"'T is by degrees the youthful mind expands; and every day,
Soft as it rolls along, shows some new charm;
Then infant reason grows apace, and calls
For the kind hand of an assiduous care."
"Delightful task, to rear the tender thought,
To pour the new instruction o'er the mind,
To breathe the enlivening spirit, and to fix
The generous purpose in the glowing breast."
[Thomson: _Seasons_: end of "Spring":
By degrees,
The human blossom blows; and every day,
Soft as it rolls along, shows some new charm,
The father's lustre, and the mother's bloom.
Then infant reason grows apace, and calls
For the kind hand of an assiduous care.
Delightful task! to rear the tender thought.
To teach the young idea how to shoot,
To pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind,
To breathe th' enlivening spirit, and to fix
The generous purpose in the glowing breast.]
The period at length arrived, when it became necessary that Alida should
receive further instruction in the various branches of female
literature. With this view, her father thought proper to change the
place of her studies from the village school to the New-York Seminary.
It was his idea that nothing afforded so pleasing a prospect as the
graces of beauty, aided by wisdom and useful knowledge, and that care
should be taken that the mind should first be initiated in the solid
acquirements, before the embellishments of education should be allowed
to take up the attention or engross the thoughts; and that the first
purposes of the teacher should be directed to endeavour to cause the
mental powers of the scholar to be excited, in the first place, to
attain to whatever is most useful and necessary, and that suitable
application and industry was the only means whereby we may gain
celebrity in any art or science, or therein arrive at any degree of
perfection.
"His heart glowed with paternal fondness and interesting solicitude,
when he beheld the countenance of his child sparkling with intelligence,
or traced the progress of reason in her awakened curiosity when any new
object attracted her attention or exercised her imagination." Delightful
indeed were the sensations of a parent in the contemplation of so fair a
prospect, which in some degree recalled again to his bosom some
transient gleams of happiness.
The season was now far advanced in autumn, and the trees were nearly
stripped of their foliage; the radiant sun had in part withdrawn his
enlivening rays to give place to the approaching coldness of winter,
when Alida left her home, amid the innumerable regrets of her juvenile
companions, to accompany her father to the city to finish her education.
They journeyed in a stage-coach from the village of ----, which, in the
course of a few hours, conveyed them amid the tumultuous din of the busy
metropolis. The female seminary to which Alida repaired was pleasantly
situated in the western part of the town, where the refreshing and
salubrious breezes of the Hudson rendered it a healthy and desirable
situation at all seasons of the year.
Although her father had only performed his duty in placing his child
once more at school, yet it was at a greater distance from the paternal
roof than formerly, and when he returned again to his residence, he felt
his situation more lonely than ever, and he could scarcely reconcile
himself to the loss of her society.
All was novel-like in the city to Alida, where she at once saw so many
different objects to excite alternately her surprise, curiosity, and
risibility, and where she experienced so many different sensations,
arising from the sudden transition in being removed from scenes of
uninterrupted tranquillity to those of gaiety and pleasure, of crowded
streets and riotous entertainments, of obsequious beaux and dashing
petits maitres, and where all appeared to her one continued scene of
business and confusion, scarcely reconcileable.
In the meantime her mind became engrossed by various new occupations.
Among her favourite studies was the French language, which, at this
period, was considered as one of the necessary appendages to female
education, when scarcely any new work could be read without a regret to
those who did not understand it. Music, dancing, and drawing occupied
her time alternately, and while these different amusements afforded a
pleasing variety, they animated her mind anew with the powers of
exertion that had been excited by early impressions--that whatever she
attempted to learn, to be assiduous to learn it well, and that a mere
superficial knowledge, in any science or accomplishment, was by no means
desirable.
All her studies and amusements had their regular arrangements, and due
application gave her many advantages over those of her own age, while it
expanded her mind in a greater degree, and facilitated her progress in
learning, and gave more ready improvement to her understanding and
native capacities.
Her only surviving brother, whose name was Albert, had been a merchant
in the city a number of years, and he still continued to live amid its
perplexities, (although numbers had been unfortunate around him,) with
as good success as could be expected at this time, on account of the
restrictions on American commerce. One probable reason may be assigned
why he had been more successful in his business than many others: he was
guided in the management of his affairs by vigilance and industrious
perseverance, and he was not only endued with the best abilities to
fulfil the duties incumbent on his station in life, but was not remiss
in the exercise of them. His manners, generally, were reserved, though
he could be humorous and gay whenever occasion required; and when in
convivial society, he could make one among the number of those who
amused themselves in sallies of wit and pleasantry. He had acquired much
useful and general information in his commerce with the world at large,
which he employed at this time in various conversations on politics, as
he could not be able to render himself serviceable to his country in any
other way, being exempt from his childhood from performing military
duty. His personal advantages were only surpassed by the superior
qualifications of his mind, that had long been under religious influence
and impressions.
In his public and private life he fully answered the expectations of his
numerous acquaintance and friends, as well as the most sanguine wishes
of an anxious and affectionate father, who yet seemed disposed to
indulge in melancholy reflections, while his friends kindly endeavoured,
by many pious and philosophical discourses, to awaken him to a
consideration of his former piety, and humble trust in an all-wise
Providence, reminding him that our greatest consolation consists in
resigned and devotional feelings of gratitude to our Maker, even in the
severest afflictions; who, although he may have thought fit to deprive
us of some, for the many remaining blessings we may still be in
possession of; and that a firm reliance on Providence, however our
affections may be at variance with its dispensations, is the only
consolatory source that we can have recourse to in the gloomy hours of
distress; and that such dependance, though often crossed by troubles and
difficulties, may at length be crowned with success in our most arduous
undertakings, and we may again meet with unlooked-for and unexpected
happiness.
[_A&M_, Preface:
One thing was aimed to be shown, that a firm reliance on providence,
however the affections might be at war with its dispensations, is
the only source of consolation in the gloomy hours of affliction;
and that generally such dependence, though crossed by difficulties
and perplexities, will be crowned with victory at last.]
"Afflictions all his children feel,
Affliction is the Father's rod;
He wounds them for his mercy sake,
He wounds to heal."
[James Montgomery: The Grave. In _The Wanderer of Switzerland_
(1806). Stz. 1:
A bruised reed he will not break,
Afflictions all his children feel;
He wounds them for his mercy's sake,
He wounds to heal!]
The clear, calm sunshine of a mind illumined by piety, and a firm
reliance upon Supreme wisdom, crowns all other divine blessings. It
irradiates the progress of life, and dispels the evils attendant on our
nature; it renders the mind calm and pacific, and promotes that
cheerfulness and resignation which has its foundation in a life of
rectitude and charity; and in the full exercise of Christian principles
we may find still increasing happiness.
[_NY Weekly_: Chearfulness (quoting Dr. Blair):
It is the clear and calm sunshine of a mind illuminated by piety and
virtue. It crowns all other good dispositions, and comprehends the
general effect which they ought to produce on the heart.
...
A chearful temper irradiates the progress of life, and dispels the
evils of sublunary nature.]