LETTERS

TO

YOUNG LADIES

MRS. L. H. SIGOURNEY.

"Every sort of useful knowledge should be imparted to the young, not
merely for its own sake, but for the sake of its subserviency to higher
things." Mas. HANNAH MORB.

FOU RTH EDITION.

NEW-YORK-
HARPER & BROTHERS.

No. 82 CLIFF-STREET.
1837.

Entered according to act of Congress, In the year 1836, by
HARPER & BROTHERS,

In the Clerk s Office of the District Court of the Southern District of
New York.

Lc

m

INDEX.

PACT.

PREFACE 7

ADDRESS TO THE GUARDIANS OF FEMALE

EDUCATION, 9

LETTER I.
VALUE OF TIME, 17

LETTER II.
RELIGION 29

LETTER III.
KNOWLEDGE,. . 47

4 INDEX.

LETTER IV.
INDUSTRY, 64

LETTER V.
DOMESTIC EMPLOYMENTS 78

LETTER VI.
HEALTH AND DRESS, 92,

LETTER VII.
MANNERS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS 105

LETTER VIII.
SISTERLY VIRTUES, 120

LETTER IX.
BOOKS, 133

LETTER X.

FRIENDSHIP, 152

LETTER XI.
CHEERFULNESS 165

LETTER XII.
CONVERSATION, 173

LETTER XIII.
BENEVOLENCE, . . 189

LETTER XIV.
SELF-CONTROL,

INDEX. 5

PAOB.

LETTER XV.
UTILITY, 231

LETTER XVI.

MOTIVES TO PERSEVERANCE, . . . 249

PREFACE.

I HAVE been requested to address a few thoughts to
the youth of my own sex, on subjects of simple nature,
and serious concern. The employment has been pleas
ant, for their interests are dear to me; and several
years devoted to their instruction, have unfolded more
fully their claims to regard, and the influence they
might exercise in society. Should a single heart, in
"life s sweet blossoming season," derive, from this
little volume, aid, guidance, or consolation, tenfold
satisfaction will be added to the pleasure with which
it has been composed.

ADDRESS

GUARDIANS OF FEMALE EDUCATION.

IN preparing " Letters to Young Ladies," some
reflections have arisen, which claim the attention
of the guardians of their education of those who
either prescribe its limits, conduct its details, or
rule the mighty engine ofpublick opinion. They
are offered without apology, since the subject of
education is now considered worthy to dictate the
studies of the sage, the plans of the political econ
omist, and the labours of the patriot. " The mind
of the present age acting on the rnind of the next,"
as it has been happily defined by a living writer,
is an object of concern to every being endowed
with intellect, or interested either through love or
hope, in another generation.

Nor has the importance of education in the ab
stract, been alone conceded. Practical researches
for its improvement, have signalized our age and
incorporated themselves with its vigorous and ad
vancing spirit. Our most gifted minds have toiled

10 TO THE GUARDIANS

to devise methods for the instruction of the hum
blest grades of community, and to make useful
knowledge the guest of the common people.

In this elevation of the intellectual standard, our
sex have been permitted freely to participate. No
Moslem interdict continues to exclude them from
the temple of knowledge, and no illusion of chiv
alry exalts them to an airy height, above life s du
ties, and its substantial joys.

We are grateful for our heightened privileges.
We hope that those who have bestowed them,
will be no losers by their liberality. Still we be
lieve that an increase of benefits may be made
profitable both to giver, and receiver. We so
licit them in the name of the blooming and the
beautiful those rose-buds in the wreath of our
country s hope.

It is desirable that their education should be dif
fused over a wider space of time, and one less en
cumbered by extraneous objects, and that the depth
of its foundation should be more correctly propor
tioned to the imposing aspect, and redundant orna
ment of its superstructure. Is it not important
that the sex to whom Nature has intrusted the
moulding of the whole mass of mind in its first for
mation, should be acquainted with the structure and
developments of mind ? that they who are to nur
ture the future rulers of a prosperous people, should
be able to demonstrate from the broad annal of his
tory, the value of just laws, and the duty of subordi
nation the blessings which they inherit, and the

OF FEMALE EDUCATION. 11

danger of their abuse? Is it not requisite, that
they on whose bosom the infant heart must be cher
ished, should be vigilant to watch its earliest pul
sations of good or evil ? that they who are com
missioned to light the lamp of the soul, should
know how to feed it with pure oil ? that they in
whose hand is the welfare of beings never to die,
should be fitted to perform the work, and earn the
plaudit of Heaven ?

That the vocation of females is to teach, has been
laid down as a position, which it is impossible to
contravert. In seminaries, academies and schools,
they possess peculiar facilities for coming in con
tact with the unfolding and unformed mind. It is
true, that only a small proportion are engaged in
the departments of publick and systematick instruc
tion. Yet the hearing of recitations, and the rou
tine of scholastick discipline, are but parts of edu
cation. It is in the domestick sphere, in her own
native province, that woman is inevitably a teacher.
There she modifies by her example, her dependants,
her companions, every dweller under her own roof
Is not the infant in its cradle, her pupil ? Does
not her smile give the earliest lesson to its soul ?
Is not her prayer the first messenger for it in the
court of Heaven ? Does she not enshrine her own
image in the sanctuary of the young child s mind,
so firmly that no revulsion can displace, no idolatry
supplant it ? Does she not guide the daughter, un
til placing her hand in that of her husband, she
reaches that pedestal, from whence, in her turn, she

12 TO THE GUARDIANS

imparts to others, the stamp and colouring which
she has herself received ? Might she not, even
upon her sons, engrave what they shall take un
changed through all the temptations of time, to the
bar of the last judgment ? Does not the influence
of woman rest upon every member of her household,
like the dew upon the tender herb, or the sunbeam
silently educating the young flower? or as the
shower, and the sleepless stream, cheer and invig
orate the proudest tree of the forest ?

Admitting then, that whether she wills it or not,
whether she even knows it or not, she is still a
teacher and perceiving that the mind in its most
plastick state is yielded to her tutelage, it becomes
a most momentous inquiry what she shall be quali
fied to teach. Will she not of necessity impart
what she most prizes, and best understands. Has
she not power to impress her own lineaments on
the next generation ? If wisdom and utility have
been the objects of her choice, society will surely
reap the benefit. If folly and self-indulgence are
her prevailing characteristicks, posterity are in
danger of inheriting the likeness.

This influence is most visible and operative in
a republick. The intelligence and virtue of its
every citizen have a heightened relative value.
Its safety may be interwoven with the destiny
of those, whose birthplace is in obscurity. The
springs of its vitality are liable to be touched, or
the chords of its harmony to be troubled, by the
rudest hands.

OF FEMALE EDUCATION. 13

Teachers under such a form of government
should be held in the highest honour. They are
the allies of legislators. They have agency in
the prevention of crime. They aid in regulating
the atmosphere, whose incessant action and
pressure causes the life-blood to circulate, and
return pure and healthful to the heart of the
nation.

Of what unspeakable importance then, is her
education, who gives lessons before any other in-
structer who pre-occupies the unwritten page of
being who produces impressions which only
death can obliterate and mingles with the cra
dle-dream what shall be read in Eternity. Well
may statesmen and philosophers debate how
she may be best educated, who is to educate all
mankind.

The ancient republicks overlooked the value of
that sex, whose strength is in the heart. Greece,
so susceptible to the principle of beauty, so skilled
in wielding all the elements of grace, failed in ap
preciating their excellence, whom these had most
exquisitely adorned. If, in the brief season of
youthful charm, she was constrained to admire
woman as the acanthus-leaf of her own Corin
thian capital, she did not discover that, like that
very column, she was capable of adding stability
to the proud temple of freedom. She would not
be convinced that so feeble a hand might have
aided to consolidate the fabrick, which philosophy
embellished, and luxury overthrew.
2

14 TO THE GUARDIANS

Rome, notwithstanding her primeval rudeness,
seems more correctly than polished Greece, to
have estimated the "weaker vessel." Here and
there, upon the storm-driven billows of her history,
some solitary form towers upward in majesty, and
the mother of the Gracchi still stands forth in
strong relief, amid imagery over which time has
no power. But still, wherever the brute force of
the warrior is counted godlike, woman is appreci
ated only as she approximates to sterner natures :
as in that mysterious image which troubled the
sleep of Assyria s king the foot of clay derived
consistence from the iron, which held it in combi
nation.

In our own republick, man, invested by his
Maker with the right to reign, has conceded to
her, who was for ages in vassalage, equality of in
tercourse, participation in knowledge, dominion
over his dearest and fondest hopes. He is con
tent to " bear the burden and heat of the day,"
that she may dwell in ease and affluence. Yet,
from the very felicity of *her lot, dangers are gen
erated. She is tempted to be satisfied with super
ficial attainments, or to indulge in that indolence
which corrodes intellect, and merges the high
sense of responsibility in its alluring and fatal
slumbers.

These tendencies should be neutralized by a
thorough and laborious education. Sloth and lux
ury must have no place in her vocabulary. Her
youth should be surrounded by every motive to

OF FEMALE EDUCATION. 15

application, and her maturity dignified by the hal
lowed office of rearing the immortal mind. While
her partner toils for his stormy portion of that
power or glory, from which it is her privilege to
be sheltered, let her feel that in the recesses of do-
mestick privacy, she still renders a noble service
to the government that protects her, by sowing
seeds of purity and peace in the hearts of those,
who shall hereafter claim its honours, or control
its destinies.

Her place is amid the quiet shades, to watch
the little fountain ere it has breathed a murmur.
But the fountain will break forth into a rill, and
the swollen rivulet rush towards the sea; and
who can be so well able to guide them in right
channels, as she who heard their first ripple, and
saw them emerge like timid strangers from their
source, and had kingly power over those infant-
waters, in the name of Him who caused them to
flow.

And now, Guardians of Education, whether pa
rents, preceptors, or legislators you who have so
generously lavished on woman the means of
knowledge complete your bounty, by urging her
to gather its treasures with a tireless hand. De
mand of her as a debt, the highest excellence
which she is capable of attaining. Summon her
to abandon selfish motives, and inglorious ease.
Incite her to those virtues which promote the
permanence and health of nations. Make her
accountable for the character of the next genera-

16 FEMALE EDUCATION.

tion. Give her solemn charge, in the presence of
men and of angels. Gird her with the whole ar
mour of education and of piety and see if she
be not faithful to her children, to her country, and
to her God.

LETTER I.

VALUE OP TIME.

As nothing truly valuable, my dear young
friends, can be attained without industry, so there
can be no persevering industry, without a sense ol
the value of time. Youth would be too happy,
might it add to its own beauty and felicity, the
wisdom of riper years. Were it possible for it to
realize the worth of time, as life s receding hours
will reveal it, how rapidly would it press on tow
ards perfection. It is too often the case, that the
period allotted to education, is but imperfectly
appreciated, till it approaches its close, or has
actually departed. Then, its recollections are
mingled with regret or repentance ; for experience
is more frequently the fruit of our own mistakes
and losses, than the result of the admonitions and
counsels of others.

Still, the young are sometimes found sedulously
regarding the flight of time, and zealously mark
ing it with mental and moral excellence. Illus
trating in their practice, the aspiration of the
Psalmist, they learn " to number their days, that
they may apply their hearts unto wisdom."

Suffer me, then, with the urgency of true
2*

18 VALUE OF TIME.

friendship, to impress on you the importance of a
just estimation of time. Consider how much is
to be performed, attained, and conquered, ere you
are fitted to discharge the duties which the sphere
of woman comprehends. Think of the brevity of
life. The most aged have compared it to a span
in compass and to a shuttle in flight. Compute
its bearings upon the bliss or wo of eternity, and
remember if mispent, it can never be recalled.
Other errors admit of reformation. Lost wealth
may be regained, by a course of industry ; the
wreck of health, repaired by temperance ; for
gotten knowledge, restored by study ; alienated
friendship soothed into forgiveness : even forfeit
ed reputation won back by penitence and virtue.
But who ever again looked upon his vanished
hours ? recalled his slighted years and stamped
them with wisdom ? or effaced from Heaven s
record, the fearful blot of a wasted life ?

The waste of time in youth, is a greater evil
than at any other period of existence. " The mis-
improvement of youthful days," says an elegant
writer, " is more than the mere loss of time.
Figure to yourself the loss that the year would
sustain were the spring taken away : such a loss
do they sustain who trifle in youth."

When there is so much to be done for individ
ual improvement, in the formation of correct
habits, and preparation for untried duty so much
for parents and benefactors, to pay even imper
fectly the debt of gratitude so much for broth-

VALUE OF TIME. 19

ers, and sisters, and friends so much for the
poor, the uneducated, the afflicted so much in
obedience to Him who hath commanded us to
" work out our own salvation with fear and trem
bling ;" how unreasonable is it to do but little, and
to do that little carelessly ! how sinful to trifle
away our time in light amusement, or profitless
pursuit ! It is no excuse for us, that others waste
their days in desultory pleasures, or pass their
youth without motive and without improvement. :
Every one must stand alone to give account at
last. The example of an associate will not be
accepted as a palliation, nor the habit of excuse,
however it might have deceived men, justify us
before a judge who readeth the intents of the
heart.

