GIRLHOOD.

Angels view Girlhood with Solicitude and Delight--Beauty no

perpetual Pledge of Safety--Nothing in Man or Things impels a

provident Regard for it--Blossoming Womanhood an Object of deep

Interest and Pity--Girlhood's first Work is to Form a Character--It

should be _Pure_ and _Energetic_--Woman only a Thing--Her Education

progressing--Physical Health should be Preserved--A Woman not

Herself Without Physical Strength--Woman must be Independent, and

Earn her own Livelihood--Character must Embody Itself In an Outward

Form to be of Service to the World.

If the angels look down upon earth and behold any natural object with

especial delight, it must be Girlhood. And yet if they are not gifted

with prophetic vision, they must tremble with fearful solicitude while

they gaze delighted. There is a fearfulness in the beauty of Girlhood

which mingles anxiety in the cup of admiration. No good being can look

upon it without casting a solicitous thought forward to its future, to

ask whether it will be well or ill with it. The beauty of Girlhood is no

perpetual pledge of its safety. Society has built no wall of protection

around it. It has no sure defense within itself. Its Maker has hung no

flaming sword turning every way above it to ward off danger. There is

nothing in the world of man and things which impels a provident regard

for it. Suns, winds, frosts, storms, time, diseases, and death pay no

deferential respect to it. Man respects it, bows to it, but while he

does it, it withers under his devotion, so little does he mingle wisdom

and care in his regard. Society professes to respect it, and so it does,

but it subjects it to so many untimely trials and injurious customs,

that that very respect is fearful. A young girl, fresh from childhood,

blossoming into a woman, rosy health in her veins, innocence in her

heart, caroling gaiety in her laugh, buoyant life in her step, the rich

glance of an opening soul in her eye, grace in her form with the casket

of mind richly jeweled, is indeed an object of beauty. He who can behold

it and not feel a benevolent interest in it, is an object of pity. He

who can live and not live in part for Girlhood, is devoid of the highest

order of feeling. He who can see it wither under unrighteous customs or

pass away by the blight of unholy abuses, and not drop a tear of

sympathy, is less than a generous man. He who sees its perilous position

and lifts not his warning voice, fails in a great duty. It is not enough

to admire Girlhood; it is not enough to do it graceful honors, make it

obsequious bows, strew its pathway with flattering compliments, and call

it by all beautiful names. Such outward expressions, unless most

judiciously made, are quite as likely to do it injury as direct abuse.

Girlhood is full of tenderness and weakness. The germs of its future

strength are its most perilous weaknesses now. Its mightiest energies

often kindle the fires of its ruin. Its most salient points of character

are often soonest invaded. Indeed, it can scarcely be said to have a

character. It is forming one, but knows not yet what it will be. Its

interior now is not exactly a chaos, but a beautiful disorder. The

elements of something grand are there, but they are not yet polished nor

put together, nor compactly cemented. This work is yet to be done. It is

the great work of Girlhood. It is the moral art to which it is to apply

all its ingenuity and energy. Girlhood is not all a holiday season; it

is more a working time, a study hour, an apprenticeship. True, it has

buoyant spirits, and should let them out with fresh good-will at proper

times. It has its playful moods, which should not only be indulged but

encouraged, but not wholly for the sake of the momentary enjoyment, but

rather to infuse the forming character largely with the element of

cheerfulness. A gloomy Girlhood is as odd and improper as it is

unnatural. And it is improper, not only because it is out of place and

wrong, but because it shades the character with a desponding hue.

