OBSERVATION AND REFLECTION.
Advice of Dr. Dwight. Other counsels to the young. Some persons of both
sexes are always seeing, but never reflecting. An object deserving of
pity. Zimmerman's views. Reading to get rid of reflection. Worse things
still.
"Keep your eyes open," was the reiterated counsel of a distinguished
theologian, of this country--the late Dr. Timothy Dwight--to a young
student of his; and it was, in the main, very wholesome advice. And in
so far as it is wholesome for young men, I do not see but it is equally
so for young women.
"Your countenance open, your thoughts close, you will go safe through
the world"--was the advice of another individual, of less eminence, to
a young friend of his; and did it not savor a little too much of
selfishness, and perhaps of concealment, it would, like the advice of
Dr. Dwight, be worthy of careful consideration. It does not partake
quite enough of the gospel spirit and sentiment--"As a man hath
received, so let him give." It encourages us to get wisdom, but not to
communicate it.
I have said that the advice of Dr. Dwight was, in the main, wholesome.
The only objection that can be made to it is, that it gives no
encouragement to reflection. Some may suppose it to mean, that
observation, or _seeing_, is every thing. Now there are those who
appear to see too much. They _always_ have their eyes open. They are
never satisfied otherwise. They absolutely hate all reflection.
Of this description of persons--I am sorry to say it--our young women
furnish a full proportion. Not a very small number of the female sex
are so educated, that it is quite painful for them to turn the current
of their thoughts inward:--they will do almost any thing in the world,
not absolutely criminal, to prevent it. It cannot, indeed, be quite
said, that they observe too much; but it is perfectly safe to say, that
they see too much. If they should see much less with their eyes, and
the soul were left to its own reflections, the result would be, no
doubt, exceedingly happy. Solitude is as necessary as action; and to
both sexes.
No person is more pitiable than the individual of either sex--and such
individuals are by no means scarce in our own-who cannot be easy unless
perpetually running to see some new sight, or, like the Athenians of
old, to hear or to tell some new thing; who is no where so happy as
when in company, and no where so miserable as when alone.
Zimmerman, in his work on Solitude--a pleasant book, by the way,
notwithstanding its gloomy name--has some very appropriate and useful
remarks on the advantages of being by ourselves a part of the time, as
a means of improvement. Should any of my young readers be sorely
afflicted with the disease I have just mentioned-a dread of themselves,
or of their own thoughts, rather--I beg them to read Zimmerman. But
read him, if you read him at all, very thoroughly.
Some persons read solely to get rid of reflection. Worse than this,
even; some persons read, work and play--and I had almost said, go to
church, and put themselves in the attitude of prayer and praise--to get
rid of themselves and their reflections. Who will show us any good
thing? is their constant cry: not, Who will lead us, by external
agencies, or by any other means, to sound and useful reflection. Who
will show us ourselves? is a cry which, among the young women of New
England, as well as those of most other countries, is too seldom heard.
The best advice I can give to such persons--next to that given in the
Sermon on the Mount, where they are directed to enter into their
closet--is, to read with great care, or rather to study, Watts on the
Improvement of the Mind. That is a work which has probably done as much
good in the way of which I am now speaking, as any book--the Bible
excepted--in the English language.