The successful improvement of time, is aided
by order in its distribution. A division of the day
into parts, facilitates the successful discharge of
its duties. Many of those who have become emi
nent in science and literature, have adhered to a
systematick arrangement of time. King Alfred,
who so remedied the defects of early education, as
to gain distinction in the field of intellect, as well
as in the annals of royalty, was an example of
regularity. He divided the twenty-four hours
into three equal portions. One of these periods
of eight hours was devoted to the duties of reli
gion, one to repose, recreation and literature, and
the other to the cares of his realm. Sir William
Jones, who acquired the knowledge of twenty-

20 VALUE OF TIME.

eight languages, and whose attainments in all that
ennoble man were such, that it was pronounced a
" happiness to his race that he was born," perse
vered in a regular allotment of his time to partic
ular occupations, and a scrupulous adherence to
the distribution which he had established. Thus
his great designs went on without confusion ; and
so convinced was he of the excellence of daily
system, and so humble in the estimation of his
native endowments, that to the inquiry how his
wonderful attainments in every branch of know
ledge had been made, he was accustomed to reply,
only by industry and regular application.

Though the path of distinction in science and
literature may not be the object of our ambition,
yet in the sphere allotted to our sex, order and
method are of essential importance. The assign
ing daily duty to particular hours, helps to ensure
its performance. The system must often yield to
circumstances, and be subject to interruptions, yet
by keeping its general features steadily in view,
more will be accomplished, and to better purpose
than by desultory effort.

Consider every day, my dear young friends, as
a sacred gift from the Author of your being. Di
vide it between the duties you owe to Him, to
yourselves, and your fellow-creatures. Remem
ber that you are held responsible at a higher tri
bunal than that of earth, for the manner in which
they are discharged. Keep these three great de
partments before the eye of the mind. Proper-

VALUE OF TIME.

tion the day between them, as the promised land
was divided by lot among the chosen tribes.
Consult those whom it is your duty to obey or to
please, respecting the appropriation of hours to
employments. Use discretion and kindness in not
interfering with the convenience of those around,
and then evince decision in not yielding to slight
obstacles. When your system is once correctly
established, let it be understood that it is not
lightly to be set aside. When it must unavoid
ably yield, make use of it as an exercise of pa
tience and gentleness.

With the first light of the morning say to your
waking heart : " Behold another day, to be divided
between the Giver, your own improvement, and
the good of those with whom you are associated."
Secure by early rising, those hours, when the
frame is refreshed by repose, and the mind clear
and vigorous with consciousness of renovated ex
istence. Commence your day with devotion, the
reading of the Scriptures, and meditation. As far
as possible, let these sacred duties be in solitude
and secrecy between yourself and your Maker.
Raised by his hand from the helplessness of slum
ber, dependant on it for protection throughout the
unknown changes of a day which may be your
last on earth, let the young heart pour out its grat
itude and hope, as living incense on the breath of
the rising morn.

When the celebrated Boerhaave was inquired
of, how he was able to acquire and to perform so

22 VALUE OF TIME.

much, he answered : " It is my morning hour of
prayer and meditation that gives me spirit and
vigour during the labours of the day." He enjoined
this practice on his friends, as one of the best
rules in his power to give, conducive both to
health of body, tranquillity of mind, and right con
duct under the various allotments of providence.
Were it necessary to multiply arguments, the ex
ample of the pious in all ages might be adduced
to sanction the practice of hallowing the morning
by devotion. The changes of the day, though it
open with the smile of hope, are unknown. It
may lead to unexpected trial. It may test the
firmness of your soul by sudden prosperity. It
may open the fountain of tears. It may summon
you to that pale assembly, who have no longer
any share in the things done under the sun. It
will certainly bring you nearer to their narrow
house. Take therefore with you a blessing, the
solicited guidance of divine grace, the leadings of
that pure spirit which can sustain the infirmities
of our nature, and " what is dark, illumine ; what
is low, raise and support."

The second division of the duties of the day
regards yourself. Much is required of the young
to fit themselves for respectability and usefulness
in life. Much is required of our sex, in the pres
ent state of society, and by the spirit of an age
rapidly advancing in improvement. Be true to
every just expectation. Regard it as a privilege
that much is expected of you. The care of your

VALUEOFTIME. 23

health, the advance of your mind in knowledge by
study and contemplation, dexterity and diligence in
the varied circle of domestick employment, atten
tion to such accomplishments as your station may
require, the whole field of physical, mental and
moral culture, which opens before her who is de
termined that her husbandry shall not be faithless,
nor her harvest light, is too wide and diversified to
admit of rules being given you by another, except
the injunction that as far as is in your power, each
portion should have its allotted period.

The third department cf daily duty regards our
fellow-beings. To be engrossed wholly by our
own pursuits, creates selfishness. It is possible
for the intellect to be cultivated at the expense of
the heart. Therefore our obligations to those
with whom we travel on " time s brief journey,"
should be clearly defined. This interchange aids
in forming habits of disinterested kindness, and in
preparing our nature for some of its most delight
ful affections. The duties w r hich we owe to pa
rents, benefactors, and teachers, claim a pre-emi
nent place in our regard. Though we may not
hope to repay according to what we have receiv
ed ; let us not be deficient in any testimony of
gratitude which it is in our power to render.

There is one virtue which I wish to recommend
to your attention, my young friends, in which the
present age has been pronounced deficient. I
mean, respect to the aged. To " honour the hoary
head, and rise up before the face of the old man,"

24 VALUEOFTIME.

is a command of Jehovah. Those who have
borne the burdens of life until strength has failed,
in whose bosoms are treasures of experience to
which we are strangers, whose virtues are con
firmed beyond the fear of change or fluctuation,
and who by the short space that divides their ri
pened piety from its reward, may be literally said
to be " but a little lower than the angels," are
surely worthy of the veneration of youth. Even
when age is seen united with infirmity of purpose,
or decay of those organs, through which the mind
has been accustomed to act, it is entitled to ten
derness from those who must themselves tread the
same path of withered and wearied energies, un
less they go down to an earlier grave. The aged
are soothed by the marked respect of the young,
and the tribute is graceful to those who render it.

Attention to brothers, sisters, and companions,
culture of social feelings, punctuality in promises,
kindness and courtesy to all, open an important
and interesting sphere of action. Good offices to
the poor, the uneducated, the afflicted, you will
also as you have opportunity, comprehend within
your social or relative department of duty.

Close the day by the same sacred services with
which it commenced. Add also the exercise of
self-examination. Compare the performances in
each division of duty with the requisitions enfor
ced in the morning. Inquire of the first allotted
period, what hast thou done to render the soul
more acceptable to pure eyes? of the second,

VALUEOFTIME. 25

what armour hast thou given the mind for life s
warfarp ? of the third, how hast thou aided the
heart to advance the happiness of others ? Let
each hour bring its report. Marshalled under
their respective leaders, bid them pass the review
of conscience. May it be found that none have
slumbered at their post, none broken their ranks,
none deserted to the enemy. Something will be
gathered from the tablet of the most faultless day
for regret. Something also for encouragement.
Something for praise, to the Giver of " eveiy good
and perfect gift."

One useful adjunct in this work of self-inspec
tion is a Journal. It seems like the visible pres
ence of a friend, whose frown makes folly asha
med, and whose smile gives confidence to virtue.
It preserves what else might be forgotten, and
plants way-marks and scatters mementoes, at
every footstep of our pilgrimage. It gives an ar
tificial length to life, by clothing the buried past in
fresh and living imagery, and aiding us to retrace,

As in a map, the voyager his course,
The windings of our way for many years.

Though in the seclusion of the domestick sphere,
the course of passing events will usually be too
monotonous to justify narration, yet the current of
feeling and sentiment, the authors with whom we
are conversant, and the reflections of a mind in
search of knowledge and truth, will always fur
nish something worthy of memorial, so that " no
3

26 VALUEOFTIME.

day need be without its line." If the habit of
writing a Journal is commenced, it should be daily
observed, as its interest declines with any irregu
larity. Like a true friend, it cannot bear neglect
unmoved. Those who have tested its utility for
years, have pronounced it a valuable assistant in
fixing the eye of the mind on the never-staying
flight of time, and in keeping vivid in the heart,
the lessons taught by the discipline of Heaven.
They have also supposed that they found ben
efit by copying in its pages, questions like the
following, with their correspondent replies, and
adopting them as rules of conduct :

1. Will you endeavour to establish a daily sys-
tematick division of time, with a view to improve
ment ?

2. Will you ask the concurrence of those whose
wishes and convenience you are bound to consult ?

3. Will you not unnecessarily recede from your
system, nor renounce it in despair because it is
cften interrupted ?

4. At what hour will you rise ?

5. How much time will you allow to the sacred
duties of the morning ?

6. What part of the day will you devote to the
careful perusal of books for the attainment of use
ful knowledge ?

7. What period will you allot to the needle, and
the various departments of domestick industry ?

8. What part to healthful exercise, accomplish
ments and recreation ?

VALUE OP TIME. 27

9. What part to the comfort of relatives, friends
and the family circle ?

10. What period to the relief of poverty, afflic
tion and ignorance ?

1 1 . At what hour will you retire to repose ?

12. Will you close the day by religious exer
cises, and a careful retrospect of its several hours
and duties ?

Perseverance in such a course will render the
remembrance of your days delightful, and give to
your life a diadem of beauty, and a crown of wis
dom. Do not relinquish your attempts to realize
the value of time, until you have learned to esti
mate its smaller portions. An hour faithfully im
proved may accomplish much. It was a rule of
the excellent Bishop Taylor, that at the striking of
every clock, we should enter with renewed vigour
upon the appropriate duty of the new hour, and
lift up the heart for God s assistance and blessing.
The philosopher was wise who affixed to his study-
door the inscription, " Time is my estate. If I
lose an hour how shall I repay the debt ?" In the
science of economy, the sage Franklin enjoined
the care of half pence. In a system of thorough
improvement of time, the care of half hours, is
equally essential. With respect to many of the
other gifts of Heaven, our perception is quick, and
our attachment ardent. We prize beauty because
it charms the eye, though it fades like the summer-
rose ; wealth, because it purchases the things that
we call good, though they perish in the using ;

28 VALUEOFT1ME.

reputation, because the consciousness of it is
pleasant, though a breath may blast it ; let us not
then forget to value above all these possessions
time, which may be so improved as to purchase
the bliss of eternity.

" Great God !" says the eloquent Massillon,
" for what purpose dost thou leave us here on
earth, but to render ourselves worthy of thine eter
nal inheritance ! Every thing that we do for the
world shall perish with it, whatsoever we do for
thee shall be immortal. And what shall we say to
thee, on the bed of death, when thou shalt enter
into judgment with us, and demand an account of
the time which thou didst grant to be employed
in glorifying and serving thee ? Shall we say,
we have had friends to boast of on earth, but have
acquired none to ourselves in heaven ; we have
made every exertion to please men, and none to
please the Almighty? And shall it be written
upon our lives time lost for eternity"

LETTER II.

RELIGION.

IN the education of the young, one of our first
inquiries should be, what pursuits are the most in
dispensable, and what attainments best adapted to
their probable sphere of action. In estimating the
sciences, we take into view, both their present
utility, and their future gain. The most assiduous
attention should be allotted to those, which will be
most imperatively demanded. We persevere in
teaching a child to speak, to read, and to write his
native language because through these mediums
alone, is he to acquire and communicate ideas.

The relative value of attainments is affected by
the different stages and conditions of human life.
Those are held most valuable, which extend their
influence over the greatest space of time. Some
accomplishments are adapted to the season of
youth, and with it pass away. These possess a
fugitive value, when compared with the whole
extent of life. They are like the tint upon the
blossom, which fades that the fruit may ripen.

Some acquisitions depend on the perfection of
the senses. Their standard of value, must be also
fluctuating. Where is the exquisite skill of the en

30 RELIGION.

graver or the delicate touch of the miniature-
painter when the eye grows dim? Where is
the power of the master of sweet sounds, when the
harp of the ear is broken ? or of the constructor
of delicate mechanism, when the hand is para
lyzed ? or of the orator, when the valve of the
lungs plays no more at the bidding of eloquent
thought ?

It would seem that the purely intellectual scien
ces might possess a more inherent value. Par
taking of the nature of the mind, they are less de
pendant on the changes of material things. But
memory, the keeper of all knowledge, is subject
to accident. Disease may impair its tenacity, or
age destroy it.

Is there then any science, which is attainable
at every period of life and available till its close ?
whose processes are not disturbed though the eye
withdraw its light or the ear its counsel or the
right hand its cunning or the tongue its musick?
whose results are not confused when age gropes
in the mazes of doubt and imbecility ? whose
treasures are not lost, though time, turning as a
robber upon memory, strews the fine gold of its
casket on the winds ?

I knew a man, distinguished alike by native
talent, and classical acquisition. In his boyhood,
he loved knowledge, and the teachers of know
ledge. He selected that profession which taxes
intellect with the most severity, and became em
inent both in the theory and practice of jurispru

RELIGION. 31

dence. While manhood, and the hopes of ambi
tion, and the joys of affection were fresh about
him, disease attacked him, by its fearful ministers
of paralysis and blindness. So he lived for years,
without the power of motion, or the blessing of
sight. Among those whom he had served, coun
selled and commanded, he was but a broken ves
sel. Yet light shone inwardly, without a cloud.
A science, which in youth he had cultivated, con
tinued its active operations, though the " eye was
dim, and the natural force abated." Communi
cating power of endurance, and opening sources
of profitable contemplation it brought a cheerful
smile to the brow of that sufferer, who, sightless
and motionless on his bed, was counted by the
unreflecting, but as a wreck of humanity. And
this science was religion.