Desponding is absolutely wrong in itself. It is a perversion of our

minds. To put on weeds when nobody is dead, to weep when it would be

more becoming and useful to laugh, to wear a face of woe when the

sunshine of gladness has the best right to preside in our sky, is all

wrong. It is absolutely wicked, because it casts a baneful influence

upon all with whom we associate, and prepares us to go through life like

a frowning cloud or a drooping willow, shading the circle of our

influence with melancholic gloom. No, better sing with the birds and

laugh with the babbling brooklets than be gloomy in Girlhood. Trials and

troubles of course will come. We must sometimes weep, and when we do, it

should be done with chastened spirits for real sorrow, that we may be

the calmer and happier when we recover from the shock of grief. Such

weeping is a gracious and healthy exercise. It does not check the true

joyousness of Girlhood's nature, nor cast any darkening line into the

future character. April suns are all the brighter for April showers. The

real sorrows ordinarily incident to Girlhood are not many; the real

causes for gloom are few; the most are imaginary. This is true of all

ages. Our _borrowed_ trouble is much more than that which comes as our

own in the legitimate course of our life. Trouble is the worst article

we can borrow. We have the least need for it, and it is a miserable dose

to take. Of all things which it does, Girlhood should not borrow

trouble. A heavy interest will have to be paid for it in the future; and

there is danger that it will make the soul absolutely bankrupt. If

borrowed trouble would go home when we told it to, and would never leave

a track behind, it would do less injury. But it will not. It is hard to

get rid of, and always leaves its dark trail on the most beautiful

feelings of the heart. If Girlhood is mindful of any thing, it should be

of the shadows that fall upon the heart. Whether they be of delusion,

disappointment, or sin, they are bad, and will make sad marks in the

character to be borne through life. Age can never forget its youth; nor

can one easily rub out dark lines traced in his character in its forming

state. If I could speak to Girlhood in its wide realm of beauty and

promise all over the world, I should say to it, that its first work is

to form a fitting character with which to pass through life and do the

great work of woman. There is much in starting right. A stumble in the

start often defeats the race, while a good strike at the onset often

wins the victory. There is no more alarming feature in the Girlhood of

our times than its apparent indifference to the great work before it.

Multitudes of girls are as thoughtless and giddy as the lambs that sport

on the lea. They seem scarcely to cast a prophetic glance before. They

live as though life was a theater, good for nothing but its acting. I

know there is much reason why girls do live so, why they are so heedless

of the grandeur that swells into eternal glory before them. I know they

have been taught by the customs of society, by the follies of their

elders, to regard themselves as the playthings of men, the ornaments of

society, rather than the helpers of themselves and their race, and the

solid substance of the social fabric. But it is time they had learned

better. They must soon know that they are made for a purpose as grand as

that which brought the Saviour of the world into being. They must soon

know that their powers were made for the highest order of usefulness and

excellency. They must soon know that if in Girlhood they regard

themselves as playthings and pets, in womanhood they will have to be

drudges or the cast-off dolls of their boyish husbands, or the

hangers-on to a society they would but can not be a part of. Is life a

preparation for eternity? so is Girlhood a preparation for womanhood. Do

effects follow their causes? so will Girlhood send its life and

character into womanhood. If a girl would be a good woman, she must

commence now. If she would be wise, she must not frolic away her early

life. If she would not feel the hand of oppression in age, she must lay

now the foundation of a noble independence which will make her

self-reliant, energetic, calm, and persistent in the pursuit of life's

great aim. Not only is a _pure_ character needed, chastity of thought

and feeling, but one of _energy_. It is grand to be pure of heart; it is

glorious to be virtuous, to be able to resist temptation and confound

all tempters. This, we confess, is one of the prime beauties of female

character. But this is not all that is needed. Life is more than a trial

of virtue, more a scene of temptation. It is a work. Christ resisted

temptation. But that was not all he had to do. That only showed him

ready for the great work before him. So woman has something more to do

than to beat back the tempter. If she can do this, she proves herself

made of the pure gold. She has a mission to engage in, a great work to

do. All women have. This work requires that they shall possess _energy_

as well as purity. They must have force of will to dare and to do. They

must dare to be and do that which is right; dare to face false customs;

