Christian literature for children; Women -- Social and moral questions; Young women -- Conduct of life
Some are charmed by personal Bravery. It is often remarked, that the
female sex admire military characters. Being constitutionally timid, the
courage they associate with the soldier, is to them always an attractive
quality. They lean upon it fondly, for protection in their own physical
weakness. In the Island of Borneo, no man is allowed to solicit a damsel
in marriage until he has cut off the head of an enemy. To how many, in
Christian lands, is personal prowess a primary recommendation, in a
candidate for marriage.
Yet are not tenderness, fidelity, and constancy, quite as important in
a husband, as physical courage? She who gives herself for a plume or an
epaulet, or for the bravery they are thought to indicate, will learn, in
after days, that although the oak be admirable for its stoutness, there
are gentler trees one would desire in the garden of domestic love.
Many matches are made solely through the accidental Proximity of the
parties. A young lady visits a friend often, and the brother, by being
daily seen, engages her affections. Perhaps a gentleman boards in the
family of her father. The simple circumstance of her being more in his
society, than in that of others of his age, is the foundation of their
marriage. There seems almost a fatality in these cases, they so often
occur.
Now I am far from recommending a female to put on an unnatural reserve
toward those she sees thus frequently; but let her recollect, that the
mere fact of her interchanging so many thoughts and feelings with
another, predisposes both to a more intimate connection. It is better,
if the connection would be an improper one, to prevent such a
consummation, by decided conduct in the outset, than by encouragements
to induce an offer, you may feel compelled to accept. Are you much
thrown by accident into the company of a particular gentleman? Be sure
that your deportment toward him be not such as to mislead him, in regard
to your estimate of his character. Avoid every thing that shall seem to
make it a matter of course that you will marry him. Study his traits,
and look on him in all respects precisely as you would on any other
associate. Let it not be said by others that you are fated to marry a
certain person, because you are so much in his society.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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