There was a man who had won eminence in the
ranks of fame, and whom his country delighted to
honour. Ennobled both by erudition and integ
rity, he had walked on the high places of the earth,
" without spot, and blameless." I saw him, when
almost a hundred winters had past over him.
Like the aged Gileadite, he was able no longer to
hear the " voice of singing-men, or of singing-
women." The beautiful residence which his own
taste had ornamented, spread its charms to an un
conscious owner. The rose and the vine-flower
breathed their fragrance for others, and the flocks
in his green pastures, once his delight, roamed
unheeded.

32 RELIGION.

I bore him a message of love from a friend of
early days, who had stood with him among states
men, when the nation was in jeopardy, and when
mutual danger, draws more closely the bonds of
affection. But the links of friendship, once inter
woven with the essence of his being, were sun
dered. Between the recollections that I fain
would have restored, and the speech that clothed
them, there was a " great gulf fixed." Both the
name and image of the cherished companion had
fled for ever.

A vase of massy silver w r as brought forth, on
which his country had caused to be sculptured, the
record of his services, and of her gratitude. He
gazed vacantly upon it. No chord of association
vibrated. The love of honourable distinction, so
long burning like a perpetual incense-flame on the
altar of a great mind, had forsaken its temple. I
felt a tear start at the humbling thought, that of
all he had gotten, nothing remained. At parting,
something was mentioned of the Deity, the benefi
cent Father of us all. Those lips, hitherto so im-
moveable, trembled. The cold, blue eye sparkled,
as through frost. The thin, bloodless hand clasped
mine, as he uttered with a startling energy :

" When by the whelming tempest borne,

High o er the broken wave,
I knew thou wert not slow to hear,

Nor impotent to save."

And as I slowly passed down the avenue from

RELIGION. 33

thai patriarchial mansion, I heard his voice lifted
in prayer, and learned that its spirit might survive
even when the endowments of a mighty intel
lect, and the precious consciousness of a pure
renown, were alike effaced from the tablet of
remembrance.

Among those who serve at God s altar, was
one, who had faithfully discharged through a long
life, the holy duties of his vocation. He lingered
after his contemporaries had gone to rest. By the
fireside of his only son, he sat in peaceful dignity,
and the children of another generation loved his
silver locks. In that quiet recess, memory was
lulled to sleep. The names of even familiar
things, and the images held most indelible, faded
as a dream. Still he lived on cheered by that
reverence which is due to the " hoary head, when
found in the way of righteousness." At length,
his vigour failed. The staff could no longer sup
port his tottering steps, and nature tended to her
last repose.

It was attempted by the repetition of his own
name, to awaken the torpor of memory. But he
replied, " I know not the man" Mention was
made of his only son, the idol of his early years,
whose filial gratitude had taken every form and
office of affection : " I have no son" The ten
der epithet by which he had designated his fa
vourite grandchild was repeated : " I have no little
darling" Among the group of friends who sur
rounded his bed, there was one who spoke of the

34 RELIGION.

Redeemer of man. The aged suddenly raised
himself upon his pillow. His eye kindled, as
when from the pulpit, in the vigour of his days,
he had addressed an audience whom he loved.
" I remember that Saviour. Yes / do remem
ber the Lord Jesus Christ"

There seems then to be a science which sur
vives when the body is powerless and age
sweeps away the hoarded gems of learning and
the emblems of fame : which prolongs enjoyment
when memory has departed, and when those affec
tions which are the first to quicken, and the last
to decay, become as cold clay about the heart
strings.

Perceiving that adversity happens to all, the
young would naturally inquire, if there is any
science which fortifies against it, or furnishes ar
mour to resist its shock. For those transitions
from wealth to poverty, which sometimes overtake
the wisest, philosophy proposes an antidote. The
ancient teachers of heathen wisdom offered as a
substitute for the goods of fortune, moderated de
sires, and pleasures founded in virtue. The
Stoics advocated the impracticable theory, that
the soul should be unaffected by all the mutations
of earth. Some of the philosophers of ancient
Greece soared as high as man s wisdom can hope
to reach, without the aid of Inspiration. They
counselled man to rise in the majesty of his na
ture, above material things. But they took not
into account that latent infirmity, by which, when

RELIGION. 35

" he would do good, evil was present with him."
Their system was like the cold moonbeam, fa
ding before the day-star from on high. It was
wholly inadequate to sustain, under those severer
trials, the loss of friends, and the darkness that
enwraps the grave. It lay crushed at the tomb,
where the mourner left his fondest affections, or
stood appalled and silent, when the dying passed
the threshold of Eternity.

It is reserved for a " better covenant," to lead
the desolated heart, not to " sorrow as without
hope." With what a burst of despair does Quin-
tilian exclaim, after the death of his wife and
children : " All that I now possess, is for aliens,
and no longer mine. Henceforth, my wealth and
my writings, the fruits of a long and painful life,
must be reserved only for strangers."

The bereaved, and eloquent son of the Ameri
can forests, inquires in agony, " Who is there to
mourn for Logan ? Not one. There runs not a
drop of my blood, in the veins of any living crea
ture."

The Idumean, when the destroying angel had
made " desolate all his company," acknowledged,
" The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away :
blessed be the name of the Lord" His grieved
heart bemoaned not his heirless wealth, his un-
transmitted renown his desolated home but
turning to the First Unerring Cause, praised the
mercy, which, though concealed in the blackness
of darkness, was mercy still. It is surely a divine

36 RELIGION.

alchymy, which presents, like gold from the refi
ner s crucible, the spirit purified by the fires that
dissolved it.

A faith, more perfect than the lore which Greek
or Roman taught, is requisite to console the be
reaved parent, who taking in his arms his most
cherished idols, bears them, one after the other,
through the dark valley of the shadow of death.
" Yesterday, I saw the brittle broken : to day, I
see the mortal dead," said Epictetus to the wo
man, who one evening regretted her broken vase,
and the next, wept for her lifeless son. But he
was unable to assure her, " Thy dead shall arise
again." " I shall go to him, but he shall not return
to me," said the King of Israel, over the form of
his lifeless infant. " My children are all dead ;
there is not one now, to stand between me and my
God," said a Christian-mother of our own times, as
she turned in sainted meekness to her lonely duties.

But if heathen philosophy failed to sooth the
mourner, to the dying, she was still more emphat
ically, "a physician of no value." She might
supply the pride, or excuse the weakness, with
which her votaries rushed upon the dagger s point,
when life was joyless. But to which of them
could she vouchsafe that sweet and holy confi
dence, with which the departing Hooker exclaim
ed : " By God s grace, I have loved him in my
youth, and feared him in my age, and laboured to
have a conscience void of offence, towards him and
towards all men."

RELIGION. 37

And now, cherished and lovely beings, just
commencing to ascend the hill of life, looking
around you, like timid and beautiful strangers, for
the greenest paths, or the most approved guides on
your devious pilgrimage, if there was a science
capable of imparting unbounded happiness, and
of continuing that happiness, when age disquali
fies the mind for other researches a science
which surmounts that grave, where all earthly
glory lays down its laurel, and fixes a firm grasp
on heaven, when earth recedes, how must she be
pitied who neglects its acquisition. And there is
such a science. And there is peril in disregarding
it. Truly impressive were the words of Queen
Elizabeth s secretary of state, to the bishops who
surrounded his death-bed : " Ah ! how great a
pity, that we men should not feel for what end we
are bom into this world, till we are just on the
point of quitting it."

If there were a book, that astonished both by its
wisdom and its antiquity that delighted alike by
history, oratory and poetry in theory and illus
tration, equally simple and sublime, yielding to
the comprehension of the unlearned, yet reveal
ing to the critick, the finger of Deity a book
which the wise have pronounced superior to all
beside, and the learned retained for daily study
when all others were dismissed how anxious
should we be to obtain it, how impatient to be
made acquainted with its contents. And there is
such a book. And for want of the knowledge of
4

88 RELIGION.

it, how many regions of the earth, are but the
" habitations of cruelty." " More wisdom, com
fort, and pleasure, are to be found in retiring and
turning your heart from the world, and reading
with the good Spirit of God, his sacred Word,
than in all the courts and all the favours of prin
ces," said one, who had enjoyed the pomp and
distinction of a court.

If there were a day, when it was lawful to turn
from all labour, vanity and care to take home to
the heart, only those images which make it better
and to associate in spirit not only with the good
of all ages, but with cherubim and seraphim around
the Throne should we not hail its approach amid
the weariness of life ? And there is such a day.
The pious greet it, as a foretaste of heaven s rest.
The wise have pronounced its influence propi
tious, even upon their temporal concerns. " I have
found," says Sir Matthew Hale, " by strict and
diligent observation, that a due observance of the
duties of the Sabbath, hath ever brought with it a
blessing on the rest of my time, and the week so
begun hath been prosperous unto me."

If there was a friend, whose sympathies never
slumbered, whose judgment never erred, whose
power had no limit a friend acquainted with all
oui wants, and able to supply them with our
secret sorrows, and ready to relieve them should
we not be urgent to seek his presence, and grate
ful to express our desires ? And there is such a
friend such a mode of access ? " Eighty-and-

RELIGION. 39

six years, have I served him," said the venerable
Polycarp, " and he hath never done me aught but
good/ All things forsake me, except my God,
my duty, and my prayers," said the noble states
man, whose long life comprehended the reign of
five sovereigns of England, and whose career had
been dignified by the honours which are coveted
among men.

It would be easy to multiply suffrages in favour
of religion, from those who have been illustrious
in the paths of science, as well as upon the heights
of power. The learned Selden, whose attain
ments were so various and profound, that he was
sometimes called the " living dictionary " re
marks, at the close of life : " I have taken pains to
know every thing esteemed worth knowing among
men, yet of all my disquisitions and readings,
nothing now remains to comfort me, but this pas
sage of St. Paul, * It is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came
into the world to save sinners. " " Our religion,"
says the clear-minded Pascal, " awing those whom
it justifies, and comforting those whom it reproves,
so wisely tempereth hope with fear, that it abases
us infinitely more than unassisted reason could
do, yet without driving us to despair, while it
exalts us infinitely more than the pride of our
nature could do yet without rendering us vain."
We gather collateral testimony, even from
heathen lore. Seneca admonishes tre, that
" were it not for heavenly contemplations, it had

40 RELIGION.

not been worth our while to have come into this
world."

We cannot but feel that we are beings of a two
fold nature that our journey to the tomb is short,
and the existence beyond it immortal. Is there
any attainment that we may reserve, when we lay
down the body ? We know, that of the gold
which perishes, we may take none w r ith us, when
dust returneth to dust. Of the treasures which
the mind accumulates, may we carry aught with
us, to that bourne, whence no traveller returns ?

We may have been delighted with the studies
of Nature, and penetrated into those caverns,
where she perfects her chymistry in secret. Com
posing and decomposing changing matter into
nameless forms pursuing the subtilest essences
through the air, and resolving even that air into
its original elements what will be the gain, when
we pass from material to immaterial, and this
great museum and laboratory, the time-worn
earth, shall dissolve in its own central fires ?

We may have become adepts in the physiology
of man scanning the mechanism of the eye, till
light itself unfolded its invisible laws of the ear,
till its most hidden reticulations confessed their
mysterious agency with sound of the heart, till
that citadel of life revealed its hermit-policy : but
will these researches be available, in a state of
being, which " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard
nor the heart of man conceived ?"

Will he who fathoms the waters, and computes

RELIGION. 41

their pressure and power, have need of this skill,
" where there is no more sea ?" Will the mathe
matician exercise the lore, by which he measured
the heavens or the astronomer, the science which
discovered the stars, when called to go beyond
their light ?

Those who have penetrated most deeply into
the intellectual structure of man, lifted the curtain
from the birthplace of thought, traced the springs
of action to their fountain, and thrown the veiled
and shrinking motive into the crucible, perceive
the object of their study, taking a new form, en
tering disembodied an unknown state of existence,
and receiving powers adapted to its laws, and
modes of intercourse.

We have no proof that the sciences, to which
years of labour have been devoted, will survive
the tomb. But the impressions they have made
the dispositions they have nurtured the good or
evil, they have helped to stamp upon the soul will
go with it into Eternity. The adoring awe, the
deep humility, inspired by the study of the planets
and their laws the love of truth, which he cher
ished, who pursued the science that demonstrates
it will find a response among angels and archan
gels. The praise that was learned amid the mel
odies of nature or from the lyre of consecrated
genius may pour its perfected tones from a
seraph s harp. The goodness taught in the whole
frame of Creation by the flower lifting its honey-
cup to the insect, and the leaf drawing its green
4*

42 RELIGION.

curtain round the nursing-chamber of the smallest
bird ; by the pure stream, refreshing both the
grass and the flocks that feed on it, the tree, and
the master of its fruits ; the tender charity caught
from the happiness of the humblest creature will
be at home in His presence, who hath pronounced
himself the " God of love."

