Christian literature for children; Women -- Social and moral questions; Young women -- Conduct of life
The responsibleness of woman extends widely through the world of
Intellect. She is called to preside over schools for the nurture of the
infant mind. Every child receives thus the impress of her taste and
talents. Shall she come to this work, and daily pursue it, without a
thoughtful preparation for her task? Is it for the mother to say, "I may
read little or much, as I please. Of what consequence is the condition
of my mind?" when she can hardly breathe on the germs before her,
without either blighting their beauty, and checking their expansion, or
shedding life, health, and eternal freshness, upon them?
Let no young lady disclaim for herself any lot or portion in those sober
concerns. Hannah More had, at one time, more than a thousand children
under her instruction. Others have recently followed in her steps. Every
woman is, I maintain, by virtue of her sex, a teacher. There are now, or
there sometime may be, minds subjected to her influence, over whose
destinies, for weal or for wo, she will exert a fearful sway. Is it
certain she will never be school-mistress, or mother, or guide and
guardian to another? No, it is certain that, unless her path be strange,
secluded, and anomalous, she will be either the architect, or destroyer
of, or at least, a more than leaden weight on, some human intellect. Let
her reflect on this fact, and conduct herself always in view of it.
At the fireside, what a sum of duties does her power impose? Here she
wields a more than regal sceptre. Wisely did Boaz argue the excellence
of Ruth, when he said, in reply to her modest question, "why have I
found grace in thine eyes?" "It has fully been shewed me, all that thou
hast done unto thy mother-in-law, since the death of thy husband." Such
domestic piety, a virtue that could sacrifice home, people, substance,
and which tendered even life itself for a parent, was an earnest of the
choicest worth. It formed
"A wreath that cannot fade, of flowers that bloom
With most success, when all beside decay."
Of the confessed power of the mother, and the unrivalled claims of her
children on her spiritual care, no language can speak too strongly, or
even in adequate terms. From the hour when their first cry announces to
her their utter helplessness, onward through the trials of childhood,
and the crossing elements of youth, till they part from her charge,--no,
this they never do,--but until she grasps their hand amid the chill of
death, they draw from her, as a well-spring of life. What a question
then is there to be asked, "Does she shed upon them an Eden-like
fragrance? Is she a true mother?" Worlds of wellbeing hang on the answer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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