The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1846-12-17
Woman's Ministration.
THE MOTHER, SISTER, DAUGHTE
BY MRS. q. W. FARNHAM.


: certain physical functions to discharge in
which she is necessarily exclusive No other
can be her agent,or act to the smallest extent
in her stead. These functions engross most
OF her cnerges-they occupy considerable
: portion OF her life, and are otvital Importance
to the whole family of man. She is express
ly designed for their discharge, and her adap-
tatIon to them in structure is as perfect as
ominpotent power and wisdom could make it.
Her maternal duties, too, are Of a peculiar
and very arduous character. They do not
require the strength Of man, but the quick
ness, tact, sensibility, tenderness and patience,
which exist only in the sacred relation of
mother. These qualities her physical struc-
ture prepares her to exhibit and her strong
maternal love, like radiant atmosphere, sur
rounds them ALL and gives life and beauty to
each Let the mind dwell for moment on
the love of a mother towards her child, and
we shall see that such one subsists between
no other beings. Earth hath nothing more
beautiful, nor can mortal imagination attri-
butte to Heaven any thing more holy 1t is
kindled into being amid mortal agony and
peril. Its object is the tceblest of animated
beings, with no qualities to animate the mind
no capacity to appreciate and return the af-
lection lavished upon it, and only far-of'
prospect of arriving at such a state, with years
of care, toll, and anxiety between. Yet how
tenderly Goes the mothers heart yearn over
this little being How its first feeble wall
thrills upon her weary car! How earnestly
she scans its fragile form, beautiful only to
her loving eyes How gladly she now re-
nounces the liberty which has hitherto been
her happiness, and sits down formany months
at the side of the unconscious little being,
while her heart thrills with Il strange Joy du-
ring all these days and nights of vigil, min
gled with pain only when suffering sits upon
her infants brow, or death hovers over its
couch.
A father schemes for his own aggrandize-
ment. True, he looks to transmitting his
wealth and honors to his children when he
shall have enjoyed them. But with him this
is a secondary object. With the true woman
it is the Alpha and Omega. Through life, if
need be, she will toll for her child, and spend
her last farthing to promote its comforts though
famine sits upon her own lips. She will pray
Heaven in its behalf, though she invoke only
blasphemous curses on every other being
There is no crime she will not forgive in him,
no disgrace she will not share If all the
world proclaim him dishonored wretch, she
remembers only that she bore him, and opens
hopes and wishes follow him through life, and
hover over his pathway like smile from
better world. Death alone can quench moth
er's love.
The SISTER is another of the beautiful Of
fees which it is given to woman to fill. IfI
her affection is less ardent and exclusive than
that Of the mother, it is equally wide spread.
She is the guardian spirit of her brothers, the
teacher and friend of her sisters, second in
both these relations to the mother alone
She must be affectionate, obliging, persuasive.
She must acquire knowledge, accomplish her
self, refine her sentiments, discipline her feel
ings, and enrich the paternal home with every
charm that may bind the wavcring brother
there, before his character is ripencd, and |
his principles fixed so as to resist temptation. |
She is the companion Of the brother abroad. |
Her youth enables her to sympathse with !
him, while her strong affection and purity !
should in the absence of the mother, make /
her daughter the representative to strength
en- his integrity, to eXalt his sense Of truth, |
and by lively but transformations care pre-
serve him from temptation. She may aid |
the mother likewise, in cultvating a love of
knowledge OF her own intelligence, she may |
do much during the early years of the boy, to !
prepare him for intercourse with the world |
She may enrich his mind by her Industry, and
at the same time preserve him in his weakest
hours from the evil to which the world invites
him. What noble being is a pure-minded
generous, and affGctionate sister
Whose heart does not warm under her nflu-
ence? What beautiful opportunity does
her station present, to plant with her own
hand flowers that shall bud and blossom on
her tomb
AS the DAUGHTER, Womans duty is I'M
falling kindness and reverence. 1t is not by
great deeds of sacrifice and hcroism, that she
will best prove herfilial love and her fidelity,
but by the thousand little attentions which in
a daughter so much minister to the sober hap
pines5 of the meridian and evening of life
No voice so gentle as hers in the sick chamber
of the mother. No ear SO keenly open to the
wants of the aged father, no step so light in
his service She is the link between his
bright morning and his fading twilight
While the son on whom his pride reposes is
abroad, breasting the surges ola selfish world,
the daughter whom he loves, remains by his ,
side, to bless and beautify his quiet home {
She stays his tottering steps, she smooths his |
olanched and wasted locks, she adjusts his {
chair, and in her leisure hours c
muses. his wandering mind with books or i
JdpeTS, OF uer own version oil some interest | a
ng topic. She bears his little humors with. +
'ut parading her pity for his weakness, and is t
lntiring in her thousand offices of love.
0 what were age without woman-woman v
n her true sphore-the Home? Not woman -
broad, engaged in labor or business-not c
woman engrossed in public affairs canvass r
ng elections, holding courts, making laws, /
r buying and selling goods on change or Ii
elsewhere; but woman, shut away from the \
amor of the world at the clean and social il
ireside-presiding over the well-ordered il
ousehold-cherishing with pious care the lc
hilled and aged frame with the solicitude of n
rue affection, supplying the unuttered wants n
der reEereG cnarSe onG Dy ner presence
i Il Il