dare to frown on fashion; dare to resist oppression; dare to assert

their rights; dare to be persecuted for righteousness' sake; dare to do

their own thinking and acting; dare to be above the silly pride and

foolish whims and prudish nonsense that enslave little minds. Woman is

now bound hand and foot by custom and law. She is only a thing. She is

not a conscious independent personality. She is not recognized as a

self-directing, responsible agent. She plays a second part. She is shut

out from all the higher aims and opportunities of life. Into no college

is she permitted to enter if she would cultivate her mind in the highest

walks of science and literature. At the feet of no learned professor may

she sit for wisdom. Every profession but the teacher's is barred against

her, and in that her services are considered not half at par. She can

not get more than half-pay for her labor. In law she is but a ninny; if

she is married she is less still, an absolute nonentity; her legal

existence is merged in that of her husband--the two become one, and he

is that one. Then in the every-day customs of life she is but a child.

She is not independent, free, energetic. The sun must not shine upon

her; she must not breathe the free air, nor bathe her limbs in the clear

stream, nor exercise in a healthful and profitable way. She must not go

away from her home without a protector; she must not step into the

street after nightfall without a watch; she must trail her dress in the

mud if others do; hang her bonnet behind her head if it is the fashion;

wear a bodiced waist tight as a vice if the milliner says so, and do and

submit to a thousand other things equally absurd and wrong. This is her

present position. To rise above this position and be what she is

capable of being, be strong in mind and purpose, be resolute in the

right, be herself untrammeled by custom or law, so far as any being can

be in a good society, it requires the culture of energy in the Girlhood

of this age. What was once regarded as a sufficient character for a

woman, is not enough now. Women are advancing as well as science,

mechanics, and men. Young women should remember this. Once it was

thought education enough if a woman could read and write a little. Now,

she must know a number of things more. The time is not far distant when

she must be educated as well as man. So it is in relation to character.

Very soon woman must possess energy, self-reliance, force of will and

thought, as well as love, or she will be wanting in the essential

elements of a noble womanhood. The woman and wife will be quite

different at the commencement of the next century from what they were at

the commencement of the last. Do the girls understand this? It must be

so. The edict has gone out and can not be withdrawn. Woman hails it with

joy. She wishes to improve with the advancing age. She would feel sad

and look antiquated if the car of progress left her behind. If a few

women of this age could be mesmerized and kept in the magnetic state

five hundred years, and then unlocked from the somnambulic fetters, how

would they compare with the women of that future age? They would be

women still, but in character as much antiquated as in custom. This is

to be looked for in the very nature of things. We know that woman's

education in the future is to be quite different from what it was in

the past. We know that the improvements in science and mechanics are

making rapid changes in the nature of the labor of life. Women are fast

entering into new fields of labor. Who knows but the sewing, cooking,

washing, and much else that woman now does, will in a great measure be

done by machinery? If so, woman will be left free to employ herself

elsewhere. There must be a change. It will probably be for the better.

The change will require the culture of new powers or forces in the

female character. Woman will rise, not fall. Her character must rise.

The young women ought to know it, and be preparing for it. Is the

Girlhood of to-day a fit preparation for the duties that will devolve

upon the women of the next generation? Parents ought to ask themselves

this question. And all young women should consider it well. The elements

of a true female character should be carefully studied. It would be well

if some strong hand should write out the moral philosophy of Girlhood as

a book for schools and academics as well as families, that every young

woman might have line upon line and precept upon precept, in the

formation of her character. All desire to possess a true character, but

all do not know how to acquire it.

A second duty devolves upon Girlhood. It is to preserve its physical

health and strength. The richest mind is of but little avail to the

world if locked up in a feeble, sickly body. The noblest character would

not half make its impression on the world if it was imprisoned in

weakness and barricaded with disease. A woman can not be herself unless

she possesses physical as well as mental and moral strength. Girlhood

has both beauty and strength. Why may they not be carried into

womanhood? Shall not the wife and mother retain the beauty and health of

the girl? Shall not the woman retain the physical integrity of the girl?

