St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1857-10-08
at(istclIanp.
lNFLU ENCE OF WOMAN.
By DANIEL WEBSTER.

1t is by the PRONUNCIATION of sound
morals III the community, and cspcci.
ally by the training and instruction of
the young, that woman performs her
part towards the preservation of a free
government. 1t is generally admitted
that public liberty, the pcrpetuity of a
free constitution, rests on the virtue
and intelligence of the community
which enjoys it. How is that virtue
to be inspired, and how is that intclli-
gcncc to be communicated Bona
partc once asked Madame dc StaCl in
what manner he could most promote
the happiness of France? Her reply
is full ofpolitical wisdom. She said,
" Instruct the mothers of the French
people" Mothers arc, indeed, the at-
tectionatc and effective teachers Of the
human race. The mother begins her
process of training with the infant in
her arms 1t is she who directs, so to
speak, its first mental and spiritual
pulsatiOns. She conducts it along the
imprcssiblc years of childhood and
youth, and hopes to deliver it to the
rough contests and tumultuous scenes
of life, armed by those good principles
which her child has received from ma
tcrnal care and love. . a.. .
If we draw within the circle of our
contemplation the mothers of q civil
izcd nation, what do we see? We be-
hold SO many artiiiccrs working, not
on frail and pcrishablc matter, but on
the immortal mind, moulding and
fashioning beings who are to exist
forever. We applaud the artist whose
skill and genius present the mimic
man upon the canvas; We admire and
celebrate the sculptor who works out
that same image in enduring marble
but how insignificant arc these
though the highest and
the faircst in all the departments of
art, in comparison with the great vo-
cation of human mothers! They
work, not upon the canvas that shall
fail, or the marble that shall crumblc
into dust, but upon mind, upon spirit,
which is TO last forever, and which is
to bear, for good or for evil, through
out its duration, the impress of u
mothers plastic hand. .."
Our security for the duration of the
free institutions which bless our
country, depends upon the habits of
virtue and the prevalence of knowlcdc
and of education. The feelings arc to
be disciplined !; the passions are to be
restrained true and worthy motives
are to be inspired proioud religious
feeling is to be instillcd and pure
morality inculcatcd under all circum-
stances. All this is comprised in cdu-
cation. Mothers who are faithful to
this great duty will tell their children
that, neither in political nor in any
other concerns of life, can man ever
Withdraw himself from the perpetual
obligations of conscience and of duty;
that, in every act, whether public or
private, he incurs a inst responsibility;
and that in no condition is he warrant
cd i'll triiling with important rights
and obligations. They will impress
upon their children the truth, that the
exercise of the elective franchise is
social duty of as solemn a nature as
man can be called to perform; that a
man may not innoccntly triilc with
his vote that every free clcctor is a
trustee, as well for others as himself /:
and that every man, and every meas
ure he supports, has an important
bearing on the interests of others as
we'll as his own. 1t is in the inculca-
ton of high and pure morals, such as
these, that, in Il free republic, woman
performs her sacred duty, and fuliills
her destiny.