And in scarcely any thing is this social character, which is developed
in these elements of domestic life, more distinctly seen, and more
admired, than in the estimate which the man places upon the female
character and female society. The youth who has rightly improved by
this domestic training, and in whom the social character is properly
developed, is the champion of female virtue. The female character,
in its spotless purity, is that which he admires, and loves, and
venerates. He sees a mother and a sister in every respectable female;
and to him the appeal of female innocence for protection is never
made in vain. He is the knight in his chivalry, and is ready even to
interpose his life between wronged innocence and the wretch that would
lay his demon grasp upon spotless female virtue. And this veneration
for what is virtuous and amiable in the female character is almost
always a sure index to the character of the man that entertains it.
He is one of pure and exalted mind, and may be trusted in every
department of life. He has a high sense of honor, and his integrity
is not to be easily shaken. Of the intrigues of the immoral and the
vicious he knows nothing, and he entertains no feeling towards such
want of character but disgust. The nobleness of his nature is seen in
his abhorrence of the guilty, while the pure are safe under his care.
Such a man is the son, the brother, and the friend, that does honor
to his family, and to the circle of society in which he moves. And if
you would possess such character in manhood, cultivate it now. Let the
model appear before you at all times, and on all occasions, and let its
impress be indelibly made upon your mind and heart.