Writers of fiction have not unfrequently selected this topic as the
theme for poetry and romance; they have extolled woman as the being
whose eloquence was to soften all the asperities of man, and polish the
naturally rugged surface of his character; charming away his sternness
by her grace; refining his coarseness by her elegance and purity; and
offering in her smiles a reward sufficient to compensate for the hazards
of any enterprise. But while the self-complacency and vanity of many of
our sex have been nourished by such idle praise, how few have been
awakened to a just sense of the deep responsibility which rests upon us,
for the faithful improvement of this talent, and our consequent
accountability for its neglect or perversion!
It were not a little amusing, if it were not so melancholy, to listen to
the reasoning employed by many ladies, in evading any charges of
non-improvement of this trust. She who perhaps but a moment before may
have listened with the utmost self-complacency to the flattering strains
of the poet, who had invested her sex with every charm calculated to
render them ministering angels to ruder and sterner man, no sooner finds
herself addressed as the possessor of a talent, implying
responsibility, and imposing self-exertion and self-denial in its
exercise, than she instantly disclaims, with capricious diffidence, all
pretensions to influence over others. But we cannot avert accountability
by disclaiming its existence; neither will the disavowal of the
possession of a talent alter the constitution of our nature, which God
has so formed and so fitted to produce impressions in, and receive them
from, kindred minds, that it is impossible for us to _exist_ without
exerting a continual and daily influence over others; either of a
pernicious or salutary character.
"Woman," to use the words of an accomplished living writer, "has been
sent on a higher mission than man; it may be a more arduous, a more
difficult one. It is to manifest and bring to a full development certain
attributes which belong, it is true, to our common nature, but which,
owing to man's peculiar relation to the external world, he could not so
well bring to perfection. Man is sent forth to subdue the earth, to
obtain command over the elements, to form political communities; and to
him, therefore, belong the more hardy and austere virtues; and as they
are made subservient to the relief of our physical wants, and as their
results are more obvious to the senses, it is not surprising that they
have acquired in his eyes an importance which does not in strictness
belong to them. But humility, meekness, gentleness, love, are also
important attributes of our nature, and it would present a sad and
melancholy aspect without them. But let us ask, will man, with his
present characteristic propensities, thrown much more than woman, by his
immediate duties, upon material things; obliged to be conversant with
objects of sense, and exposed to the rude conflicts which this leads to;
will he bring out these virtues in their _full_ beauty and strength? We
think not--even with the assistance which religion promises. These
principles, with many others linked with them, have been placed more
particularly in the keeping of woman; her social condition being
evidently more favorable to their full development."
Let us ever remember that every aggregate number, however great, is
composed of units; and of course, were _each_ American female but
faithful to her God, to her family, and to her country, then would a
mighty, sanctified influence go forth through the wide extent of our
beloved land, diffusing moral health and vigor through every part, and
strengthening it for the endurance of greater trials than have as yet
menaced its existence. A spirit of insubordination and rebellion to
lawful authority pervades our land; and where are these foes effectually
to be checked, if not at their fountain head--in the nursery? Oh! if
every American mother had but labored faithfully in that sacred
inclosure, from the period of our revolutionary struggle, by teaching
her children the great lesson of practical obedience to parental
authority; then would submission to constituted authority, as well as to
the will of God, have been far more prevalent in our land, and the
whole aspect of her affairs would have been widely different.
How much more honorable to woman is such a position, than that in which
some modern reformers have endeavored to place her, or rather _force_
her. Instead of seeking hopelessly, and in direct opposition to the
delicacy of her sex, to obtain for her political privileges; instead of
bringing her forward as the competitor of man in the public arena; we
would mark out for her a sphere of duty that is widely different. In the
domestic circle, "her station should be at man's side, to comfort, to
encourage, to assist;" while, in the Christian temple, we would assign
her an ennobling, but a feminine part,--to be the guardian of the sacred
and spiritual fire, which is ever to be kept alive in its purity and
brilliancy on the altar of God. She should be the vestal virgin in the
Christian temple--the priestess, as it were, of a shrine more hallowed
and honorable than that of Delphos.