There is no good reason why she shall not. Health and strength were made

to be life-lasting, or nearly so. So beauty is a rich gift of the Divine

Artist given for life. Why should we dissipate it in an hour? It is

ungrateful, impious to do it. We ought to prize and retain it as a

divine benefaction. God could as well have made Girlhood ugly as

beautiful. His wisdom and love chose to make it a model of grace and

elegance. Has he laid a necessity upon woman's nature that this beauty

shall last but an hour? Far from it. On the other hand, he has made

every provision for its preservation. Why, then, is it not preserved?

Simply because Girlhood is not instructed in the science of health or

life. And this is not so much the fault of young women as it is of

parents and society. We study astronomy in all our schools, but where is

a class instructed in the economy of health? True, some go through a

text-book on physiology, but how meager is the instruction there gleaned

relative to the preservation of health, and how few ever think of

putting into practice what they do get! When physiologists say that pure

air, much exercise, comfortable and airy dress, frequent bathing,

sufficient sleep, a plain, simple diet, and regular habits, with a

peaceful and active mind, are essential to health, how many young women

heed the instruction? Now of what avail will a good character be without

health to apply its forces to the work of life? Of what avail is a good

boiler and a high pressure of steam to the engineer if his engine is all

out of order, so that it has neither strength nor freedom to work? So it

is with a good character in a fragile, broken-down body. If there was

any other way to use the forces of a good character than through the

medium of a physical engine, health would not be a matter of so much

importance; but as there is not, it is clear that for all the active,

benevolent, and useful purposes of this life, health is about as

important as character. Neither is of much utility alone. A boiler

pressed full of steam would be useless without an engine to use and

apply its forces, and the engine would be as useless without the boiler.

Why, then, is Girlhood so prodigal of its health and strength? Why does

it imprison itself in close, hot rooms? Why live on a diet that no brute

could bear? Why confine every limb and muscle of its body? Why engirdle

its waist in warmth and cordage, and expose its feet to every storm and

frost, to mud and snow? It is useless to talk, and preach, and write

about the value of a good character unless we couple it with an equally

earnest lesson about the value of health. It is useless for Girlhood to

be anxious about its moral character unless it is equally anxious about

its physical character. If we have no right to cultivate a bad

character, we have no right to abuse the only means by which a good

character can be of use to the world. If we have no moral right to set

a bad example before our fellow-men, we have no right to weaken and

disease a good physical organization. And it would be difficult to show

the reasoning at fault, should we conclude that we have no more moral

right to be sick than we have to sin. But we hope to say more on this

subject before our work is done.

Still another duty presses upon Girlhood. It relates to a livelihood, to

the practical work of pushing its way through life. Woman must eat,

wear, be sheltered, educated, protected, warmed, and amused, as much as

any other human being. She can not be thus supplied except by charity or

her own labor. It is degrading to accept of all life's necessities at

the hand of charity. No woman possessed of a genuine womanly character

will do it. The character would forbid that she should do it. She must

then be independent, or as much so as any are. She must have some

livelihood. She must not only have a good character and good health, but

an ability to do something for herself and others. Both character and

health would be of little avail if she was a shiftless, homeless,

useless know-nothing in relation to all the great activities of life, by

which we secure the necessaries and comforts of our existence. It is

through useful industry and labor that the rarest beauties and forces of

character shine. Men show themselves great and good in their professions

and callings. The man whose hands are taught no skill, who is trained to

no profession, is a ninny, or nearly so. Why is not a woman who is

equally useless? Characters must have some way to embody themselves in

an outward form to be of service to the world. The best way is in

devotion to some useful calling or profession, by which our powers may

be called upon for their best efforts in a direction that shall promise

a full reward for ourselves and a good surplus for our fellow-men.

Lecture Two.