Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1859-07-20
Gaoies' department.
Mrs. M. z. GoRMAN Editress.
..Womanhood and It's Mission"

ting and deeply instructive paper, oeainhS
the above title, taken from the dublin UNI
yersity Magazine" The character Of Woman
here given, as may be judged from its issu-
ing, is especially British but while it is SO,
it equally exhibits the genius, the power, the
handspring Of action in Woman universally
and the writer, with heightened chivalry
and expansive magnanimity awards to her a
capacity for greatness as well as goodness,
which the world has so long denied her.
1t is not my purpose to follow the interes-
ting metaphysical history Of the writer, IN
which she 1--WE take it for granted it is a wo-
man, for who else could so amply do her JUS
tice) illustrates the problem which England
has solved, what "Woman's Mission" is and
shows what grand and important parts wo-
man has occupied in the whole worlds his
tory, and her noble defence of the sanctity Of
the marriage tic, as ILLUSTRATED in the grand
idea underlying the ten years war that ragged
round wind-swept ~Ilium"-nor of the desper-
ate yalor with which they inspired the sol
diers in the great battle with Marius, when
they knew that behind them their women
stood-'that motherhood, wifehood, sister
hood, were there praying to their God for
those whom they loved and with the inspi-
ration of that thought the warriors died free,
as they had lived. Their manhood rested on
womanhood."
/ pass over also the beautiful allusion as to
"what ever kept the Greek with his face to
the foe" 1t was the thought that "his moth
or would meet his corpse borne upon his
shield, and weep no tear, save one of joy, that
her SON had died with untarnished honor
Their manhood rested on womanhood" Like
wise the bond of union between the proud
Patrician and fierce Plebian of the Roman
army. at was the thought Of the Vestal
Virgins keeping guard in the Ancient Temple
over the Palladium and the Eternal Fire, and
each man swore to defend that chastity, on
which the safety Of Rome depended. But
passing on to where the writer presents Wo-
man in pursuits less fierce, but no less noble,
where "the power and grasp of manhood has
been subtlelized and deepened, etherealized
and strengthened by the spiritual power of
womanhood :" make the following eloquent
and touching extracts:
When Tintoretto's daughter died, his hand
never more touched pencil. Would RATA
Giles pictures have been so divine, he'd not the
Fornsriua livedp Who would have heard
the world.worn" Dante's song, had there
been no Beatrice? 1t was womanhood in
Celia which rooted the love of country in
tha Rornan. IN TOrpaIia xuh;ch aefo11;eha1
the truth Of motherhood. 1t was woman
hood that saved the city from the incensed
son and husband as it knelt at the feet Of
Coriolanus. Not without meaning, too, were
the ancient myths which represented the Flu,
ries and the Fates, the Muses. and the Graces,
the Gorgon terrors and the Harpies as wo,
men for on them must ever hinge the agony
and the destiny, the intellect and the glad
ness, the terror and the infamy of men.
And turning to modern times, what has
most tended to civilize those ages, when the
new elements of European life, after long fer
menting, began to settle into quietude =? What
was it that supported the influence of religion
in that strange movement of all C~ristendom
towards the Holy Land? 1t was that each
knight felt that in serving his God he was ex.
alting his lady also. What was it that bounc
together, as it were with one spirit, that Pro
testant tendency Of Italy, which was embed
led in the society called the Oratory of the
Divine J0vel II was the heart Of Vittari;
Colonna and not only did she keep alive this
fire, but from her lips and inspiration thu
genius OF Michael Angelo drew the delicacy
which has mingled with the majesty of hi
conceptions.
And if men sre so dependent upon women
can we say that the converse Of the pictur
is not true? Needless il were for US to en-
ter into historical! detail. A thousand proof
and instances surround us: the daily etiquett
of common life, the woman leaning on tn
manly arm, is n sort Of sacrament to witnes
to this truth. Well would it be for society
If 1t would but accept as the law of its exis
ence, that the man is what the woman make
him, and the woman what the man. In OF
social life few are those men and women, VIII
feel OF know the awful responsibility whiC
lies upon them from their mutual relation
dependence. In that hurrying and whirlir
commingling of gaseous carnations, whiC
IL called society in our great capitals, whe
souls are carried round and round ~unceasin
ly, as the ghosts Of unhappy and guilty lc
ers are in the Inferno, men meet women Al
women men, and the conversation glides a
gides, like a canoe skimming the deep waite
Of Ontario. Far down below lies the hei
Of womanhood, and the soul of manhood, a
no word like a plummet sounds the depths
either. Day after day, night after night, Il
social life" goes on, till the woman and
man disappear, and two waxen figures CIR
beneath the rapid fingers of convention.
Each has worked the others ruin. Ea
have contributed their best to destroy
pure essence Of each others nature.
But this lightneglect, this guilty ignoral
Of their responsibility by which each deba
the other, has yet a more solemn aspect
When young men converse with woman
society, the subjects spoken of and the m
OF speaking of them is such that nothing
the inward nature of the woman is touc
or excited nay, some words and expressi
are used in what is called ~firtstion in sue
manner, that their meaning is lost and t
become false for when a woman hears
tinually the sacred language of love from
lips Of one who she knows means it not il
~fullness, she may be at first shocked, bu
the end, in very many cases, she become
accustomed to it, that the true feeling is s
within her, or finds a vent for itself in a I
bid sense Of being forever misunderstood
Is replaced by q foolish sentimentalisn
which she gives the name Of love. +,
frivOlity, cold reserve, contempt Of me
hunger for excitement-all these in var
women, result from the mode in which
are addressed, met, and treated by me
And men, never considering that il is 1