The studies, therefore, which we pursue, as the
means of intellectual delight, or the instruments of
acquiring wealth and honour among men, are val
uable at the close of life, only as they have pro
moted those dispositions which constitute the bliss
of an unending existence. Tested by its tenden
cies beyond the grave, Religion in its bearings
and results, transcends all other sciences. The
knowledge which it imparts does not perish with
the stroke which disunites the body, from its
ethereal companion. While its precepts lead to
the highest improvement of this state of proba
tion, its spirit is congenial with that ineffable re
ward to which we aspire. It is the preparation
for immortality, which should be daily and hourly
wrought out, amid all the mutations of time.

Viewing it only with reference to the present
life, we perceive its requirements to be privileges.
The day that it hallows the volume that it gives
as our rule of conduct the prayerful intercourse
with heaven that it enjoins the deep penitence
the fervent trust in a pure and prompting spirit
the self-denial that it imposes on the wayward and
vengeful passions its monitions of earth s empti

RELIGION. 43

ness its solace under affliction the chastened
meekness of its lessons in prosperity the tender
and forbearing love which from a Redeemer s ex
ample it instils into the heart tend to renovate,
to fortify, to sublimate the weakness of our nature,
and to make it " meet for the inheritance of the
saints in light."

Feel it, therefore, my dear young friends, to be
your duty to be religious. If you acknowledge
the sacred obligation to " obey your parents," do
you not owe equal obedience to that Father in
heaven, whose command is, " give me thine
heart ?" It is of immense importance that reli
gion be secured in youth. Those years which so
easily take stamp and colouring from surrounding
objects, impress their own likeness upon a series
of other years. They may determine the charac
ter through life, and the destinies of Eternity.

Suffer me therefore, to say to those who are in
the fair blossom of their being, that they are un
safe while they neglect the guidance of religion.
Seek her, sweet friends, with prayer, amid the
hush and holiness of morn, and at eve recall the
day s deeds, and measure them by her standard,
and weigh its words and thoughts in her equal
balance.

Make that religion, which regulates the heart,
a constant companion. It has been an error to
suppose it should be reserved for the higher and
more trying exigencies of life. Though able to
sustain unde r the greatest, extremity, it is equally

44 RELIGION.

willing to walk in the humblest paths. If it wear
a brighter robe on the Sabbath, it is still girded
for the service of every day, and ready to take its
station by their side, who invoke its aid. It is
like a thread of gold, which may be continually
woven into the web of life. If its clew be laid
aside, except on Sundays, or seasons of prayer, it
will be difficult to resume. It may be either so
entangled, or broken, or tarnished, that the tissue
will be unfit for heaven.

While you are in the pursuit of piety, do not
listen to its teachers, in the spirit of criticism, but
reverently and with meekness. Let it not be your
aim, to become a sectarian, but a Christian. Avoid
every feature of bigotry every temptation to
polemical controversy. Never dispute about doc
trines, or condemn those who may differ from you.
Leave the defence of tenets to those whom
Christendom has appointed the champions of her
faith. It is more fitting for our sex, to be the gen
tle guardians of the peace and charity of the Gos
pel. Their piety who were last at the cross, and
first at the sepulchre, should be to cultivate the
meekness of self-denial and the fervour of faith.
Receiving the "truth in love," remember that
every sect has produced both good and evil that
all build the foundation of their belief on the same
book, and place the goal of their hope at the gate
of the same heaven. Praying that through differ
ent roads, every true worshipper, may arrive at
one glorious inheritance, occupy yourselves less

RELIGION. 45

in scanning the infirmities of others, than in cor
recting your own. Take home to your heart, the
words of the pious King Henry, at the death bed
of Cardinal Beaufort : " Forbear to judge, for we
are sinners all." Choose not to excel in the
knowledge of controverted points or to convince
by pungency of argument or to bewilder by flu
ency of speech but simply to persuade through
the " beauty of holiness."

Endeavour that the distinguishing feature of your
piety, should be that love which the Redeemer
marked when on earth, as the test of discipleship,
and in which the primitive Christians WTapped
themselves as a garment, when they went from
persecution to martyrdom, from u prison unto
death." Cultivate this spirit in your deportment
and let it beam from your countenance. There is
no hazard in such emulation. " The desire of
power in excess," says Lord Bacon, " caused angels
to fall ; the desire of knowledge in excess, caus
ed man to fall ; but in charity, there is no ex
cess neither man nor angel can be endangered
by it."

Religion need not be disjoined from the innocent
pleasures of life. Its province is to heighten hap
piness, as well as to sustain toil, or to sanctify
affliction. To confine it to seasons of lonely med
itation, or disrobe it of its angel-smile, is a mo
nastic error. Give it place by the hearth-stone,
and in the walk among the flowers, where heart
answers to heart. Let it have part in the music

46 RELIGION.

that cheers the domestick circle, and in the fond
intercourse of sisterly and fraternal love.

And now, if I have urgently or diffusely incited
the young to the pursuit of the most excellent,
most enduring science, it is because in the book
of divine truth, I have seen the pledge of Omnipo
tence, that those who " seek early shall find it ;"
because I have believed, that in the docility of
their happy season, there was an aptitude for its
rudiments which time and change might take
away.

LETTER III.

KNOWLEDGE.

KNOWLEDGE is valuable for the pleasure it im
parts, for the permanent wealth it secures, and for
its ennobling influence on the mind. Its excellence
is more strongly illustrated by contrasting it with
ignorance.

" The ignorant man," says an Arabian writer, " is
dead, even while he walketh upon earth : num
bered with the living, he existeth not." The strong
prejudices, and restricted trains of thought, which
are common to an unfurnished mind, are obvious
to all who come in contact with it. Rude man
ners, and contempt of just laws, distinguish an un
educated community. " Learning," says Lord Ba
con, " doth make the mind gentle, generous, and
pliant to government, while ignorance leaveth it
churlish, thwarting, and mutinous ; and the evi
dence of history doth clear this assertion, inasmuch
as the most barbarous and unlearned times have
been the most subject to tumults, seditions, and
changes."

The treasures of knowledge have been pro
nounced, by the wise of all ages, infinitely superior
to the " gold that perisheth." They display their

48 KNOWLEDGE.

superiority by their power of resisting accident,
and of adhering to their possessor when all things
else forsake him. The winds cannot sweep them
away, nor the flames dissolve, nor the floods devour
them. "All that I have is about me" said the
poet Simonides, with perfect calmness, when, in
the midst of tempest and shipwreck, his com
panions were loading themselves with their most-
costly effects, ere they plunged into the deep.
Treasures over which the elements can have no
power, are surely worth the labour of those who
" dwell in houses of clay."

The error is sometimes committed of estimating
knowledge, principally as the instrument of pe
cuniary gain. Those who hold this opinion, de
grade its excellence. They debase its specifick
gravity. Such mercenary worshippers are like
money-changers in a sacred and magnificent tem
ple. Its presiding deity sanctions neither their
traffick or their currency. Knowledge sought
with such motives will hardly reveal itself in its
depth and grandeur. Ere the imperial purple of
Rome was sold for money, its glory had departed.
What ennobles the intellect, confers a distinction,
which silver and gold can never purchase. The
learned Erasmus maintained this theory, when he
assigned as a reason for refusing a lucrative office,
"I will not be hindered from prosecuting my
studies, by all the gold in the world."

Considering knowledge, therefore, as an inalien
able possession, which scorns to be exchanged for

KNOWLEDGE. 49

"jewels of fine gold," let us trace its effect upon
the intellect that acquires it. We perceive that it
imparts strength and dignity, that while it en
riches the casket, it enlarges its capacity. It gives
ability to weigh, to compare, to decide, and a mind
accustomed to such labours, expands and consoli
dates its powers, as a frame inured to healthful ex
ercise becomes vigorous and elastick. In cases of
doubt or difficulty, collecting the concentrated
experience of past ages, it comes forth to act
as a counsellor. To use the words of a most
competent judge, " those who are illuminated
by learning, do find it whispering ever more in
their ears, when other counsellors stand mute and
silent."

This argument peculiarly recommends it to the
attention of the young. A time must come when
the voice of the parent-guide will be silent in the
grave ; when the pupil must pass from under the
shelter of tutelage to the toils and responsibilities
of life. Then it will often be necessary to decide
without advice, and to act without precedent.
Judgment laying aside her leading-strings, must
dare the steep and slippery ascent, biding both
the buffet and the blast. Then, the stores of a
well-balanced, well-furnished mind will be put in
requisition, and the mistakes of ignorance and
vanity be happily avoided.

Knowledge opens sources of delightful contem
plation for dome stick retirement. This renders it a
peculiar protection to the young. In their fond-
5

50 KNOWLEDGE.

ness for promiscuous society, they are often in
danger of forming indiscreet associations, or rash
attachments. Knowledge makes home pleasant,
and self-communion no solitude. " When I am
alone, it talks with me, so that I have no need
to go abroad, and solicit amusement from others,"
said the philosopher Antisthenes. This lineament
of knowledge, strongly recommends it to our own
sex, my dear young friends. For home is our
province and it is our imperative duty to strive
to render it agreeable ; and as we are never more
disposed to be amiable, than when we are happy,
we shall probably best succeed in imparting feli
city, when we most enjoy it ourselves.

Knowledge is also desirable to our sex, as an
antidote to the narrowness of mind, which grows
out of minute details and petty cares. It makes
us intelligent companions, by supplying varied
and improving subjects of conversation. It cre
ates a class of independent enjoyments. From the
structure of society, as well as from physical
weakness, we are compelled to rely on the minis
try of many agents. By some of these we may
be ill-served, and by others deceived : it is there
fore important to cultivate self-derived and self-
sustained satisfactions. For us, whose strongest
affections are in the keeping of others, it is well
to secure some intellectual solace, ere the props
on which those affections rest, chance to warp, to
pierce us, or to pass away. And next to the sup
port of that hope which has no rooting in earth,

KNOWLEDGE. 51

and in close affinity with it, are the consolations
of a well-disciplined, contemplative mind !

In our age of the world, knowledge seems re
quisite to gain and to preserve respect. Adulation
is the food of the young and beautiful, but matu
rity requires stronger aliment. Nectar and am
brosia vanish with the brief goddesship of beauty,
and she who feels the burdens of life, in their
dense and uncompromising reality, will gladly
accept a more substantial nourishment. In order
to be upheld by the respect of him, whose name
she bears, and by that of the household which she
is appointed to govern it is necessary that she
should not disgrace them by ignorance. There
was a period, when humble industry, and virtuous
example, were all that society demanded of woman.
That period is past. Education, in conferring
new privileges, erected a tribunal, where each
recipient is summoned to " give account of her
stewardship." The very children of the log-cot
tages throughout our land, obey the injunction of
one of its departed politicians, and " make a cru
sade against ignorance."

More than a century and a half since, when in
tellectual culture was dealt out with a sparing
hand, the importance of knowledge to the respect
ability and happiness of our sex, was clearly fore
seen and stated by a female writer. Miss Ann
Baynard, a native of our mother-country, asserted
that it was " sin to be contented with a little
knowledge" Laboriously exemplifying her own

52 KNOWLEDGE.

precept, she acquired the ancient languages, as
tronomy, mathematicks and philosophy. The
motives which she assigned for perfecting herself
in Greek, was, the pleasure of reading Chrysos-
tom, in his native purity. Her Latin composi
tions were applauded for their elegance, by the
criticks of the day. She made advances in other
sciences, particularly in metaphysicks. Yet her
life comprised only twenty-five years. Though
such attainments were in those days far more
conspicuous than they would be in our own,
there was about her no pride of science. In her
deportment, she was simple and meek benevo
lent to the poor, and of sincere piety. She
evinced the natural alliance between profound
knowledge and humility. On her death-bed, she
requested her clergyman to incite all the youth of
his charge, to the pursuit of learning and wisdom,
as the means of durable happiness. " Would wo
men," she writes, " but spend half of that time in
study and thinking, which they do, in visiting, van
ity and folly, it would induce composure of mind,
and lay a basis for wisdom and knowledge, by
which they might be far better enabled to serve
God, and to help their neighbours."

A similar testimony was given in still earlier
times, by Margaret, the mother of King Henry
VII., who to the possession of learning added
its munificent patronage. She was the founder of
two colleges, connected with the University of
Cambridge read and wrote with facility in the

KNOWLEDGE. 53

Latin and French languages and collected a
library, both valuable and extensive for those
times.

But those who have it not in their power to
encourage learning by liberal donations, or even
to devote any important portion of their lives to
study, may still be so convinced of the value of a
good education, as to consider no labour too great
to obtain it. Though our favoured age furnishes
unprecedented opportunities for this result, yet
they will be found insufficient, without vigorous
effort. All the aids of affluence, and the incite
ments of parental love, will be powerless without
persevering study. If the physician pronounces
the voluntary co-operation of his patient, essential
to the perfect effect of medicine, how much more
.necessary is mental regimen, to the great object of
correct education ? It will be in vain, that books,
initiating into the various sciences, have proceed
ed from our most powerful pens that minds of
the highest talent bow to the business of instruc
tion unless those who acquire knowledge, are
willing to incur the labour of profound thought.
Elementary principles must be committed by pa
tient repetition, and trains of thought deepened by
habits of reflection. It is not in the unbroken
surface of sloth, or among the weeds of a roving
intellect, that knowledge deigns to deposite those
seeds, whose well-ripened fruits are for the winter
of life. Severe and tireless application is the cur
rency in the realm of learning. And to pursue

54 KNOWLEDGE.

the metaphor, memory is the mint, where this
coinage receives its impression.

