Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-07-25
THE GERMAN WOMAN

"Many Of the German mental traits, which De-
come almost irksome when seen under the anti
beautiful aspect Of German masculinity, become
perfectly fascinating, when seen in social action
under the beautiful auspices Of the German Wo-
man. We see it in the German daughter, in the
German sister, in the German rJe, in the German
mother.-We see in the daughter a constant desire
to study the nature of her parents. To say or do
anything which can give JOY and pleasure to her
father or mother, which is a matter of impulse
with other nations, with her becomes a matter of
study. She studies her own nature first, and the
nature Of her parents next. To fix q thought, adj
iust a word, accomplish a deed, precisely III a man
ner TO win praise and affection from her parents,
is with her not wholly a matter OF sentimen or
of taste sentiment grows up to the proportion OF
, principle, and taste to the proportion of beauty,
I 1t is a thing which promises q triumph not only tc
her emotional, but also 10 her esthetical, and in
! tellectual nature. But it is not alone her lofty
; sense of the flial relation which contributes 81
4 much to the charm of her inner life, and th'
r beauty of its existence while she feels for, ant
0 thinks about her father and her mother, size doe
: not ponder, aud think, and feel about herself
The selfshness of her nature is lost at the yer.
D dawn of maidenhood, when thought becomes su
peradded to the feeling of a child. Having thu
! tasted the sweets of self-abnegation in relation t
parents, the whole burden of selfishness drop
from her, as if by magic, and this most intolcrabl
l of al nightmares, once done with, she is able t
r think about others, since she has never know
what it was to think constantly about herself.
'This very power Of thinking about others give
, her a knowledge of human nature. She is nj
easily deceived by appearances, and that yer
power of unsel6sbness, which many deride a
!; nti-intillectual is for her a means of spiritui
/; penetration into the hearts and minds of other PEE
. pie, which becomes her safeguard when the matr
u monial hour strikes for her q new sphere of usefu
! ness.
''But before we analyze her as o wife, let u
,e watch her as q
Il Hero we find her again exerting real power b
her unselfsh efforts. The brother may be sulle
= and stupid, or gawky and %heartless, or inelegan
u or malignant even-what does she care? Her OF
; ject is to endeavor to make a nobler man out @
him. And we speak from experience when we as
seft, that all the cunning of the cunningest Jesuit
every trick of the most rOue diplomist, al the arch
. ness and sprightliness of one ofShakespheare's fair
: les, are nothing compared to the sugacity, shrewd
ness coquetry, all in turn displayed, by many Gel
y man sisters, for the hallowed purpose of e%fectin
a q moral reform in the character of a stubborn
self-complacent, egotistical brother. In the
d GERMAN WIFE,
and her moral and intellectual relation to her hui
band, we find the same delightful result of til
studious cultivation of her own better inner lf
Her object is to understand thoroughly not alor
her husbands nature, but also his worldly pos
~ ton. She strives to grapple with the infrmiti
W of his temperament or his pride, and bears ever
% thing from him, if she can only prevail on him
be true and frank with her in every respect. 81
IL strives to know all about his means, labors and a
sociations and again puts in play every possib
; diplomacy to obtain this knowledge, without hui
ing his feelings, or giving ~umbrage to his vanit
1t she has ascertained that he earns much less
reality, that he is much less pecuniarly indepe
dent, than his pride and his fear of lowering hir
self in her appreciation induced him to make h
believe, she will strive to convince him of his foil
and of his lack of confidence in her, in such
d graceful and bewitching manner, that his heart
n he has any, IS taken by storm and what is sti
IS better, he is restored to a more sensible and lei
# ruinous course of life. In the same manner sf
will strive to read the characters of his friends
e bring him away from communicating and belittlin
- associations; make him better and nobler, by NAL
ing him cling only to good and noble associate,
With the German wife, affection rouses the int
lect: her ambition is to find in her husband tht
Nv noble ideal of thought and action. which she che
a. ished in the romantic dreams of her girlhood. an
ae she will try by every device. to bring him up
u her ideal, but with a spiritual power 80 nnohtr
~ sive, and q sagacity and penetration SO feminin
=; and a coquetry and playfulness SO facinating,
f., to keep the object of her affection in ignorance
his spiritual development. Such q daughtt
"s sister, and wife has all the elements of becomi,
IN a mother of good and noble sons, and gracei
"a and accomplished daughters. She will apply /
~ same inner-life theory to her children, will stu
their nature, and try to eradicate its evil, and
develop their noble propensities, as to surrou
VI them with q lasting atmosphere of love, virtue a
religion, refinement. kindness and beauty.
''Some of our readers may feel inclined to SIN
Jus sceptically, and think that these are only ideal T
lures, without parallels in German life. But
d venture to say, there are thousands of daughte
sisters, wives, and mothers, such as we have .
u trayed them. Our object is to picture the m
req perfect specimen of ,oomanhood, as il presents
self in Germany" n
md
Of The Louisville Journal says that the convict,
the Indiana Penitentiary had a grand Jubilee