Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1842-09-30
SOFT HANDS.

There are false ideas oil dignity, politeness
and beauty in the world, as well as false
ideas on almost all subjects. A small key
unlocks large house. So the expression
of one thought will give rs insight into a
large region of mind. "Why don't you
wear gloves Z" says gentleman to a lady
with whom he is walking. 81 dislike the
feeling Of Them" says the lady. lyon
should accustom yourselfto them" "Why p
because your hands would be much more
soft and beautiful" Granted-they might
be to some ; but there are different ideas of
beauty-false and true. Let US think lit
tie about these soft hands A certain a
mount of physical exercise is necessary, to
secure health Of body and mind Where
are intellectual giants foundl Are they
found in the families of kings or mobiles p
No. Thrones have been filled by IDIOTS,
and monsters not unfrequen,ly- Empty IL
ties have descended on empty heads, aud
the nobility aud gentry, the rich and ineiii-
cient, are often we'll nigh mindless. Look
at society as it is at present. See our men
Of business, racked with ten thousand cares,
torn by ten thousand fears, suffering daily
martyrdom, with no time to cultivate their
intellectual powers-their minds running to
waste, their moral powers often vltiated, and
noble soul degraded even to fraud-and
for what Because they must get, get, gd.
They have perhaps wife aud half dozen
daughters, with beautiful soft hands, hang
ing upon their single arm. The wife can
not make home happy and desirable without
servants, because it will spoil her soft hands.
If sickness enters the dwelling, land where
heathfu activity is wanting, sickness is
frequeRt guest, the daughters are inefficient.
The fathers heart is not cheered, his cares
are not lightened, nor his hearth made cheer
fnl by his daughters timely labor. Why ?
They must have soft hands. They may
have intellectual capacity, ability of a high
Order--but without exercse-active phys
ical exercise-these cannot be developed -
Study and labor must be combined, else
there is lstessness and ennui the mind
sympathizes with diseased body. There is
often-perhaps always-a disease, a morbid
Development of the animal propensites,
and in the words Of another, "thc heart eats
itself out" This is never the case where
there is mental culture combined with bodily
labor.
If men wish to be chained to the oar for
life, to support useless lumber in mind and
body, in those women who hang dead
weights upon them, let them encourage the
growth of soft hands, aud they may rest
assured that by next generation, soft heads
will be added to the hands
Men are unjust to themselves, when they
labor so as to make life an intolerable bur
den, merely to supply artificial wants, or graft
ily foolish taste, which results in making
those depending on them helpless and sickly.
They do not wish to spend their own lives
in misery, or make those they love miserable,
but in gratifying this silly taste for soft
hands, they do both-and So it is to be
feared, will they continue to do, till industry
is ennobled and made attractive and honor
orable.-BOa Times.
A WHEELING ARrIcLE.-The Wheeling
WAY Gazette is the father of the annexed
sensible article. There is a moral in it:
Going to dinner the other day, we saw a
little codger, about two years old, sitting in
wheelbarrow and trying to wheel himself
1t struck us that many people in this world
are often caught in the same act and we
shall always think hereafter,
When we see politician striving for Of
ice, taking the lead in all matters calculated
10 promote his success, writing all his own
meetings, he's sitting in nheeI 6arrow and
trying TO wheei himself
When we see business man trusting er-
cry thing to his clerks, and continually seek
ing his own Observation-Disclosures absent from
his counting house; and yet expecting to
get along, he's sitting in a pheci b0rrow ana
trying to wheei himself
When we see a professional man better
acquainted with every thing else than his
profession, always starting some new scheme
and never attending to his calling his ward
robe and credit will soon designate him as
sitting ia a. whed b0rro,c and trying "a
pheel himself