The hydraulic press., 1858-12-04
THE. following passages are from Ar
thur HELPS g Friends In Council =

seen how large part in human procee-
dings the love of conformity, or rather
the fear of nonconformity, has occasion
ed. 1t has triumphed over all other
fears; over love, hate, pity, sloth, anger,
truth, pride, comfort, self-interest, van
ity, and maternal love. 1t has torn
down the sense of beauty in the human
soul, and set up in its place little ugly
idols, which it compels us to worship
with more than japanese devotion. 1t
has contradicted nature in the. most OBJ
vious things, and been listened to with
abject submission. It's empire has been
no less extensive than deep-seated.s The
serf to custom points his finger at the
slave to fashion as if it signifed whe-
ther it is an old, or new thing which
is irrationally conformed to. The man
of letters despises both the slaves of
fashion and Of custom, but often runs
his narrow career of thought, shut up,
though he sees it not, within close walls
which he does not venture even to peep
over G
Our brother man is seldom so bitter
against us, as when we refuse to adopt
at once his notions of the infinite But
even religious dissent were less danger
GUS and more respectable than dissent in
dress. If you want to see what men
will do in the way of conformity, take a
European hat for your subject of medi-
tation. Idare say there are twenty-five
millions Of people at this minute, each
wearing one of these hats in order to
please the rest. 2tt M
| The greatest mischief, as I take it, of
this slavish conformity, is in the reti-
cence it creates. People will be, what
are called intimate friends, and yet no
real interchange of opinion takes place
between them. A man keeps his doubts,
his difficulties, and his peculiar opinions
to himself. He is afraid of letting any
body know that he does not exactly agree
with the worlds theories on all points.
There is no telling the hindrance that
this is to truth. Sec cess
EDUCATION OF WoMEN.-It is a
narrow view of things to suppose that
a just cultivation of women's mental
powers will take them out of their
sphere. The most cultivated women
perform their common duties best. They
see more in those duties. They can do
more. Lady Jane Grey would, 1 dare
say, have bound up wound, or man
aged a household, with any unlearned
woman of her day. Queen Elizabeth
did manage a kingdom and we find no
pedantry in her way of doing it.
A certain tact and refinement belong
to women, in which they have little to
learn from the first: men, too, who at
tain some portion Of these qualities, are
greatly the better for them, and I should
imagine not less acceptable on that ac-
count to women. So, on the other side
there may be an intellectual cultivation
for women, which may seem little
against the grain, which would not,
however, injure any of their peculiar
gifts, would in fact carry those gifts to
the highest, and would increase withal,
both to men and women, the pleasures
of each others society.
Women are not taught to be. coura-
geous. Indeed to some persons courage
may seem as unnecessary for women as
Latin and Greek. Yet there are few
things that would tend to make women
happier in themselves, and more accep-
table to those with whom they live, than
courage. There are many women of
the present day, sensible women in 9th
er things, whose panic terrors are fire.
quent source of discomfort to them
selves and those around them. Now, it
is a great mistake to imagine that hard
ness must 60 with courage; and that
the bloom of gentleness and sympathy
must all be rubbed off by that vigor Of
mind which gives presence of mind, en-
ables a person to be useful in peril, and
makes the desire to assist overcome that
sickness of sensibility which can only
contemplate distress and difficulty. So
far from courage being unfeminine, there
is peculiar grace and dignity in those
beings who have little active power Of
attack or defense, passing through dan
ger with moral courage which is equal
to that Of the strongest. We see this
in great things. We perfectly appre-
ciate the sweet and noble dignity Of an
Anne Bullen, a. Mary Queen of Scots,
or Marie Antoinette. We see that it
is grand for these delicately-bred, high
nurtured, helpless personages to meet
Death with silence and confidence
like his own. But there would be a
similar dignity in woman's bearing small
terrors with fortitude. There is no
beauty in fear. 1t is mean, ugly, d.
shevelled creature. No statue can be
made of it that woman would wish to
see herself like.
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