The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 89, March, 1865: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and PoliticsVarious
General
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 89, March, 1865: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics
Various
American periodicals
"Would you believe that the rich family in whose service this poor
washerwoman destroyed her health have never called, nor even sent, to
know how she was getting on? When she first failed to take her usual
two-days' stand at the washtub, they inquired the reason of her absence,
but there all concern ended. They sought out a new drudge; the gap was
filled to their liking, and the world moved on as gayly as aforetime.
They gave up no personal ease or comfort that they might see or minister
to the suffering woman ; they denied themselves no luxury for her sake.
Yet the money they spent in giving a single party would have kept this
family for a twelvemonth. The cost of their ostentatious greenhouse
would have paid for a nurse, and educated the two orphan boys until able
to go to trades. They had seen these twin boys tied to the washtub in
their own bleak shed, that the mother might pursue her labor without
interruption; yet as they gave no thought to the widow, so the orphans
never intruded on their recreations. Now, Lizzie, such people are
unprofitable servants in the sight of God. And if the ostrich were to
strip off their feathers, the silkworm their dresses, the kid their
gloves, and the marten demand his furs, what would be their state in the
sight of man? Bare unto nakedness! This unlawful love for lawful things
is one of the besetting snares of the great enemy of souls."
If I had ever been addicted to repining, or had had no lessons to teach
me how wrong the habit was, here was a new one to induce contentment.
But I had been preserved from all such temptations. The strong good
sense displayed by Miss Logan in our frequent conversations not only
informed my understanding on a variety of subjects, but gave my thoughts
a new turn, and powerfully encouraged me to perseverance. She infused
into me new life and cheerfulness. Such women are the jewels of society.
Their strong minds, regulated by a judicious education at the hands of
sensible parents, become brilliant as well as trustworthy guides to all
who may be fortunate enough to come within the circle which they
illuminate. It is such women that have been, and must continue to be,
the mothers of great men. Mind must be transmissible by inheritance, and
chiefly from the mother; else the histories of statesmen, heroes, and
distinguished men in the various walks of life, would not so uniformly
record the virtues of the women from whose maternal teachings their
eminence was to be traced.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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