Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1856-04-09
For the Spirit of the Age.
The True Woman.
To the Young Ladies Of tie Social Circle:

To the Young Ladies of the Social Circle:
DEAR YOUNG LADIES Unlike Sambo"
and Small" | have ever felt myself underl
many obligations to yon, for the many rich
and luxurious Intellectual repasts you have
furnished me for amongst the productions
of your youthful and versatile pens [ have
detected many q gem of the rarest worth
gems, which, though wanting the polish and
beauty which practice and experience can
alone impart, yet like diamonds Just dug
from the bosom ofmother Earth, ere yet the
artists skilful hand has prepared them to
adorn the sparkling coronet. And among
those who constitute your gifted band,
hazard nothing in predicting are those who
when Sambo and SmaH shall have sunk into
obllyion's deep sleep, %"unwept, unhonored
and unsung," will shine forth as blazing me-
teors in the literary armament.
Think not, young ladies, that a griefstrick-
en- and sorrowing Invalid, upon whose head
the Christening hand of disease has for years
been heavily laid, is capable of that adula-
ton which Hal or Frank, Alpheus or Claude,
may, perchance, have used as a subterfuge,
by which to win an admittance into your
favored Circle. No, no ; the only boon | ask
is, that you will sometimes linger around my
lonely couch, to illume my gloomy chamber
with your bright and cheerful smiles for if
there be one balm on earth more soothing
than another-one cordial, more refreshing,
it is that of Woman1s gentle words and tender
~sympathies. And as q feeble return for
those ministrations of kindness, Twill impart
to you those truths which years of sad and
bitter experience have impressed upon nv
mind-those lessons ofwisdom which, though
as young in years as you, | have been taught
in the stern school Of afliction.
The most of you, my dear young friends,
are now just stepping forth upon the stage of
active life and assuming the cares and re-
sponsibilities of w%omanhood. Be assured
this will ever constitute a momentous era in
your heeting history and let me urge upon
you the Importance of taking upon YOU at
this crisis of your lives, loftier and better
views of life than those taught by the vain
and giddy world. 1t is a sad thing to see
many of the young and fair whose life is al
most blank-l will not say a blot whose
keen susceptibilities, whose noble powers,
whose deep Affections, whose precious time
is laylshed only upon dress and gayety and
the giddy whirl of fashion who wear the
bright apparel of the butterfly. and are as
light and graceful and as useless too whose
conversation finds no higher and more emo
bling theme than the idle gossip of the day,
the last party or the never failing topic
dress whose reading is the miserable and
, poisonous trash which is inundating every
> community, and enervating and dissipating
the minds OF youth whose whole life seems
to be an aimless, frivolous career; and who,
' as they fit by on their airy wings, but pro,
woke the enquiry-"For what were these
pretty creatures made ?"
| pray you take loftier views of life thar
these. While l would not debar you from
/ thn pntInnoI r1n0rr~Eo e =
4 one cloud to bedim your Youthful sky, I still
s would plead for some Industrious moments
y some serious hours, sometimes apportioned tt
! the culture of the intellect, the enriching O.
q the memory with stores of useful knowledge
. | would plead that the capacities and aspi
ratlons of your immortal nature receive some
& mlnlstratlons; that the moral faculties b.
II cultivated and stimulated, and the generou,
e impulses OF the soul be expended in labor,
q for the greatest good of all around YOU.
BE assured there is no beauty like that 0
t. goodness-there is no power like that of yir
tue. Personal beauty may attract the admi
It F Inqgv Of 51 th BE pia Hs 5 h bear, 9 }po IS ahe siehe
. the soul that commands the deenest reyer
ence and secures the most enduring affection
Even men who have not themselves bowe,
a at the shrine of christianity, but who ar
r men OF Judgment and reason, respect an,
e. admire a lady the more, as she displays il
" In her character the beauty of holiness
10 Ii there Is one sight more than another il
]. this world OF sin and sorrow, which combine
d all the elements of nobleness and worth. it !
that OF a young female, whose youth an,
beauty, whose depth and richness of ~affectio,
le and whose powerful influence on huma,
hearts are all consecrated to the cause q
q truth and holiness, laid as an humble offer
ing at the SaviOur's feet Such a beino /;
indeed worthy of the reverence and admira
ton OF every true and noble heart and sb
re VIII m it even when the light of bean
d ty is bedimmed, and the flower Of loyelines
v IS faded. But if there is a sad or heart
breaking spectacle on earth, it is that Of on
gifted with all the charms which nature Law
is lshes upon her daughters, prostituting then
at upon the affairs of vanity and fashion AM
starving the soul on the empty pageant of tn
ye world running a giddy round of gayety
1rlVoity and dbsip ation and laying IN i
IN the future a cherries and forsaken ace. an,
a miserable, remorseless eternity.
as On, what is woman, what her smile.
To- her lips oftovc, her eyes of light;
% what is she if those lips revile
Inc loWly Jesus? Love may write
Is Ills name upon her marble brow,
as And linger on her ourls of let:
rh The light spring flowers may meeklv how
to Before her tread-andy yet, and vet:
= without that meeker grace, shall be
;- A lighter thing than vanity"
- Fra1Hent, Totre amis.
in Elm Cottage, Va.