The True Woman: A Series of Discourses, to Which Is Added Woman vs. BallotFulton, Justin D. (Justin Dewey)
Religion
The True Woman: A Series of Discourses, to Which Is Added Woman vs. Ballot
Fulton, Justin D. (Justin Dewey)
Husband and wife; Women -- Religious aspects -- Christianity; Women -- Suffrage
Think of the realm in which woman may rule. If she be elegant and
refined; if she has learned how to govern, first herself, and then
those about her, there is a charm diffused through the home which
reveals itself in the good order of the establishment, in the
politeness of the servants, in the genial disposition of the children,
in the delightful intercourse of the different portions of the
household, and in the fact that "her husband is known in the gates
when he sitteth among the elders of the land. Strength and honor are
her clothing, and she shall rejoice in time to come. She openeth her
mouth with wisdom, and her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh
well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of
idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also,
and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously; but thou
excellest them all."
In such words did King Lemuel praise this excellency of woman. Blessed
memory! Who does not remember that one form of the old-fashioned
mother,--the law of whose life was love; one who was the divinity
of our infancy, and the sacred presence in the shrine of our first
earthly idolatry; one whose heart was ever green, though the snows of
time had gathered in the boughs of her life-tree; one to whom we never
grow old, but in the plumed troop or the grave council are children
still; one who welcomed us coming, blessed us going, and forgets us
never; one who waits for the echo of our returning footstep, or who,
perhaps, has gone on to the better land, and keeps a light in the
window for those left behind.
Such women have power now as did the Hannahs and the Ruths of the
olden time. When thinking of them, you are convinced that, young or
old, they remain among the best of God's gifts to man. This leads us
to remark further, that woman's right to be a woman implies her right
to help woman. Woman must be true to her sex, or society will neglect
its duty. That old story of Ruth and Naomi has ploughed through the
world, because it reveals woman's power as a helper. Ruth clung to
Naomi, and Naomi helped her daughter to find Boaz, that noble prince
in Israel; and so she became identified with the succession of
promise. The life of Mrs. Sigourney illustrates the same truth. See
her among the young, calling forth their powers, and starting them in
a career of usefulness. Impressed with the importance of an education,
she aided by her pen, as by her example, to induce the ladies of her
acquaintance to obtain a thorough knowledge of the primary branches
that enter into daily use.
We want a woman to be intellectual without being puny. We ask that she
remain a pliant vine, and that she be not made into the rugged oak.
Woman owes it to herself that she be fitted to occupy any position
in society. In this land, as in no other, the barriers of caste are
removed, and every line of separation obliterated. The rich and the
poor meet together.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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