Mrs. Whittelsey's Magazine for Mothers and Daughters, Volume 3Various
Religion
Mrs. Whittelsey's Magazine for Mothers and Daughters, Volume 3
Various
Christian life -- Periodicals
When we pass from the diverse professions into which the growth of
civilized society has divided men, to the distinctions which exist
between man and woman, we enter upon a still clearer department of our
subject. The differences which are here to give character to education,
are not incidental and temporary, but inherent and commensurate with
life itself. The physical constitution of woman gives rise to her
peculiar life. It determines alike her position in society and her
sphere of labor.
In all ages and climes, celebrated by travelers, historians, poets, she
stands forth as a being of better impulses and nobler affections than
him, of whom she is the complement. That which is rugged in him, is
tempered by softness in her; that which is strong in him, is weak in
her; that which is fierce in him is mild in her. Designed of God to
complete the cycle of human life, and through a twofold being present a
perfect _Adam_, she is thus no less different from man than essential to
his perfection. Her nature at once introduces her into a peculiar sphere
of action. Soon, maternal cares rest upon her; her throne is above the
family circle; her scepter of love and authority holds together the
earliest and happiest elements of social life. To her come young minds
for sympathy, for care, for instruction. Over that most wonderful
process of development, when a young immortal is growing every day into
new thoughts, emotions and habits, which are to abide with it for ever,
she presides. By night she watches, by day she instructs. Her smile and
her frown are the two strongest powers on earth, influencing human minds
in the hour when influence stamps itself upon the heart in eternal
characters. It is from this point of view, you behold the glorious
purpose of that attractive form embosoming a heart enriched with so
copious a treasure of all the sweetest elements of life. She is destined
to fill a sphere of the noblest kind. In the course of her life, in the
training of a household, her nature reveals an excellence in its
adaptation to the purpose for which she is set apart, that signally
illustrates the wisdom of God, while it attracts the homage of man.
Scarcely a nobler position exists in the world than that of a truly
Christian mother; surrounded by children grown up to maturity; moulded
by her long discipline of instruction and affectionate authority into
true-hearted, intelligent men and women; the ornament of society, the
pillars of religion; looking up to her with a reverent affection that
grows deeper with the passage of time; while she quietly waits the
advent of death, in the assurance that, in these living representatives,
her work will shine on for ages on earth, and her influence spread
itself beyond the broadest calculation of human reason, when she has
been gathered to the just.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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