If we believe with Plato, that " all knowledge
is but remembrance," we cannot take too much
pains to strengthen the retentive power. Without
it, there can be no imperishable mental wealth.
If any young person says with sincerity, " I have
no memory," she pronounces herself a vassal in
the empire of mind. If she makes this avowal
carelessly, or without compunction, she deserves
to be for ever a " hewer of wood and a drawer of
water," among those whom knowledge ennobles.
But a weak memory, or what is colloquially called
"no memory at all," will yet reveal a principle of
vitality, sufficient to justify and repay assiduous
nursing-care For if memory has been philoso
phically analyzed into the element of " fixed atten
tion," it would seem to be within the reach of all,
who have power over their own perceptions. So
it undoubtedly is but not without perseverance.
When you read, what it is desirable to retain,
dismiss every extraneous thought. If this cannot
be done in the company of others, become a silent
and separate student. Let your first requisitions
on memory be short, but thorough, repeated daily,
and as far as possible, at the same period of the
day. Every night, review deliberately and clearly
what has been gained. At the close of every
week, abridge in writing, the subjects that you
deem most valuable. At the close of every month,
recapitulate, select and arrange, from this record,

KNOWLEDGE. 55

the most important parts, and write them neatly in
a book kept for that purpose but not in the Ian
guage of the author ; and if possible, without ref
erence to him at all. Let this be a repository of
condensed knowledge, the pure gold of thought.
Select from it, fitting subjects for conversation, and
view knowledge in all its aspects, ere you commit
it irrevocably to the casket of the soul.

Such a process cannot be continued faithfully
for a year, without perceptible benefit to memory.
Command its services freely, as a monarch does
those of a loyal subject. Never allow yourself to
say, without self-reproach, " I have forgotten."
If memory is under your control, why should you
forget ? If it is not, whose is the fault ? Even a
child is in danger, who says " I forgot," and feels
no shame.

In your earliest discipline of memory, be care
ful not to afford it too many aids. Its journey up
the cliff of knowledge may be painful, and its re
quisitions among the duties of life, will be surely
severe. Make it athletick by exercise, like the
son of a peasant. Bring home the substance of
sermons, or lectures on the sciences, without
the aid of pencil and paper. If you wish to pre
serve it for others, abridge it after you return
home, but never take notes while you listen. It
too much excuses memory from its trust. In pe
rusing books, never use marks, to denote the
stages of your progress. If the contents are not
sufficiently striking to furnish a clew for recalling

56 KNOWLEDGE.

the mind, charge memory with the number of the
chapter, or the page where you discontinued to
read. If neither the spirit, style, or numerical
adjuncts of the book, can be so clearly restore^ as
to designate the point at which you left it, what
benefit do you propose, from proceeding in its pe
rusal ? It is much reading without proper atten
tion it is miscellaneous aliment without digestion,
that paralyze memory, and induce morbid habits
of mind. Hold no rule in slight estimation, that
will enable you 10 invigorate the retentive power.
Persevere in this regimen, until you are familiar
with the intense delight of knowledge won by toil.
Then you may be assured that the most formida
ble stage in the discipline of memory is surmount
ed ; for as it regards the action of the mind, know
ledge and remembrance are indivisible. Would
that I could convince all my fair, young readers,
of the value of perseverance. Its importance to
our own sex, has seldom been more strikingly
exemplified than in the instance of Miss Elizabeth
Carter. She early formed a resolution of acquir
ing a learned education. To overcome existing
obstacles, she was scarcely outdone by Demos
thenes, in untiring effort. Nature opposed her
design. Her infancy and early youth, gave no in
dication of the eminence that she afterward obtain
ed. Her perceptions were unusually slow. The
rudiments of science were acquired with incredi
ble labour. She had a continual tendency to fall
asleep, whenever she attempted mental applica-

KNOWLEDGE. 57

tion. The obtuseness of comprehension with
which she encountered the impediments that op
pose entrance into the dead languages, exhausted
the patience of even her excellent father. He
besought her to give up all ambition of becoming
a scholar. But nothing could shake her perseve
rance. And its victory was complete. What she
once gained, she never lost. The severe labour
to which she submitted, earned this recompense,
which quickness of perception seldom attains.

She early acquired the Hebrew, Greek, and
Latin languages. The first, she continued to read
daily, even in extreme old age. Of the second,
her knowledge was critically correct, as her trans
lation of Epictetus proves. Dr. Johnson, in speak
ing of a celebrated scholar, said, he understood
Greek better than any one whom he had ever
known, except Elizabeth Carter. The French lan
guage, she understood thoroughly, and spoke with
fluency. Italian, Spanish, and German, she
taught herself without assistance. From the last,
she received very high enjoyment. Portuguese
and Arabick, she also added. For her own use,
she constructed an Arabick dictionary, containing
various explanations, and combinations of words,
which she perceived, from her own reading, to have
been misconceived, or ill-translated. To her un
common proficiency in classick and historick lore,
she united a knowledge of astronomy and ancient
geography, poetry and theology. The Holy
Scriptures were her daily and delightful study.

58 KNOWLEDGE.

Though her attainments were viewed with
wonder, and gained her the friendship of some of
the best and most talented in her native realm, she
sought not to possess learning for the purposes of
display. Her long life of meekness and piety,
spoke a far different language.

No stronger example can be adduced of the
force and value of perseverance. Those of our
own sex, whose taste would not lead them to the
acquisition of difficult languages, or to a life of
science and contemplation, will find this excellent
virtue equally prevalent, in any other modification
of duty, or channel of pursuit.

Want of fixedness of purpose, is but too gener
ally a fault of the young. Indeed, to so many
employments, are the minds of young ladies di
rected, that it is exceedingly difficult to preserve
unity of design. But of one thing, they should
never lose sight ; the danger of neglecting to im
prove to the utmost, the priceless privileges of
their season of life. Then, the mind comes forth
in freshness and beauty. Cares have not pre-oc-
cupied it nor contradictory trains of thought
stamped upon it a desultory character. " It turn-
eth as wax to the seal." How often, ere we un
derstand the worth of this pliancy, does rigidity
steal over the fibres of thought, and the buddings
of character take a determinate form, and we are
young no more.

It was Cato the censor, who having imperfectly
estimated this precious season, awoke to a late

KNOWLEDGE.

59

repentance, and at the age of sixty desired again
to become a scholar, and to study Greek. The
habit sometimes formed by young persons, of ex
cusing their deficiencies on the plea of want oj
time, is detrimental to improvement. Time ought
to be found for every important requisition. The
same management that secures it for amusement,
will secure it for study. When any effort involv
ing labour is proposed, few will allege want of
inclination, but many will shelter themselves under
the broad banner of want of time. " I had no
time" may be considered as the knell of excel
lence. The great and the good, find time for all
that appertains to greatness or goodness. " I will
hear thee at a more convenient season," said the
Roman, to the warning Apostle, when at his pun
gent arguments, conscience trembled. The In
spired Volume does not inform us, whether that
convenient season ever came. What the " con
venient season" was, to the lost soul, is the " no
time" to the negligent student It is a barrier
thrown up, to keep others from the truth, and her
self from wisdom. It is the dialect which indo
lence borrows, when she is ashamed of her own.

As our highest privileges are not exempt from
abuse, the very redundancy of benefits which the
present age lavishes upon our sex, involves danger.
The change has been sudden. The flood of light
burst upon the eye, ere it had been gradually led
from surrounding darkness. Our grandmothers
had only the simple training which suffices for

60 KNOWLEDGE.

"household-good." Our grand-daughters may
have an opportunity of becoming professors
When we have learned to meet deliberately this
influx of intellectual prosperity and each fluctu
ating element has subsided to its true level, it will
be found that sufficient time is not allowed to com
plete the process. Why should not the period be
equal to that allotted to the other sex ? Is it not
important that a broad foundation be laid by those
from whom so much is expected ? and who have
the character of sowing the seeds of most of the
good and evil which exist in the world ? To a
young lady, whose regular period of study ter
minates with the first fifteen or sixteen years of
life, there " remaineth still, very much land to be
possessed." Yet how is she to become its pos
sessor, when the novelties of fashionable amuse
ment, and the cares of woman s lot, stand in array
against her more formidably than the " Amorites,
and the Hivites, and the Perizzites," whom the
children of Israel attacked, but were never able
wholly to subdue.

The system pursued in our mother-country is
more rational. The space allotted to education is
longer, and not interrupted by promiscuous visit
ing, or exciting amusement. It is both reckless
and cruel, for those who guide the young, to ex
pose them to the fascinations of gay society, during
the years allotted to scholastick study. A period
originally too brief for the great work which is to
be achieved, is thus rendered still more insufficient.

KNOWLEDGE. 61

The imagination is occupied by extraneous ima
gery, and the mind exposed to gilded and profitless
reveries, when it should be girded up for faithful
and patient labour.

The social principle, which, throughout life, de
serves and rewards culture, cannot so safely ex
pand, during the season of school-education, as in
the company of those engaged in similar pursuits,
or of those still older and wiser friends, who know
how to blend instruction with delight. Unless
that narrow span which is set apart by the com
munity as sacred to education, be zealously guard
ed for the young by those who love them, how can
they escape an irretrievable loss ? They may in
deed acquire the reputation of knowledge without
possessing it. But are they willing to shelter
themselves under false devices, to incur the per
petual labour of wearing a mask, and the hazard
of detection ? Ignorance is always obvious to the
eye of a true scholar, however it may entrench
itself in cunning devices. The invention of eking
out the lion s skin with the fox s, though an an
cient and classical artifice, is not wise. Least of
all, is it fitting in woman, whose sweetest graces
are simplicity and purity. Let the young be as
sured, that for whatever toil or privation they sus
tain, knowledge hath a surpassing payment of pres
ent pleasure and of future gain. When like her,
who some three centuries since, preferred at the
age of sixteen, solitude and Plato, to the haunts of
fashionable gayety they taste the true sweetness
6

62 KNOWLEDGE.

of knowledge they will pronounce the period ap
propriated to its attainment, as the most privileged
part of their existence.

The sentiment that education is complete, when
school-days are past, is too plainly erroneous to
require argument. Their office has been well per
formed, if they have so trained the mind, as to en
able it to continue its own education ; if they have
given it the wisdom to consider itself a learner,
throughout the whole of this earthly probation.
Still viewing itself but as a searcher after know
ledge and truth, it should bear about with it, and
daily deepen the motto of " not having yet attain
ed neither being already perfect." It was one
of the greatest philosophers, who asserted that the
mind ought ever to consider itself " susceptible
both of growth and reformation ; and that the tru
ly learned man, will always intermix the correc
tion and amendment of his intellect, with the use
and employment thereof." It is most surely ap
propriate for our sex, to disclaim all fellowship
with pride and prejudice, and humbly to seek after
wisdom, all the days of their lives.

To you, who, just emancipated from the re
straints of " tutors and governors," stand joyously
in your youth and beauty, upon that " isthmus of
a middle state," which divides the sports of child
hood from the responsibilities of womanly duty,
suffer me to say, from the love I bear you, that
your education is but just begun. Every thing
around you will conspire to carry on the work.

KNOWLEDGE.

63

Associates, friends, those to whom you intrust f
your affections, are instruments to test the basis
of your principles, and complete the development
of your character. The books you read, the com
panions with whom you converse, the dispositions
that you cherish, may prove as soft showers to the !
springing grass or as mildews to the buds of
virtue.

Those whom you teach, will teach you those
who serve you, will influence you in their turn.
The reaction is perpetual.

The opinions and > ^bits of those with whom
you are most conversant, will insensibly, but in
delibly stamp some impression upon your own.
They will enter into the sanctuary of .the soul
and hang up in its secret shrine, their own images.
Be ever docile, my dear friends, to the hallow
ed teachings of knowledge and virtue, and see that
the influences which proceed from yourselves, are
of the same sacred class. For circumstances, re
latives, the silent lapse of time, and the sleepless
discipline of your heavenly Father, will continue
your education until death takes light from the
eye, and motion from the hand, and vitality from
the heart, and releasing the organs from their obe
dience to the ruling mind, lays the head where
there is neither knowledge nor device nor
wisdom.

LETTER IV.
INDUSTRY.

THE faithful use of our intrusted powers, is but
a just return for the privilege of possessing them.
Capacities for improvement, and opportunities of
usefulness, involve accountability, and demand dil
igence. As duty is connected with enjoyment,
Industry is the visible friend of happiness and vir
tue. It adapts the gifts of the Creator, to the ends
which he designed. We are excited to it, by the
examples and analogies of nature.

The little rill hastens onward to the broader
stream, cheering the flowers on its margin, and
singing to the pebbles in their bed. The river
rushes to the sea, dispensing on a broader scale,
fertility and beauty. Ocean, receiving his thou
sand tribute-streams, and swelling his ceaseless
thunder-hymn, bears to their desired haven, those
white-winged messengers which promote the com
fort and wealth of man, and act as envoys between
remotest climes. In the secret bosom of the earth,
the little heart of the committed seed quickens,
circulation commences, the slender radicles ex
pand, the newborn plant lifts a timid eye to the
sunbeam the blossoms diffuse odour the gram

INDUSTRY. 65

whitens for the reaper the tree perfects its fruit.
Nature is never idle.

