San Andreas independent., 1858-04-10
Young Women's Part in Life

There is something in peasant-faced
damsel which takes young mans eye
whether he will or not. 1t may be mag
netism. 1t may be the sympathy Of that
which is beautiful in mems natures for
that which is lovely in woman's. The wo-
men have great power over the sex called
sterncr. Particularly so, if they be young,
pretty and marriageablc. Young women!
do you know that it is you who are to
mould some mans life? Have you ever
thought of the responsibility that attaches
to you long before you are married? A
word you may say to young man whom
you may never marry nor even see sec
ond time, will possibly exert an influence
over his life that you don't dream of A
smile does wonders in lighting up the
dark corners of mans soul-a word in
the right place may electrify his whole
being. A wrong influence will do more
damage IN single instance than a life
time may correct. I know case in point.
A young gentleman making new-year's
complimentary calls, found himself unable
to resist the pleading of a young lady to
take glass of mild wine with her. He
had abjured liquors, and their taste had
not been on his lips for months-but that
glass she gave him raised the appetite,
and it was too much for his powers of re-
sistance. He became a drunkard, and
died wretchedly, not long ago That is
one instance. But it is not the only one
that could be adduced 1t is not only the
offering of liquors to young men at the
hands of young women that produces fire.
quent evils, but 1t Is the tashionuJte er-
tracogonce of large majority of the
young women, an torn and country, that
frightens young men away from all inten-
tion of matrimony, leads them to look
upon the whole sex with distrust, and
drives them to scenes where they are not
bound hand and foot by the unreasonable
demands of fcminines who would spend
faster than they could make And the
fact that this tendency shows signs of in
crease makes the case worse The fever
of fashionable dress, the ignorance of
housewifely accomplishments, the lack of
the peculiar home-virtues that are calcu-
lated to make home lovely-infect the
villages nowadays as they do the city
1t is not necessary, young woman that
you should faunt in gorgeous apparel,
even if your father can afford to foot the
dry goods bill Nor is it necessary that
you should permit your mother to drub
all day in the kitchen whileyou fold your
hands and keep them prettily white in
the parlor When an earnest, energetic,
hard working, sensible young fellow, who
is in search of a wife, sees such perform
ances, he fears and hesitates, refuses to
marry at all perhaps, and so does only half
the good he could in the world-simply
because he has no notion of fulfilling the
homely but very truthful adage which
tells of placing a mans nose continually
upon the grindstone. We commend the
subject to the regards of our young women
readers. Let them cultivate the domestic
virtues-makc themselves true women
know womans duties-cherish their
hands less and their intellect more-and
their lot will be happier and better
More than this, they will find that there
are mates in the world for them, and those
worth having Will not mothers bring
the true mode of life before their daugh-
ters in the light in which it ought to be
shown-which is nothing more than that of
common sense. That is the rarest of vir-
tues; more valuable because there is COM
paratively little of it to be found.-Litc
| IUustrated