JOSTLE WITH HER BROTHERS FOR THE OFFICES AND HONORS OF PUBLIC LIFE. FAME SHE MIGHT OCCASIONALLY GAIN, BUT IT WOULD BE AT THE PRICE OF HER WOMANLY INFLUENCE.

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«FANCY YOURSELF FAR OUT AT SEA, IN A NOBLE SHIP, CONTENDING WITH A FURIOUS STORM. ‘BENEATH IS ONE WILD WHIRL OF FOAMING SURGES; ABOVE, THE ARRAY OF LIGHTNINGS, LIKE THE SWORDS OF CHERUBIM, WIDE BRANDISHED, TO REPEL AGGRESSION FROM HEAVEN’S GATES.’ BEHOLD, AMIDST THIS SCENE OF GRANDEUR, THE STORMY PETREL GLIDING UP THE FACE OF A HUGE WAVE, DARTING ABOVE THE FOAM OF A BREAKER, OR SWEEPING ALONG THE WATERY VALLEYS AS COMPOSEDLY AND AS NATURALLY AS IT EVER SWEPT OVER THE SAME SEA IN AN HOUR OF CALM. BEHOLD, TOO, ANOTHER BIRD, WHIRLING AND DARTING ABOVE THE SPRAY WITH A CRY OF SEEMING DESPAIR; NOW FLYING BEFORE A MONSTER SEA, AND ANON STRUGGLING TO KEEP ITS WET AND WEARY WINGS FROM FOLDING INTO HELPLESS INACTION.

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«TELL ME, LADY, WHY THIS LITTLE TREMBLER IS IN SO PITIFUL A PLIGHT, WHILE THE STORMY PETREL GAMBOLS FREELY AMONG THE WAVES. YOU CANNOT ANSWER. THEN LISTEN. THE PETREL IS IN ITS APPROPRIATE SPHERE. THE LITTLE TREMBLER IS A LAND-BIRD, TEMPTED, AT FIRST, BY SUNNY WEATHER, TO WANDER AMONG THE ISLANDS, AND DRIVEN, AT LAST, BY A STRONG WIND TO SEA. HE IS OUT OF HIS SPHERE; AND HENCE HIS QUIET HAS FLED, HIS SONG IS SILENCED AND HIS LIFE ENDANGERED. GOD MADE HIM FOR THE LAND. THE GROVE IS HIS HOME, AND HIS SPHERE IS AMONG THE FLOWERS.

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«IT IS THUS WITH THE ENTIRE CREATION. EVERYTHING HAS ITS APPOINTED SPHERE, WITHIN WHICH ALONE IT CAN FLOURISH. MEN AND WOMEN HAVE THEIRS. THEY ARE NOT EXCEPTIONS TO THIS TRUTH, BUT EXAMPLES OF IT. TO BE HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS, THEY MUST ABIDE IN THEM. MAN IS FITTED FOR THE STORMS OF PUBLIC LIFE, AND, LIKE THE PETREL, CAN BE HAPPY AMID THEIR RUDEST SURGES. WOMAN IS FORMED FOR THE CALM OF HOME. SHE MAY VENTURE, LIKE THE LAND BIRD, TO INVADE THE SPHERE OF MAN, BUT SHE WILL ENCOUNTER STORMS WHICH SHE IS UTTERLY UNFITTED TO MEET; HAPPINESS WILL FORSAKE HER BREAST, HER OWN SEX WILL DESPISE HER, MEN WILL BE UNABLE TO LOVE HER, AND WHEN SHE DIES SHE WILL FILL AN UNHONORED GRAVE.

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«THAT GREAT PATRIOT, JOHN ADAMS, PAID A HIGH COMPLIMENT TO THE POWER OF YOUR SEX, WHEN, IN AN HOUR OF DEEP POLITICAL GLOOM, HE WROTE THE FOLLOWING LINES TO HIS WIFE. ALLUDING TO THE ATTACK OF THE BRITISH ON THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, HE SAYS: ‘I BELIEVE THE TWO HOWES HAVE NOT VERY GREAT WOMEN FOR THEIR WIVES; IF THEY HAD, WE SHOULD SUFFER MORE FROM THEIR EXERTIONS THAN WE DO. A SMART WIFE WOULD HAVE PUT HOWE IN POSSESSION OF PHILADELPHIA A LONG TIME AGO.’

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«THIS REMARK OF THE STATESMAN, PLAYFULLY AS IT IS EXPRESSED, WAS, NEVERTHELESS, THE OFFSPRING OF AN OPINION WHICH HE SERIOUSLY MAINTAINED CONCERNING THE INFLUENCE OF WOMEN. HE CONTENDED THAT MUCH OF THE MERIT OF THE GREAT MEN WHOSE NAMES ARE ON THE ROLL OF FAME, BELONGED TO THEIR SISTERS, WIVES AND MOTHERS. HENCE HE ATTRIBUTED THE FAULTS OF HOWE TO THE LACK OF HIGH MERIT IN HIS WIFE.

