Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1859-06-29

spiritual knowledge, having its tabernacle IN the
mother, the sister, the wife, is capable of more real
good than any Of us have ever imagined
The mission of an educated Christian woman IS
not among those obtrusive movements, so popular
of late which look to display at home or to distant
countries for the exercise of benevolence and char
ty rather than to the wants. the gnorances, ana the
suferings in the circles around her, or in those IN
which she moves Her mission is not out in the
world, but within it where the public eye seldom
rests, training the young, ministering to the SICK
the poor in spirit, and the poor in this worlds
goods; comforting the weary and the broken
hearted; banishing discomfort with the laugh OF
cheerfulness, and reignng, not queen, but happy
divinity, around the domestic hearthstone tlsJust
here in the "myrad mnuteness of daily existence"
that the refined and educated women fulls the no
blest purposes of her being. The inferior OF man in
some respects she is his superior in Others and ii
he would be awkward and ridiculous in attempts to
usurp her place and perform her duties, she would
be unhappy in the great world Of action, of aggres-
sion, of upbuilding and down-pung which has
been assigned to him. Nature and experience are
the best teachers They have prescribed and set
bounds to duty in both sexes. Every effort to pass
those bounds by either, must result in unhapplness
and in retardng the progress of civilization and
Christianity
The increase and more general distribution of
wealth. the appliances of art, and the nearness to
our Shores the result of science of the gay cities OF
Europe superadded to the natural passion for osen-
tation and display, have contributed recently very
much and very injuriously to what is known as in
fated fashionable life. Now, it is not for me to lee
ture young ladies on fashion, to censure them in
matters of TASTE Some of them-not ALL said some
of them aciU have
"Dresses for breakfast, for dinners, and balls.
And scores of mantillas capes, Collars and shawls,
Dresses to sit in and stand in and walk in,
Dresses dance in. and firt in, and talk in,
Dresses in which to do nothing at all,
Dresses for winter spring, summer, and fail:
All of them different in color and pattern,
Silk, muslin, and lace, Grape, velvet, and satin;"
And still, like
"Mss Flora McFlimsey, of Madison Square.
The dear complain. they haze nothing to scear
But it is not dress, it is not the outward adorn-
ment it is not the fashion of appearance, but the
fashion of manners and OF the mind of which We
are speaking If it be true, and it is true, that
"beauty unadorned is adorned the most" it is also
true that unaffected manners furnish the surest in
dication of refined and elevated nature. An ee-
CANT simplicity is more to be admired and is more
admired by persons of correct TASTE than costly gar
ments and naughty bearing. An educated Christian
bofu
which is paid to fashion and that which is rendered
to modesty and intellect. In the presence of such
a woman undue admiration will be rebuked, the Vi
cous will be repelled and the mere dandy will ut-
ter in his native insignifcance.
1t is also true, that while we are prone to forget
the simple virtues and the unaffected manners of
our ancestors and to look wealth. and fashion, and
mere display as the browning objects Of existence,
we at the same time neglect those authors, who,
during the last two or three centuries, have shed
such glory on English literature Frvolity in So
cety is the natural result of vacuity and frivoty of
mind We read modern authors, whole pages of
whose works are scarcely worth line of Milton or
Shakespeare. Richardson Cowper, Goldsmith, Ad-
Olson, Steele, Johnson Maria Edgeworth Bunyan,
Hannah Moore, and Felicia Hcmans are laid aside
for Eugene Sue, or Alexander Smith, or Fcstus, or
the last monthly; and persons who have no relish
for the incompatible writings of Scott and Dickens
are entranced with the burning verses of Byron
and the melodious prose of Bulwer. There is
reaching after effect there appeals to the grosser
passions, there are dcneations of bad lives and of
fashionable life, and there are estimates of maness
and of womany virtue, and an absence of smplici-
ty condensation and elevation of style in much of
modern literature, that render it in many respects
injurious, and stamp it as every way inferior to
that of the last and several preceding CENTURIES
The great German writer's. with their word-paint-
ing even in the transations, and with the wonder
erful touches of soulbeauty which pervade their
works. are neglected for the epheineral produc-
tons of modern authors, which bubble up, and
sparkle, and then die, leaving nothing valuable in
the mind and no virtue strengthened fortified
! by their perusal We seem to seek for excitement
in reading as we seek it in fashionable in political
! life We read to be pleased, to be entertained to
dispose of time, rather than to be benefited and
improved. Yet we determine that at some future
period we wiU carefully peruse the best authors
and make their sentiments and style, as far as We
can, our own. This determination is delusive. Il
will be formed and broken, and formed and broker
again, so long substitute tomorrow for today
Let us improve to-day, and we will greet tomorrow
with increased energy and growing knowledge.
In the work of self-cuture which institutions O
learning like this fit US to enter upon with such de
cided advantages over others, we should know n
dalliance with mere fancies-no compromise witt
Incidence, which is, perhaps natural trait of tn
human character. We must not depend on mer
aptitude or genius, but on steady, welldirected
persererng application; for, after all, genius is a
most myth an indescribable something with whic
few are gifted. That it is a gift there can be n
doubt, for we have but to look around US to pei
ceive that there are differences and varieties in min
as there are in human features. Under the blessin
of Providence tact and talent may be acquired; br