Lessons of industry, come also from insect-
teachers, from the winged chymist in the bell of
the hyacinth, and the political economist bearing
the kernel of corn, to its subterranean magazine.
The blind pinna spins in the ocean, and the silk
worm in its leaf-carpeted chamber, and the spider,
" taking hold with its hands, is in king s palaces."
The bird gathers food for itself, and for its helpless
claimants with songs of love, or spreading a mi
gratory wing, hangs its slight architecture on the
palm-branch of Africa, the wind-swept and scanty
foliage of the orcades, or the slender, sky-piercing
minaret of the Moslem. The domestick animals
fill their different spheres, according to the grades
of intelligence allotted them. Man, whose en
dowments are so noble, ought not surely to
be surpassed in faithfulness, by the inferior cre
ation.

It is evident disrespect to our bountiful Bene
factor, to divide his gifts from their appointed use
and benefit. When we contemplate the wonder
ful mechanism of the hand, and the far more as
tonishing skill of the mind that guides it, when we
reflect how much labour is required to make our
selves what we wish to be, and to do for others
what we ought when we look beyond this life to
the next, and feel that not only on what we do
here, but on what we omit to do, depend conse
quences which Eternity alone can measure, we
6*

66 INDUSTRY.

are convinced of the truth of the precept, that in
dolence is not made for man.

Admitting, therefore, the propriety and neces
sity of industry, let us exhibit the principle in its
practical forms. It should be mingled in its most
decided aspects, with the period of school-educa
tion. That season, when those elements of know
ledge are acquired, which in some form or other
continue to blend with the mass of character and
duty, during the whole of life, is too precious to
be trifled away. She who is careless in forming
habits of application, or willing to curtail hours of
study, fearfully defrauds herself. " If you have
great talents," said Sir Joshua Reynolds, " indus
try will improve them if you have moderate
abilities, industry will supply their deficiency.
Nothing is denied to well-directed labour nothing
is to be obtained without it."

A young lady, during the course of her instruc
tion in the sciences, came to the conclusion that
she had no memory for historical dates, or facts
involving numerical statements. In her recitations
she resorted to the subterfuge of referring to slips
of paper, which she adroitly concealed. When it
became difficult to escape detection, she wrote
such chronological eras as occurred in her lessons,
in the palm of her hand. Half the labour which
this deception involved, would have enabled her to
commit them to memory, thoroughly and irrevo
cably. The consequence was, that after the com
pletion of an extensive course of study, she was

INDUSTRY. 67

utterly destitute of that chronology which is to his
tory what the key-stone is to the arch. The mass
which she had accumulated, having neither ar
rangement, or relative dependance, relapsed into
chaos. Fragment after fragment disappeared, un
til the whole vanished away. Indolence had de
prived it of those strong tendrils, by which it would
have adhered to the mind. Of the history of the
world, from its creation to her own times, to which
she had devoted years of study, she might soon
have been able to say with Shakspeare :

" I remember a dream, but nothing distinctly,
A quarrel, but nothing wherefore."

And the loss was through her own folly. Let
those who now sustain the interesting character of
scholar, see that they suffer no similar misfortune,
from any modification of indolence. Were it pos
sible fully to impress the value of that period of
existence, ere it passes, never to return, how many
who are now impatient of its restraints, would de
sire to prolong its duration. Could they reahze
that when life has drawn them within its sphere
of labour though books are always to be found,
there may be no leisure to read them or they
may be perused without leaving a single abiding
impression on a mind harassed by perplexity and
care they would be anxious that every day of
their school-education, should deposite in the store
house of intellect, some treasure that might be safe
from the water-floods of time.

68 INDUSTRY.

Habits of diligence are recommended by the
happiness they impart. Indolence is a foe to en
joyment. " There is nothing among all the cares
and burdens ef a king," said Lewis XIV., to the
prince his son, " so laborious as idleness" It is
a dereliction of duty. It is disobedience to the
command of our Creator. While in bondage to it,
we cannot enjoy self-approbation. Rust gathers
over the mind, and corrodes its powers. Melan
choly weighs down the spirits, and the conscious
ness of having lived in vain, imbitters reflection.
Whatever establishes a habit of regular industry,
in early life, is a blessing. Even those reverses
of fortune, which are accounted calamities, some
times call into action energies, with which the
possessor was previously unacquainted, arid lead
to higher degrees of respectability and happiness,
than affluence, in its lassitude or luxury, could ever
have attained.

Early rising seems generally to have been as
sociated with the industry of those who have at
tained eminence. " I am sorry," said Demos
thenes, "when I hear any workman at his ham
mer before me." The elder Pliny assigned as
one of the reasons why he accomplished so much,
that he was an early-riser. He was accustomed
to go before daybreak, to receive the orders of
the emperor Vespasian, who himself did not
waste the precious morning hours in slumber.
Buffon, the celebrated naturalist, rose throughout
the year, with the sun. In order to do this, he had

INDUSTRY. 69

to conquer an almost inveterate disposition for
morning sleep. He acknowledged himself in
debted for this victory to his servant, who reso
lutely awakened him, until a better habit was
formed and said that to his perseverance, the
world was also indebted for at least ten or twelve
volumes of his Natural History. The Rev. Mr.
John Wesley, was a most conspicuous instance of
unvarying industry, and economy of time. On his
eighty-fifth birthday, he records in his journal, as
among the causes of his continued health, and un
impaired vigour, that he had " constantly for sixty
years, risen at four in the morning ; and preached
a regular lecture at five in the morning, for above
half a century."

Those of our sex, who have been distinguished
by energy in the domestick department, are usually
exemplary for their improvement of the early
hours of the day. A knowledge of those pursuits
which promote the comfort and order of a house
hold, should be interwoven with classical educa
tion. It may be so mingled, as to relieve, rather
than obstruct, intellectual labours.

I have never heard any young lady, deny in
words, the excellence of industry, and have known
many, who put forth vigorous efforts for the im
provement of their most precious season of life.
But I have seen no class of people, among whom
a more efficient system of industry and economy
of time was established, than the agricultural pop
ulation of New England. Their possessions are

70 INDUSTRY.

not sufficiently large to allow waste of any descrip
tion. Hence, every article seems to be carefully
estimated, and applied to its best use. Their
mode of life, is as favourable to cheerfulness and
health, as it is eminent in industry.

The farmer, rising with the dawn, attends to
those employments which are necessary for the
comfort of the family, and proceeds early with his
sons or assistants, to their department of daily la
bour. The birds enliven them with their song,
and the lambs gambol, while the patient ox marks
the deep furrow, or the grain is committed to the
earth, or the tall grass humbled beneath the
scythe, or the stately corn freed from the intrusion
of weeds. Fitting tasks are proportioned to the
youngest ones, that no hand may be idle.

In the interior of the house, an equal diligence
prevails. The elder daughters take willing part
with the mother, in every domestick toil. No ser
vant is there, to create suspicious feelings, or a
divided interest. No key grates in the lock, for
all are as brethren. The children, who are too
small to be useful, proceed to school, kindly lead
ing the little one, who can scarcely walk. Per
haps the aged grandmother, a welcome and hon
oured inmate, amuses the ruddy infant, that she
may release a stronger hand for toil.

The sound of the wheel, and the vigorous
strokes of the loom, are heard. The fleece of the
sheep is wrought up, amid the cheerful song of
sisters. Remembering that the fabricks which

INDUSTRY. 71

they produce, will guard those whom they love,
from the blast of winter, the bloom deepens on
their cheek with the pleasing consciousness of use
ful industry.

In the simple and abundant supply of a table,
from their own resources, which shall refresh
those who return weary from the field, all are in
terested. The boy, who brings his mother the
fresh vegetables, selects a salad which his own
hand had cultivated, with some portion of the pride
with which Diocletian pointed to the cabbages
which he had reared. The daughter, who gathers
treasures from the nests of the poultry that she-
feeds, delights to tell their history, and to number
her young ducks as they swim forth boldly on
the pond. The bees, whose hives range near
the door, add a desert to their repast, and the
cows feeding quietly in rich pastures, yield pure
nutriment for the little ones. For their bread,
they have u sown, and reaped, and gathered into
barns ;" the flesh is from their own flocks the
fruit and nuts from their own trees. The children
know where the first berries ripen, and when the
chestnut will open its thorny sheath in the forest.
The happy farmer at his independent table, need
not envy the luxury of kings.

The active matron strives to lessen the expen
ses of her husband, and to increase his gains.
She sends to market, the wealth of her dairy, and
the surplus produce of her loom. She instructs
her daughters by their diligence to have a purse

72 INDUSTRY.

of their own, from which to furnish the more deli
cate parts of their wardrobe, and to relieve the
poor. In the long evenings of winter, she plies
the needle, or knits stockings with them, or main
tains the quiet musick of the flax-wheel, from
whence linen is prepared for the family. She in
cites them never to eat the bread of idleness, and
as they have been trained, so will they train others
again ; for the seeds of industry are perennial.

The father and brothers, having recess from the
toils of busier seasons, read aloud, such books as
are procured from the public library, and know
ledge thus entering in with industry, and domestick
order, forms a hallowed alliance. The most shel
tered corner by the ample fireside, is reserved for
the hoary grandparents, who in plenty and pious
content pass the eve of a well-spent life.

The sacred hymn and prayer, rising duly from
such households, is acceptable to Heaven. To
their humble scenery some of our wisest and
most illustrious men, rulers of the people, sages
and interpreters of the law of God look back
tenderly, as their birthplace. They love to ac
knowledge that in the industry and discipline of
early years, was laid the foundation of their great
ness.

Let the children of farmers feel that their de
scent is from the nobility of our land. In the
homes where they were nurtured, are the strong
holds of the virtue and independence of their coun
try. If our teeming manufactories should send

INDUSTRY. 73

forth an enervated or uninstmcted race and our
cities foster the growth of pomp, or the elements
of discord we hope that from those peaceful
farm-houses, will go forth a redeeming spirit, to
guard and renovate the country of their love.

I trust that no young lady, however elevated her
station, will conceive that a knowledge of what
appertains to the superintendance of a family, can
derogate from her dignity.

If the greater advantages which are accorded
her, create contempt for the duties of her own wo
manly sphere, it is a serious and unhappy result.
If that sex, through whose liberality greater privi
leges have been extended to ours, are to be ren
dered less comfortable in their homes, at their ta
bles, or by their firesides, it is truly a most un
grateful return.

Many causes conspire to attach great impor
tance to the stand,. which is to be taken, by the
young ladies of the present generation. Criticism
is awake to discover what effect their more liberal
education will have on the welfare of domestick
life. Before them, were a race of accomplished
housekeepers, perfect in their ranks, whose fami
lies were as regular as clockwork, and whose
children early learned the lesson to obey. Not to
disgrace such an ancestry, will require no slight
energy, or brief apprenticeship.

But they, on whom the present race of young
men must depend, for whatever degree of comfort,
their future homes may yield have had in the
7

74 INDUSTRY.

forming period of life, their attention turned to
sciences, which to the ears of their excellent grand
mothers, would have been as strange languages.
It is sometimes exemplified, that the best house
keepers are not the best teachers of housekeeping.
They find it easier to pursue their own established
system, than to have patience with the errors of a
novice. Hence their daughters are released from
participation in domestick care during that pliant
period when it might easily have been made con
genial perhaps, until they have imbibed a distaste
for it.

Another circumstance, which renders the pres
ent crisis still more hazardous, to those on whom
are soon to devolve the burdens of domestick re
sponsibility, is the difficulty of obtaining trusty
servants. That this evil increases, is evident to
all, whose memories comprise the routine of the
last thirty, or even ten years. Yet the exertions
necessary to support the structure of refined soci
ety, have not diminished. Perhaps proof might be
adduced, that they are both heightened and varied
by the progress of luxury. If, therefore, the
amount of labour in families is increased, and the
number of efficient agents diminished, and the
knowledge of the superintendant impaired, or ta
ken away from what quarter can the deficiency be
supplied ? How is the head of the household to
be made comfortable, when he returns from those
toils by which that household is maintained ?

These are serious questions, not only in their

INDUSTRY. 75

individual, but political consequences. For the
strength of a nation, especially of a republican na
tion, is in the intelligent and well-ordered homes of
the people. And in proportion as the discipline of
families is relaxed, will the happy organization of
communities be affected, and national character
become vagrant, turbulent, or ripe for revolution.

The influx of foreign population renders it
doubly important, that some features of our native
character and customs, should be preserved for
our descendants. And where can these be guard
ed or transmitted, so well as in the sanctity of a
well-ordered home ? The habit of breaking up
family-establishments, and resorting to boarding-
houses, is becoming prevalent in our larger cities.
Should it be still more general among those whom
wealth and fashion authorize to give tone to soci
ety, the consequences must be baneful. The
character of the next generation must be affected
by it. A less concentrated influence will be
brought to bear upon the unformed mind. Chil
dren, losing the example of that class of parental
virtues which the organization of a family requires,
can no longer see their mother diffusing a gener
ous hospitality, or drawing under her shelter, the
homeless and the orphan. The father, no longer,
by the wise ordering of his domesticks, and by a
judicious distribution of checks and encourage
ments to all, will teach his sons how to legislate
for the good of others. The efficiency of the
mother must be less called into exercise, and how

76 INDUSTRY

can she instruct her daughters in domestick indus
try, which she has herself no opportunity to prac
tise ? The dignity of the man also suffers by this
arrangement, and much of the comfort which he
proposes from domestick life, must be resigned.
Should this disruption of families become widely
prevalent, the desultory character of a homeless
people would fasten upon us, and the charities that
cluster around the hearth-stone, and the domestick
altar which bless the guest, and cheer the babe in
its cradle must wither like uprooted flowers.

