Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1831-07-18

anu observation declare Its iaiiacy' iHa' iNH
ing makes them pedants is not true. 1t accohpa-
MED by good sense. Every one, think Will
admit that the minds of the two sexes are s'm'-
larry constracted-that they are endowed with
precisely the same powers--and that though III
particular instances. they may differ in degree
yet they are always alike in kind. If, them they
Will not allow that learning makes Men pedants'
how can they, consistently with their own prin-
ciples, declare that would have different effect
on the other sexs For it stands to reason, that
if II will produce the effect on one mind, 1t VIII
produce the same OIL another, similar IN every
respect. But to the subjective may ASK
what may be understood by the culture Of the
mind! What are the general characteristics OF
a man Of cultivated mind? In the first place,
he is one who has received copious fund OF IN
formation; such fund as will enable him to con-
verse OH any subect-but, at the same time, he
must be one who has not only received 'nto his
mind the ideas of things and of their qualities,
but who has acquired the habi, OF arranging those
ideas; who can deduce fr,-n them others; who
can make his knowledge su5servient to the good
of mankind Such man, only, can be said to
possess cultivated mind. True, he may have
received an education; that is, he may have learn
ed much-butif he has never acquired the habit
of reasoning. he cannot have we'll trained mind:
the same holds goad of woman.
Again, what is sgnifcd by the culture OF the
heart? A woman whose heart has been cultlvat-
ed. is one who has been taught to exercise all
those benevolent feelings with which she has been
endowed; she is one who is, in the strict sense OF
the word. virtuous; she is possessed Of all those
a,siable. qualities which alone render woman
lovely: with which she is as some star sent to
guide the wandering mariner TO the destined ha-
ven; as some compass which, continually pointing
one way, directs his steps in the path of virtue,
and without which she is the greatest enemy to
mans happiness. And it is chiefly in the female
sex that this culture of the heart may be found.
Man NAV, indeed, possess goodness OF heart, but
it is in woman, onlv that the softness and sensi-
bility, which a cultivated heart always confers,
exist.
Which is preferable ui these, we shall be at no
loss TO determine: for, surprising woman to
possess the most highly cultivated mind. if her
heart be not cultivated also, we look in vain for
| that nameless charm, which, in a beautiful wo-
man, is SO completely irresistible, and which Can
make even deformity asreeabIe-we see void,
blank, want of that whose place nothing Can
supply. We may bow al the shrine of literature;
but it is merely the form--the heart does not &C
company the action.
A woman destitute Of sensibity is like the
scentess rose. 1t is beautiful, it is admired
but it sheds M fragrance around IT.; blooming
amidst "the darkest gloom of neighboring cy-
press, Or more sable yew:"
Since. then, cultivated heart is preferable to
cultivated mind, both combined are preferable
to either, separately considered. 1t is the union
| Of good sense and amiabIity that makes woman
lovely. True, the qualities of the heart confer a
charm which nothing else can: but where, as |
before said, both are united, there is the farest
workmanship Of God-there, indeed, is " the
noblest work of creation"
February 9Th, 1880.