Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1850-12-20
"HOW AND WHERE CAN I BE
USEFULp"

- W ~ VAN Il OIL
USEFULF"
This is a question which concerns every
female in our land, from the highest to the
lowest. God has endowed all with faculties
and talents he has put it in our power to
do much good to our fellow-creatures and
has 50 constituted us that we are dependent
upon each other in a great degree for our
happiness. And every one should see to it,
that these faculties are rightly improved,
that they are used in such a manner as most
~e1ectually to serve our fellow creatures and
glorify Him who has bestowed them. The
ways in which woman has the power Of rem
deFing herself useful are various. Her in
1uenco is confined to no narrow sphere
True, she is not, like man, called to govern
empires; her voice was never designed by
God to be heard in the hall Of Legislature or
the Senate chamber but the sphere which
God has marked out for her, though it may
be an humber, certainly is not a less useful
one. Many are called to leave their friends,
their country, their all, and find a home be-
yond the Atlantic waye-there to spend q
missionary life Of trial and self-denial.-
Others, as teachers, leave their native place
and remove to distant States there to spend
a life Of usefulness, in diffusing around them
those rich treasures of knowledge which
they accumulate in youth. But the scene in
which woman is first called to act-that in
which she exerts her greatest influence, and
for which God seems to have particularly
designed her BY implanting within her breast
those kind and gentle feelings which adorn
the female characters Home. Here, as a
daughter and a sister, what an extensive,
and almost unbounded field of usefulness
has she before her?
As a daughter, a trust is committed to
her care-a solemn trust. To her it is Civ
en- to be the comfort and consolation Of those
parents who have watched over and guided
her infant steps, and have thus far led her
on in the paths Of peace and virtue. And
when their sun is at its meridian, where all
is prosperous and all is bright, think you
she cannot be useful? that she has nothing
10 dol She has much her counsel and
her advice are always needed her exertions
As q daughter should never cease. But
when adversely comes, then, particularly,
her gentle words, her kind and unremitting
attentions, are needed to sustain the droop.
ing hearts of her parents. And when the
world looks eoldly on, and all is dark and
dreary before them, her cheerful and conten-
ted disposition, her gay and happy heart,
will serve to cheer and re-animate them
and they will feel that she is indeed a bless.
ing, and has well fulfilled her trust. And
when their sun is declining, when it has
nearly reached the horizon, as thew walk
through the dark valley of the shadow Of
death" to her it is given to support their
faltering steps, to cheer their last moments,
70 give them those numberless little atten-
tons which a daughter alone knows how to
give, and to comfort them with hopes of that
better land, where the wicked cease from
troubling, and the weary are at rest."-
And as she stands by their open grave, as
the clods Of the valley are fast covering
their beloved forms, happy is she for it will
be a bright and lasting jewel in her heaven
y crown.
Asa sister, her usefulness is not less ex.
tcnsive. The influence of a pious and pure
minded sister upon a brother is great. Al
he goes into the world, and is assailed b,
the numerous temptations which beset hin
m every side; as the intoxicating Gu,
With its tempting contents is presented t.
him, and the e~ntieements of the gambling
table are spread before him as he is abou
10 fall into the snare, does not the remcm
SEanee Of his sister draw him back? D
not her WARNINGS ring in his ears, and com
pei him to leave his evil courses? A broth
e. that has such a sister will never resort t
the exciting pleasures of the ~gaming-table
Or the wranglings Of politicians but wi
find at home, and in the company of tn
good and pure, his chief enjoyment. An
her influence upon the younger members @
the family IS forcibly seen and felt. TO he
they look for guidance and counsel ; to he
they 60 in all their troubles and it is, in
great measure, hers to form their youn
minds, and to implant within their heart
thus early, those seeds Of truth and gOodneI
which in after life will spring up and be;
blOssOms,-difusing their sweetness and fl,
GRANGE upon all those who come within the
sphere ofactioB.
How noble, then, is the spheye in wbie
woman is called to act! To her it is give