I trust, my dear young friends, that you will
give these subjects an attentive consideration, and
that you will be willing to blend with the pursuits of
an accomplished education, a practical knowledge
of that science, without which woman must be inert
in her own sphere, and faithless to some of her
most sacred obligations. Indebted as you are for
innumerable privileges to the free government un
der which you live, you will not surely disregard
such forms of patriotism, as fall within your prov
ince. Acquaint yourselves, therefore, with all the
details of a well-ordered family, and make this de
partment, of knowledge, both a duty and a pleasure.
For beset as our country may be, with external
dangers, or disordered by internal commotions if
from every dwelling there flows forth a healthful
and healing influence, what disease can be fatal ?

The young ladies of the present generation seem
to pass in review before me, with all their privi
leges, and in all their grace and beauty. Methinks

INDUSTRY

77

their hands are upon the ark of their country. Let
them not feel that they have only to seek embel
lishment, to sip from the honey-cups of life, or to
glitter like the meteor of a summer s eve. For as
surely as the safety and prosperity of a nation de
pend on the virtue of its people, they, who reign in
the retreats where man turns for his comfort, who
have power over the machinery which stamps on
the infant mind its character of good or evil, are
responsible, to a fearful extent, for that safety and
prosperity.

LETTER V.

DOMESTICK EMPLOYMENTS.

SINCE Industry is the aliment of contentment
and happiness, our sex are privileged in the vari
ety of employments that solicit their attention.
These are so diversified in their combinations of
amusement with utility, that no room need be left
for the melancholy of a vacant and listless mind.

Needle-work, in all its forms of use, elegance
and ornament, has ever been the appropriate occu
pation of woman. From the shades of Eden,
when its humble process was but to unite the fig-
leaf, to the days when the mother of Sisera looked
from her window, in expectation of a " prey of
divers colours of needle-work on both sides, meet
for the necks of those that take the spoil," down
to modern times, when Nature s pencil is rivalled
by the most exquisite tissues of embroidery, it has
been both their duty and their resource. While
the more delicate efforts of the needle rank high
among accomplishments, its necessary depart
ments are not beneath the notice of the most re
fined young lady. To keep her own wardrobe
perfectly in order, to pay just regard to economy,
and to add to the comfort of the poor, it will be
78

D M E S T I C K EMPLOYMENTS. 79

necessary to obtain a knowledge of those inven
tions, by which the various articles of apparel are
repaired, modified and renovated. True satisfac
tion, and cheerfulness of spirits, are connected
with these quiet and congenial pursuits. This has
been simply and fortunately expressed, by one of
our sweetest poets :

" It rains What lady loves a rainy dayl
She loves a rainy day, who sweeps the hearth,
And threads the busy needle, or applies
The scissors to the torn or thread-bare sleeve ;
Who blesses God that she has friends and home ;
Who, in the pelting of the storm, will think
Of some poor neighbour that she canbefiiend ;
Who trims the lamp at night, and reads aloud,
To a young brother, tales he loves to hear :
Such are not sad even on a rainy day.

The queen of Louis XL, of France, was a
pattern of industry to her sex. Surrounding her
self with the daughters of the nobility, whom she
called her daughters, she was both their teacher
and companion, in elegant works of embroidery
and tapestry. The churches were adorned with
these proofs of their diligence and ingenuity. She
considered industry a remedy for a disordered im
agination, and a shield against the temptations of
a fashionable life. Hence prudence and modesty
marked the manners of that court, where their op-
posites had once prevailed, and the blooming and
elegant train by whom she was attended, " bore
in their hearts, the honour and virtue which she
planted there."

80 DOMESTICK

Knitting is a quiet employment, favourable to
reflection, and though somewhat obsolete, not un-
allied to economy. It furnishes a ready vehicle
of charity to the poor, and most appropriate du
ring the severity of winter. The timely gift of a
pair of coarse stockings has often relieved the suf
ferings, and protected the health of many an ill-
clad and shivering child. It seems to be well
adapted to save those little fragments of time,
which might else be lost. Mrs. Hannah More,
whose example imparts dignity, and even sacred-
ness to common things, was partial throughout her
whole life to this simple employment. One of
her most interesting and playful letters, accom
panied a sample of this kind of industry, as a pres
ent to the child of a friend and stockings of her
knitting entered into her charities, and were even
sold to aid missionary efforts in foreign climes.

Since the domestick sphere is intrusted to oui
sex, and the proper arrangement and government
of a household are so closely connected with our
enjoyments and virtues, nothing that involves the
rational comfort of home is unworthy of* attention.
The science of housekeeping affords exercise for
the judgment and energy, ready recollection, and
patient self-possession, that are the characteristicks
of a superior mind. Its elements should be ac
quired in early life ; at least, its correspondent tastes
and habits should never be overlooked in female
education. The generous pleasure of relieving a
mother or friend from the pressure of care, will

EMPLOYMENTS. 81

sometimes induce young ladies to acquaint them
selves with employments which enable them, when
the more complex duties of life devolve upon them,
to enjoy and impart the delights of a well-ordered
home. To know how to prepare for, and preside
at a table which shall unite neatness with comfort
and elegance ; where prodigality is never admit
ted, nor health carelessly impaired, is both an ac
complishment and a virtue.

That skill in domestick employments is not in
compatible with mental cultivation, there are many
examples. To adduce only one, from our own
country, Mrs. Child, one of the most indefatigable
labourers in the varied field of literature, is not only
the author of the " Frugal Housewife," but able
practically to illustrate it, with singular energy
and versatility. She says, " a knowledge of do
mestick duties is beyond all price to a woman.
Every one of our sex ought to know how to sew,
and knit, and mend, and cook, and superintend a
household. In every situation of life, high or low,
this sort of knowledge is of great advantage.
There is no necessity that the gaining of such in
formation should interfere with intellectual acquire
ment, or even with elegant accomplishment. A
well-regulated mind can find time to attend to all.
When a girl is nine or ten years old, she should
be accustomed to take some regular share in house
hold duties, and to feel responsible for the manner
in which her part is performed such as her own
mending, washing the cups and putting them in

82 DOMESTICK

place, cleaning silver, or dusting and arranging the
parlour. This should not be done occasionally, and
neglected whenever she finds it convenient she
should consider it her department. When older
than twelve, girls should begin to take turns in
superintending the household keeping account of
weekly expenses making puddings, pies, cake,
&c. To learn effectually they should actually
do these things themselves, not stand by, and see
others do them."

Miss Elizabeth Carter, to whom allusion has
been already made, as an adept in nine languages,
and many sciences, did not neglect those employ
ments which fall within the immediate province of
her sex. In needlework, she early accomplished
herself, and till near the close of her long life of
eighty-nine years, continued its practice. During
her youth, while passing a winter in London, a
number of shirts which were needed for her brother,
were sent to her, which she completed with dili
gence and pleasure, during the excitements and
interruptions of a visit in that great metropolis.
When, after the death of her mother, and removal
of his children by marriage, her father was left
alone, she felt it to be her duty, notwithstanding
the devotion of her life to study, to return and su
perintend his domestick establishment. With the
avails of her publications, she purchased a house,
where she conveyed her only surviving parent, and
for the last fourteen years of his life, made his daily
comfort, one of the ruling objects of her existence.

EMPLOYMENTS. 83

When a literary friend expressed anxiety lest
these domestick cares should interfere with her
intellectual pursuits, she replied : " I am much
obliged to you for the kind partiality which induces
you to regret rny giving up so much time to do
mestick economy. As to any thing of this kind
hurting the dignity of my head, I have no idea of
it, even were the head of more consequence than
I feel it to be. The true post of honour consists
in the discharge of those duties, whatever they
happen to be, which arise from that situation, in
which Providence has placed us, and which we
may be assured is the very situation best calcula
ted for our happiness and virtue."

If this could be said, by the translator of Epic-
tetus, whose deep and varied knowledge enabled
her to fit a young nephew for the university, with
how little reason, can the lighter studies of modern
female education, be brought as an excuse for
utter neglect or dislike of domestick employments,

It should be remembered that while this distin
guished woman acquainted herself with every duty
and detail, which could make the house which she
superintended, agreeable to her father and others,
she laid aside none of her literary or scientific!*;
pursuits. The same perseverance by which she
acquired many languages, she kept in action to
retain them. Her daily system was to read before
breakfast, two chapters in the Bible, a sermon, and
some Hebrew, Greek and Latin. After breakfast,
she read a portion in each of the nine languages

84 DOMESTICK

with which she was acquainted, so as not to allow
herself to lose what she had once gained, while, in
her department of housekeeping, nothing was de
ficient or omitted.

It has been sometimes urged as an objection
against the modern system of female education,
that the wide range of science which it compri
ses, turns the attention of the young from house
hold duty, and renders them impatient of its details
and labours. This argument seems to address
itself to mothers. It might be in their power to
refute it, and to associate in the minds of their
daughters, with a love of study, a knowledge of
the unpretending pursuits of their own future prov
ince. Maternal affection would naturally prompt
the wish to save them from the mistakes and per
plexities to which ignorance might in future ex
pose them. Though perhaps little native affinity
exists between intellectual pursuits and household
cares, they may doubtless be so united as to re
lieve each other ; and she will give strong proof of
the best education and the best regulated mind,
who neglects the fewest duties, and despises none.

Order and punctuality are indispensable to those
who would well govern a family. The virtues
have been styled gregarious. Punctuality, in par
ticular, propagates itself. If the mistress of a
house is punctual, the inmates under her roof be
come so. It is the very soul of system. The
spirit of order also diffuses itself from the head
to the members of a household. One argument,

EMPLOYMENTS. 85

for having every surrounding object neatly arran
ged, is that the operations of the mind are thus in
fluenced. The late President Dwight used to
enjoin it upon his students, never to seat them
selves for intellectual labour, especially for com
position, until their rooms were in perfect order.
Sterne found himself impeded in his literary prog
ress, unless every surrounding article was in its
place, and himself dressed with neatness. The
musical genius of Haydn failed to inspire him,
unless his person was carefully arrayed. Lord
Bacon, whose mighty mind might be supposed to
rise superior to trifling circumstances, acknow
ledged that he composed with far greater ease,
when flowers were tastefully arranged around him
If our sex are not often interrupted in any great
literary enterprise, by the disorder of materials
under their control, they may be painfully con
scious of embarrassed feelings, when surprised by
unexpected company, in a careless costume, or a
parlour disarranged.

It will be found that in the science of house
keeping, no slight degree of practical knowledge
is required, to direct others with propriety and
profit.

In a state of society, where equality prevails,
and where the desire of living without labour is but
too common, servants, thoroughly trained in their
several departments, are not always to be found.
To instruct those who are ignorant ; to know when
they have done well, and when they have done
8

86

DOMESTICK

enough, when they have reason to be weary, or a
right to complain, it is necessary to have had some
personal experience of what is required of them.
Complaints of the errors of domesticks are very
common, and with none more so than with those
who are least qualified to direct them. Perhaps
too much is expected of them ; perhaps we neg
lect to make due allowance for their causes of irri
tation, or to sympathize in the hardships of their lot.
Possibly we may sometimes forget that the distinc
tions in society are no certain test of intrinsick mer
it, and that we " all have one Master, even Christ."
Yet admitting that the ranks and stations are not
very clearly defined, and that the lower classes
sometimes press upon the higher ; this is in ac
cordance with the spirit of a republick, and all
should be willing to pay some tax for the privi
leges of a government, which admits such a high
degree, and wide expansion of happiness. If our
domesticks draw back from the performance of
what the spirit of feudal times, or aristocratick sway
might exact, a remedy still remains ; to moderate
our wants, and study simplicity in our style of
living. Much time will be rescued for valuable
pursuits, when the love of show and vanity, with
their countless expenses and competitions, are
stricken from our household lists. She who is
content to live more plainly than her neighbours,
and dress more simply than her associates, when
reason, or the wishes of her friends require it, has
gained no slight ascent in true philosophy.

EMPLOYMENTS. 87

You will perhaps think me an advocate of un
graceful toils, or a setter forth of strange and obso
lete opinions. Still bear with me in your courtesy
for the few remarks that remain. I would not
decry the embellishments of life : I render them
due honour ; but I should grieve to see you defi
cient in its plain and practical duties. Fashion
will take care of the former, so I have argued for
the latter. Fortunate shall I esteem myself, if the
attention of but one mind shall thus be turned to
those occupations which render home delightful.