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«JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, THE ‘OLD MAN ELOQUENT,’ ONCE PAID THE FOLLOWING PRECIOUS TRIBUTE TO HIS MOTHER: ‘IT IS DUE TO GRATITUDE AND NATURE THAT I SHOULD ACKNOWLEDGE AND AVOW THAT SUCH AS I HAVE BEEN, WHATEVER IT WAS, SUCH AS I AM, WHATEVER IT IS, AND SUCH AS I HOPE TO BE IN ALL FUTURITY, MUST BE ASCRIBED, UNDER PROVIDENCE, TO THE PRECEPTS AND EXAMPLE OF MY MOTHER.’

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«VERY SIMILAR IS THE CONFESSION OF THE CELEBRATED GERMAN PHILOSOPHER, KANT, WHO SAYS, ‘I SHALL NEVER FORGET THAT IT WAS MY MOTHER WHO CAUSED THE GOOD WHICH IS IN MY SOUL TO FRUCTIFY.’

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«NOR ARE THE PLEASURES OF SUCCESS LESS DELIGHTFUL IN A WOMAN’S BREAST BECAUSE SHE ATTAINS IT THROUGH ANOTHER. IF A RICH TIDE OF JOY FLOWS THROUGH THE BREAST OF AN APPLAUDED HERO, A TRIUMPHANT STATESMAN, OR A USEFUL PHILANTHROPIST, THERE IS ANOTHER EQUALLY DELIGHTFUL IN THE BOSOM OF THE WOMAN WHO IS CONSCIOUS THAT, BUT FOR HER, THE GREAT MAN WOULD NEVER HAVE MOUNTED THE PEDESTAL OF HIS GREATNESS.

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«AWAY, THEN, FROM YOUR HEART, YOUNG LADY, WITH ALL THE VAGARIES OF THESE PSEUDO REFORMERS! TREAT THEIR CRUDE OPINIONS WITH THE CONTEMPT THEY DESERVE. GLORY IN THE TRUE GREATNESS AND REAL SUBLIMITY OF THE SPHERE YOU ARE CALLED TO FILL. LABOR TO QUALIFY YOURSELF TO FULFILL YOUR MISSION WITH DISTINGUISHED SUCCESS. OBTAIN, BY PERSEVERING SELF-CULTURE, THOSE HIGH QUALITIES WHICH LIFT ONE MIND ABOVE ANOTHER. FOR YOU MUST NOT FAIL TO REMEMBER THAT YOU CANNOT COMMUNICATE HIGH QUALITIES AND NOBLE SENTIMENTS TO OTHER MINDS UNLESS THEY FIRST EXIST IN YOUR OWN. CULTIVATE, THEREFORE, THE LOFTIEST VIRTUES, THE HIGHEST ELEMENTS OF GREAT CHARACTER.

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«SUCH BEING YOUR SPHERE, WITH ITS WEIGHTY RESPONSIBILITY, YOU REQUIRE THE AIDS OF RELIGION TO FILL IT WITH PROPRIETY AND EFFECT. HIGH QUALITIES ARE NOT THE OFFSPRING OF AN UNGRACIOUS NATURE. THERE IS TOO MUCH OF THE MORAL WEAKNESS OF DEPRAVITY IN THE HUMAN SOUL TO PERMIT ITS HARMONIOUS AND USEFUL DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT THE RESTRAINTS AND AIDS OF GRACE. WHERE THE SPIRIT OF REVEALED RELIGION DOES NOT REIGN, THERE WILL BE MORAL DEFORMITY. SELFISHNESS WITH ITS FORBIDDING ASPECT, PRIDE, ENVY, HATE, DISCONTENT, FRETFULNESS, ILL-TEMPER, AND TROOPS OF KINDRED VICES, WILL WOUND AND SEAR YOUR CHARACTER, DIMINISH YOUR INFLUENCE, AND DISTURB YOUR PEACE. BUT, BY SURRENDERING YOURSELF TO THE CLAIMS AND INFLUENCES OF THE SAVIOUR, YOUR LIFE WILL BE AS A FRUITFUL BRANCH IN A BEAUTIFUL VINE. THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT WILL ADORN IT. CLUSTERS OF GRACES, SUCH AS LOVE, JOY, PEACE, GENTLENESS, GOODNESS AND MEEKNESS, WILL GIVE IT ATTRACTIVENESS. ITS BEAUTY WILL IMPRESS THE MINDS ABOUT YOU, AND ACT AS A MIGHTY RESTRAINT FROM SIN UPON THEM AS THEY WANDER OVER THE EARTH. YOUR IMAGE WILL STAND BEFORE A BROTHER, A HUSBAND OR A FATHER, AS A GOOD GENIUS IN HIS HOUR OF TEMPTATION, AND FORBID THE TRIUMPH OF THE TEMPTER.

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«TO IMPRESS SUCH AN IMAGE OF YOURSELF UPON SOME LOVED MIND WITHIN YOUR CIRCLE IS WORTH A LIFETIME OF EFFORT. AND YOU HAVE NO EFFECTUAL MEANS OF ACCOMPLISHING SO NOBLE A TASK BUT BY COMMUNING DEEPLY WITH THE SPIRIT OF JESUS. RESOLVE, THEREFORE, TO LIVE AT HIS FOOTSTOOL, AND HE WILL INSPIRE YOU WITH EVERY HIGH AND HOLY QUALITY NECESSARY TO ENABLE YOU TO FULFILL YOUR EARTHLY MISSION.» E. G. W. —