The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1862-03-28
From Female Contributorl
Letters from st. Pau1-NO, 4.
ST. PAUL, March 81, 1862.

ST. PAUL, March 81, 1862.
Cousin DICK -
"Perhaps TO be forbid may tempt one,
To wish for what one never dream't on I"
Don't you remember how you illustrated
the truth Of this couplet in college, when
with palpitating heart you braved the
damp dews Of night, and the cane of an angry
father. when you tore your best pants, and
seriously scratched your hand in a hasty
exit over the garden fence-and all this for
a girl you would not have crossed the street
in rainy day to meet, had she been will
ing, and her father sent you word? How
perverse we are by naturel How true it is
that we seldom prize anything, no matter
how great its intrinsic value, that has cost
us nothing, and that we need sometimes to
be deprived of our blessings in order to
realize fully how much they are worth
to US.
You know that New Haven is one of the
great intellectual shooting galleries of the
world. Well. the people there seem to have
an idea that lectures furnish the most nour.
ishing mental pabulum, and so lectures
moral, lectures scientific, and lectures liter.
airy, from the great writers and thinkers, are
quite the order of tie day.
A year ago it was especially so. Not a
week passed that brilliant entertainments
were not served up at Music Hall, and the
consequence was that 1, for one, voted lee
lures drug, and was glad for any excuse
to stay at home.
Not so this winter How often, when
thirsting for mental stimulant, have l looked
back regretfully to those days when, almost
at will, 1 could spend an evening in listen.
ing to the eloquence of such men as Phillips,
Beecher, and Chaplin.
Many of the people here seem to have
been inspired by similar "reminiscences, and
as we are ice-bound, and unable to procure
lecturers of a national reputation, they
resolved to feast upon one another. The
consequence is that the talent of our smart
men has been called in requisition, and with
so much success as utterly to refute the
idea that "prOphet is not without honor"
&c. The first lecture of the course, "a plea
for y ossips," was given by the Judge, as be
is called in common parlance. must con.
fess that the term, the Judge, seemed rather
inviduous to me at first, and when found
that it was given to designate him as a
wmit, ID distinction from the others, each
one of whom represents "plurGl wnit," I
thought it more of misnOmer than ever :;
for am very much of the opinion Of Frede-
rika Bremen, who says man is never 80
much an object of interest and admiration to
her, and she is never so much in danger of
falling in love with him, as when she sees
him the central sun of some happy home,
embracing wife and children in the strong
arms of bis protection, and through the
abundance of his love for them diffusing joy
and gladness to all around. But then, she
adds, know must not do so for if l
should, I should break the law OF Moses,
and every married woman would feel it to
be her duty to stone me with stones.
The judge in his plea became the spe
cial champion for the ladies. He enthroned
woman as the "Queen of Love and Beauty"
and, generously ignoring tea-table scandal,
eloquent gossip, street yarn, and "stroDg-
minded females" graciously allowed her the
freedom of her own sweet will ard prattling
tongue.
He made her exquisite in taste, sprightly
in conversation, sympathetic in nature, de.
voted in love-the light of the household,
and the grace and attraction OF social life.
1t was, in fact, easy to see that he inclined
to the; Mitonic idea. H.
I" For contemplation he, and valor formed;
For softness she, and sweet attractive grace"
Now this may answer very well for run
ming distinction, but is it not true that wo~
man to be woman must reflect as we'll as
feel? While there are certain qualities,
which belong exclusively to herself, and
which are the very essence OF her wOman>
hood, is it not true that she shares with man
10 imagination, intellect and will, and that
these faculties must be educated to form the
stamina of her character before she is fitted
for her high destiny and responsibilities
The time was, when woman was toy, a
slave, passive instrument, but christianity
has redeemed her from the dissertations of
the past, has made her co.worker with
man here upon the earth, and a cO.heir to
Immortality; has made it her duty to secure
the full development of all her powers,
and left her free to aspire
s. Unto the Gains and magnanimities,
She loftily rises, and the noble ends,
The sanctified devotion, and full work,
=. To which she is elect forever more"
When woman fully realizes that she has
q work to do, not only in the household, but
in society; that she gives the tone to morals
and adjusts to her own will what shall be
the received standard OF propriety and no.
nor; when woman fully realizes this and
lives up to her high conviction, will not sos
cial influences become more enrolling, vice
less respectable and life and duty more rich
and glorious?
But beg your pardon, Dick, for this
depression. My long supplement to the
opening lecture has left me little room to
speak of the succeeding one by Reverend
Doctor, who tried to solve that most diff.
cult of all problems, "Whom shall we
trust ?"-or Of "The Life of Washington ~
which abounded in eloquent passages, or OF
s.The Errors of Public Opinion" which was
(1eservedlv encOred. or of several others