I have ever thought it desirable that young la
dies should make themselves the mistresses of
some attainment, either in art or science, by which
they might secure a subsistence, should they be
reduced to poverty. Sudden and entire reverses
are not uncommon in the history of affluence. To
sustain them without the means of lessening the
evils of dependance, when health and intellect are
at oui command, is adding helplessness to our
own affliction, and increasing the burden of oth
ers. When the illustrious Henry Laurens, by the
fortune of our war of Revolution, was held a pris
oner in the Tower of London, he wrote to his two
daughters, who had been nurtured in all the ten
derness and luxury of Carolinian wealth : " It is
my duly to warn you 10 prepare for the trial o..
earning your daily bread by your daily labour
Fear not servitude ; encounter it, if it shall be ne
cessary, with the spirit becoming a woman of an
honest ana pious Heart ; one who has been neither

88 DOMESTICK

fasliionably nor affectedly religious." The accom
plished Madame de Genlis pronounced herself to
be in possession of thirty trades, or varieties of
occupation, by which she could, if necessary, ob
tain a livelihood. It was a wise law of some of
the ancient governments, which compelled every
parent to give his son some trade or profession,
adequate to his support. Such is now the variety
of departments open to females, as instructers in
schools and seminaries of their own sex, that they
may follow the impulse of their genius in the se
lection of a study or accomplishment, and while
they pursue it as a pleasure, be prepared to prac
tise it as a profession.

Among the pleasant employments which seem
peculiarly congenial to the feelings of our sex, the
culture of flowers stands conspicuous. The gen
eral superintendance of a garden has been repeat
edly found favourable to health, by leading to fre
quent exercise in the open air, and that commu
ning with Nature which is equally refreshing to the
heart. It was labouring with her own hands in her
garden, that the mother of Washington was found
by the youthful Marquis de la Fayette, when he
sought her blessing, as he was about to commit him
self to the ocean, and return to his native clime.
Milton, who you recollect, was a great advocate that
woman should " study household good," has few
more eloquent descriptions, than those which rep
resent our first mother at her floral toil amid the
sinless shades of Paradise.

EMPLOYMENTS. 99

The tending of flowers has ever appeared to me
a fitting care for the young and beautiful. They
then dwell, as it were, among their own emblems,
and many a voice of wisdom breathes on their ear
from those brief blossoms, to which they appor
tion the dew and the sunbeam. While they erad
icate the weeds that deform, or the excrescences
that endanger them, is there not a perpetual moni
tion uttered, of the work to be done in their own
heart ? From the admiration of these ever-vary
ing charms, how naturally is the tender spirit led
upward in devotion to Him, "whose hand per
fumes them, and whose pencil paints." Connect
ed with the nurture of flowers, is the delightful
study of Botany, which imparts new attractions to
the summer sylvan walk, and prompts both to
salubrious exercise and scientifick research. A
knowledge of the physiology of plants, is not only
interesting in itself, but of practical import. The
brilliant colouring matter which they sometimes
yield, and the healthful influences which they pos
sess, impart value to many an unsightly shrub, or
secluded plant, which might otherwise have been
suffered to blossom and to die, without a thought.
It is cheering, amid our solitary rambles, to
view, as friends, the fair objects that surround us,
to call to recollection their distinctive lineaments
of character, to array them with something of in
telligence or utility, and to enjoy an intimate com
panionship with nature. The female aborigines
of our country were distinguished by an extensive
8*

90 DOMESTIC K

acquaintance with the medicinal properties of
plants and roots, which enabled them, both in
peace and war, to be the healers of their tribes.
I would not counsel you to invade the province of
the physician. In our state of society, it would be
preposterous and arrogant. But sometimes, to
alleviate the slight indispositions of those you love,
by a simple infusion of the herbs which you have
reared or gathered, is a legitimate branch of that
nursing-kindness, which seems interwoven with
woman s nature.

And now, to sum up the whole matter. Though
in the morning of youth, a charm is thrown over
the landscape, every thorn in the path is hidden,
every inequality smoothed, yet still, life is not
" one long summer s day of indolence and mirth."
The sphere of woman is eminently practical.
There is much which she will be expected to do,
and ought therefore to learn, and to learn early, if
she would acquit herself creditably. Though to
combine the excellences of a housekeeper, with
much eminence in literature or science, requires
an energy seldom possessed still there is no need
that domestick duties should preclude mental im
provement, or extinguish intellectual enjoyment.
They may be united by diligence and perseve
rance, and the foundation of these qualities should
be laid now, in youth.

If I have annoyed you by pressing too much on
your attention, the detail of humble and homely
employment, I pray you to forgive rne. It is

EMPLOYMENTS. 91

because I have felt the immense importance of
establishing habits of industry, while life is taking
its stamp and colouring. For " if the spring yield
no blossoms, in summer there will be no beauty,
and in autumn no fruit." The moments of the
young are like particles of gold, washed down by
the never-staying flood of time. She who neglects
to arrest them, or who exchanges them for trifles,
must stand in poverty before her Judge. " Thou
shalt always have joy in the evening," says the
good Thomas a Kempis, " if thou hast spent the
day well. Wherever thou art, turn every thing to
an occasion of improvement : if thou beholdest
good examples, let them kindle in thee a desire of
imitation ; if thou seest any thing blarneable be
ware of doing it thyself."

The province of our sex, though subordinate, is
one of peculiar privilege : sheltered from tempta
tion, and in league with those silent and sleepless
charities, which bless without seeking applause.
The duty of submission, imposed both by the na
ture of our station and the ordinances of God, dis
poses to that humility, which is the essence of
piety ; while our physical weakness, our trials,
and our inability to protect ourselves, prompt that
trust in Heaven, that implicit leaning upon a Di
vine arm, which is the most enduring strength, and
the surest protection.

LETTER VI.

HEALTH AND DRESS.

THE importanee of attention to health is univer
sally admitted. Formerly, the intellectual part of
our nature was too exclusively regarded in educa
tion. Its early and intense action, in every form
of precocity was encouraged. Now, physical
welfare is also consulted. That increasing care is
bestowed on the safety of the temple where the
mind lodges proves that the structure of that
mind is better understood ; and the mutual reac
tion of the ethereal and clay companion, more
clearly comprehended.

The great amount of learning and eloquence,
irnbodied in the medical profession, has illustrated
and enforced this subject. It is not presumed that
this little volume can suggest any thing new. Yet
it is always safe to repeat those precepts which
have peculiar affinity with the safety and comfort
of our sex.

The feebleness of females, especially in our
large cities, has long been a source of remark, re
gret, and even reproach. It has been supposed in
our own country, that their vigour has deteriorated,
within two or three past generations. Habits of

HEALTH AND DRESS. 93

refinement and affluence, seem to have produced
an enervating effect. It is important to inquire
for the remedy and to pursue it.

Regularity in the hours of rising and retiring,
perseverance in exercise, adaptation of costume to
the variations of climate, simple and nutritious
aliment, and " temperance in all things" are ne
cessary branches of a sanitory regimen. Living
in houses which are kept at too high a tempera
ture during winter, and disregarding the ventila
tion of the sleeping-room, are habits of exceed
ingly pernicious tendency. The power of endur
ing exposure to our varying and extreme seasons,
is desirable. Yet as there are constitutions of
such susceptibility, and temporary states of health
to which all are subject, when exposure would be
ooth unwise and unsafe, young ladies should ac
quaint themselves with some of those forms of ac
tive domestick industry, which offer a substitute,
when walking abroad is prohibited. Every house
keeper can instruct her daughters in a sufficient
variety of these, to prevent her health from suffer
ing, during those occasional sequestrations which
must unavoidably occur. Though exercise in the
open air, should be daily taken by the young,
whenever it is possible yet it is better to culti
vate that pliancy of constitution, which can health
fully exist for a temporary period without it, than
to create such entire dependance on external move
ment, as to induce languor and sickness when it is
necessarily precluded. A judicious mother pro-

04 II E A L T II A X D D R E S S .

posed to her daughters a certain proportion of
morning exercise with the broom, in the parlour
and in their own apartments. " This sweeping
makes my arms ache," was their objection after
the trial of a few days. " Try it till your arms do
not ache," was the laconick, but kind reply. Her
own experience had taught her, that muscular, as
well as mental energy, required habitual training.
Vigorous exercise will often fortify a feeble con
stitution. Walking, especially among rural scen
ery, is highly salubrious. Riding on horseback,
and sea-bathing, when they can be safely and
conveniently attained, are powerful tonics for a
delicate tissue of nerves.

Since without health, both industry and enjoy
ment languish, and since the physical imbecility
of our sex, operates so baneful] y upon the whole
structure of domestick welfare, it is desirable to
multiply those modes of exercise, which are de
cidedly feminine. Among them, few are more
conducive to vigour, than that almost obsolete one,
the use of the great spinning-wheel. A writer of
other times, styles it somewhat quaintly " Hygeia s
harp." The universal exercise which it gives the
frame, maks it an efficacious remedy for debility.
Its regular, moderate use, has been found salutary
even in pulmonary affections.

It is a source of regret that domestick manufac
tures are so generally banished from the houses of
our agriculturists. There are undoubtedly some
fabricks which it would still be profitable to con-

HEALTH AND DRESS. 95

struct there. But admitting that they are less lu
crative than before the establishment of incorpo
rated manufactories, the gain which they propose,
is of a higher order the gain of contentment,
homefelt happiness, and that increasing interest in
domestick concerns, for want of which, many of
our young females seek objects of a more exciting
and questionable tendency. The busy sound of
the wheel, mingling with the song of sisters, as
they transmute the snowy fleece into apparel for
those whom they love, has a native association
with cheerfulness and comfort.

In ancient times, queens and princesses consid
ered the use of the distaff, as no derogation from
their dignity. Neither in modern times, is it al
ways despised. Mrs. Hannah More, after a visit
to the Dutchess of Gloucester, and the Princess
Sophia, writes : " The former gave me a quantity
of worsted, of her own spinning, for me to knit
into stockings for the poor." If the royalty of
England, and the talent which that royalty ac
knowledged, and by which not only England, but
the world was benefited, have not felt such em
ployments beneath them, why should we ?

On the subject of Dress, I am aware that much
has been said and written to little purpose. The
laws of fashion are often so preposterous, her do
minion so arbitrary, that Reason and Philosophy
can have little hope of gaining ground in her em
pire. Neither is it w r ise to expect of the young,
a superiority to reigning modes. Singularity is

96 HEALTH AND DRESS.

never desirable. Still it is possible not to be ec-
centrick, and yet to avoid such a style of dress, as
opposes taste, produces deformity, or leads to un
necessary expense. There are a few rules which
ought never to be violated by females.

I. Not to permit fashion to impair health.
This is worse than " to spend money for that
which is not bread, and labour for that which sat-
isfieth not." Strong contrasts between the cos
tume worn at home, and abroad, in the morning
and at evening parties, are exceedingly prejudicial
during the severity of our climate. How often is
it the case, that a comfortable garment, worn
throughout the winter s day, is thrown off at night,
and one of the lightest texture assumed, with a
formidable portion of the chest and shoulders left
uncovered, while the thermometer is below zero.
Mothers ! who are surely interested in the life of
your daughters, and whose advice it is hoped, is
never rejected, these things ought not so to be.

Would that I might persuade my fair young
friends, of the importance of preserving their feet
in a comfortable and regular temperature. A del
icate silk or cotten stocking, with a thin-soled
shoe, in the depth of winter, will exhibit to advan
tage a foot of exquisite symmetry, but the conse
quences may be mournfully computed, when the
" evil days of disease come, and the years draw
nigh," when, as far as health is concerned, it must
be said, " there is no pleasure in them."

Another point of extreme importance in dress,

HEALTH AND DRESS. 97

is to avoid compression. The evils of obstructed
circulation are formidable. Stricture in the region
of the lungs and heart, is deeply perilous. Those
watchful sentinels, who keep the sacred citadel of
life and never take rest when the other parts of
the body slumber, deserve better treatment. How
unjust and ungrateful to compel them to labour in
fetters, like a galley-slave, and to put those servants
to the torture, who turn the wheels of existence,
both night and day. I conceive some knowledge
of anatomy to be a requisite part of female edu
cation. An acquaintance with the complicated
structure, and mysterious mechanism of this cl&y
temple, would prevent from so thoughtlessly bring
ing destructive agents to bear upon its frailty. It
might also heighten adoration of that Being by
whom, to borrow the beautiful figure of Watts,
this " harp of thousand strings is made, and kept
in tune so long."

Few circumstances are more injurious to beau
ty, than the constrained movement, suffused com
plexion, and laboured respiration, that betray tight-
lacing. The play of intelligence and varied emo
tion, which throw such a charm over the brow of
youth, are impeded by whatever obstructs the
flow of blood from the heart to its many organs.
In Greece, where the elements of beauty and
grace were earliest comprehended, and most hap
pily illustrated, the fine symmetry of the form was
left untortured.

But the influence of this habit on beauty is far
9

98 HEALTH AND DRESS.

%

less to be deprecated than its effects upon health.
That pulmonary disease, affections of the heart,
and insanity, are in its train, and that it leads some
of our fairest and dearest to fashion s shrine to die,
is placed beyond a doubt, by strong medical tes
timony.

Dr. Mussey, whose " Lectures on Intemperance"
have so forcibly arrested the attention of the pub-
lick, asserts, that " greater numbers annually die
among the female sex, in consequence of tight-la
cing, than are destroyed among the other sex by
the use of spirituous liquors in the same time."
Is it possible that thousands of our own sex, in
our own native land, lay with their own hand, the
foundation of diseases that destroy life, and are
willing for fashion s sake to commit suicide ?

The author of " The Influence of Mental Cul
tivation upon Health," asserts, that " whatever
tends to diminish the capacity of the chest, tends
also to produce organick disease of the heart and
lungs. Tight lacing is ever a dangerous practice,
for if the heart does not suffer