The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-01-13

ually projecting themselves into our sphere put.
ting their otfieious shoulders to our wheels.
/ poking their prurient fingers into our pies They
| seem to have no idea that there is any corner
of our hearts so hidden, that their hafpenny
tallow candles cannot illuminate it and at the
first symptom Of doubt, the tallow candles are
accordingly produced. Assuming that thew are
entirely conversant with woman's nature, con-
scious with all their stolidity that there is fric.
ton somewhere, and perfectly confident that
they can tinker us up Gas good as new" With
the best Of motives and the elumsiest of hands,
they begin forthwith to hammer away, right and
left, on the delicate wheels and springs, till We
are forced to cry out, g Dear souls, we know
you are good, and honest, and sincere. You
would die for US but your fingers are all
thumbs. Let us alone =" Do you think they
will? Not they. Undaunted by their want of
success, apparently even unconscious Of it, they
ding on doggedly, to the tune of the homeO-
pathic doctors sOlilOquy-
s. Jusi a single grain diluted
In pail OF WAR
Cures s ills that FISH Is heir to,
Or If not, AZ 0itshttr"
To be sure, il Ought.ter; - and If continuity,
persistence, inAexibiitv, and continual harp
ing the same string, could have reformed ",
we should have been reformed into the seventh
heaven long ago. But God works by means
Water does not spontaneously run up hill. Ne
combination of numbers can make two and two
equal five. The strength of Samson would not
enable a man To lift himself TO the stars. by
| pulling at the strap Of his boots. So the Con
fct OF y ges goes on.
o, if those who are a; such infinite pains 10
teach woman her duties, and make her content
ed with her lot, would but stop moment to
take their reckOnings and compare notes. Go
to, brothers we don't seem to get on very fast
I 49,, h., L.
us investigate
/ Do hatter myself that what NAV say will
have the slightest tendency - modify the views
I or the practice Of any one of my masculine
readers, should l be so fortunate as TO have
any! Not III the least. Though | speak with
the tongues of men and Of angels, vet, Of SIX
men who should DO me the honor to read me.
! hall dozen, invited 10 deliver an address a.
! the anniversary of a female boarding-school
would rise slowly III their places smile down =
! bland and benignant compliment on the white
robed beauty before them, and glide gracefully
/ into an oily eulogium upon wOman's influence
her humaniZing and elevating mission pronul-
eating the novel aud startling theory that her
| power is Ia her heart, not IN her arm that she
| Judges by intuition rather than induction that
! her sphere is not on the rostrum, but BY the
| hre-side that she Is to rule By love, not by
! Misunderstanding some venerable fling at VIC
mans rights conventions, and their strong
minded leaders, quoting with unutterabIe
/ pathos,
/ 81 called her angel but he called hrr wife
! (Query what right has any man to be calling
another mans wife, angel p and winding ~
gloriously in metaphoric CONFUSION.
Do you ask me, then, why write? Because
| know that / shall be read by girls, and, as We
have been told nine hundred and ninety-nine
times, the girls of this generation are to be the
I mothers OF the next, (just as ii ANYBODY sup
posed they were to be the fathers and hope
and believe that the few crumbs l cast upon
the waters will be returned to me or mine al.
ter many DAYS.
Boarding-school anniversaries are becoming
part of our institutions and the above outline
is no fancy sketch. | once heard a lecturer on,
such an occasion introduce such an address
with the remark that he was left no choice
The subject was forced upon him b. the nature
OF the case and having thus apologized at the
outset, he Immediately struck the trail, and
came in at the death handsomely. His voice
was melodious, his accentuation perfect. his
language elegant, his manner refined. He did
in the best possible style what needed not 10
be done at all. And ne knew that it needed
not TO be done. The very fact that he did
apologize indicated that he saw the necessity Of
apologizing. 1t was as if he had said, any
peoples telling you what your sphere is, but I
must give the screw one more twist. | pray
you try to bear it; for what the mischief is q
man to talk about, if not this?" This would
not have been dgnifed but it would have beea
frank.
But take issue on the fact There is e
choice of subjects. man is not confined to
this stupid treadmill. Girls can understand
and appreciate a broader sweep of thought.
One Of the finest public addresses have ever
heard was on such an occasion. have for
gotten the definite theme, bat it treated Of the
cultivation of the beautiful, and, strange to re-
late, there not in it, as far as ! recollect,
! single Injunction ko women to mind their own
/ business. Truth ObhgeS me to confess that,
! though all the good people admired it as very
beautiful, they all added, " but not appropriate"
In my opinion, however it was appropriate.
Instead of telling us to stop doing nothing, and
refrain from doing the wrong thing, he showed u
how 10 do a right thing and no matter if PEG.
/ pie do find fault with good lecture. 1t only
proves that their taste is weakened by long dis,
use, and must be educated up TO higher level.
That villainous old womanhater, Alexander
Pope, avenged himself for the unpardonable
superiority of Lady Mary Wortley MoUtagu's
wit to his own, and her scornful and merry re-
fusal Of his proflered love-one shrinks from
.profaning the sacred word by applying it to
such mockery OF the divine passion-by patte-.
ing rhymes against the whole sex, as
"Miiicr too soft a lasting mark to bear,
And best distinguished by BLACK brown, CT fair"
The men Of today, with all their boasted prog
ress, seem to have gone but step farther
They do indeed give us sufficient consistency IN
bear whatever impress themselves shall stamp,
but acknowledge 20 Unborn power Of self-de.
velopmeut. Singuiarly enough there is won.
dcri,il samcnCss in all their s;amu5. III we wore
what men have tI:cd b. make as and only that,
q ma. ,; lis maIk vouil he set upon MS with
the uniformity Of the red cross on a flock of
sheep. Now, If there were IN our seminar
only one class Of Cslii, and that class reared
! IN luxurious homes and tempted by mere surfet
Of idleness into forbidden paths, there would be-
more excuse for the monotone, though 1t would
still be utterly Intellectual; but collected as our
New England schools are-and | am speaking
now of these partcuiarly-there is many and
many girl in them who has come from home
OF poverty, some perhaps of ignorance, few,
alas of vice. He who should be the stay and
honor of his family Is its weakness and shame.
/ A frail girl, with a strong heart and clear
brain, throws herself in the breach. She studies
| with energy, purpose, and effect. She stands on
| the threshold of womanhood and turns to take
a last look at her girlish DAYS. All the Turing
I pictures spread out By a poetical speaker, her
woman's heart has already portrayed, and she
knows that she must resolutely shut her eyes
and turn away from them. Maiden hopes,
! wifely trust, mothers love arc not for her Tie
sacred privacy and dear delights of home,
! "The grsees and The loves t1at make
! The music Of the march oflIfe,"
she gazes upon with tear-dimmed eyes AM pale
! lips; for between them and her rises sad
vision--a care-worn mother tottering grave