, 1867-03-15
The Friend,hlp Of Momen-

day aud Monday evenings at the new North
Church, on Bul6nch street, was delivered by tb,
Rev. VIM. R. Alger,
The peculiar mission of women is to contri5S
ute to the happiness of her husband aud the
virtue of her children; but the first and supreme
duty Of woman, as of every human being, Is
through the perfectinE of her own nature as a
child of God, to fulfil her personal destiny in
tthe universe. To love, to marry, to rear fam .
lily is by means an exhaustive statement OF
the obligations and privileges of women. A
multitude of causes-not the least of which is
the morbid literature Of 6ction-have combined
to give love and marriage exaggerated inn
| Portance to the feminine mind. A orld of evils
result. For in the foremost countries of the
earth, at this time, an even larger proportion of
women miss of happy love and marriage Never
/ before were there many bafled and discou-
tented souls as now, because never before did
the capacities and exaetions Of intelligence and
affection so greatly exceed their qualifications.
An obscure mist OF sighs exhales out of the SOL
ituie of women ia the nineteenth century. The
sentiment of friendship is neglected to an un-
fortun te extent. 1t especially deserves attention
aud needs u be cultivated. 1t is capable in a
very high degree of supplying :hs place of the
more stormy and perilous passion OF love. II is
invaluable an ally, substitute and solace
Women, particularly, can 6nd in it noble, ch,
sutfcing resources. The lecturer thea proceeded
y.
He refuted the views of Heine, Pope and Swift,
as to the shallowness and Gckleness of the char
acters Of women, protesting against the Jumping
of them altogether under Que generalization,
and argued that as numerous and thoroughly
pronounced types of character might be found
among them as among men. If passionate and
a sorbing love is the imperial passion of women,
its disappointment will make friendship ali the
more necessary to them. The friendships of
women appear to be less than those of men; first,
because their jealousies, disikes, and alterations
much more numerous comparatively
to attract attention away from their attachments;
and secondly, because their lives are so private
aud modest that these heart-histories rarely Ob
tain any public record. Mr.. A ger said he should
present the examples he had collected of the
romantic friendships Of women, in distinct clls-
ses. He first adluced, instances Of such
friendships between parents and children, the
stories of Monica and Augustine, Goethe and his
mother Cicero and Tuia, Sir Thomas Moore
and MIrgaret Roper, William Writ aud Agnes,
Richard and Maria Elgeworth, Necker and Mad
am de Stael
FRIENDSHIPS OF SISTERS AND B2orHERs.
The second lecture Of the course was delivered
on Monday upon the above subject. Mr.. Alger,
after passing over the many noted instances pre-
sented in ancient history, of strong and abiding
uttLcnmeuts between brother aud sister, alluded
to the beautiful and clivalrous affection of Mtrg-
|.
Fraacis met with reverse and was imprisoned by
Charles V. Of Spain, she followed him to his
dungeon, and aflerwdrds procured his release by
bringing about an alliance between him and
sister Of Charles. CAroline and S.r William Her
suel loved each other a-ctionately, aud BY their
unitel eTJrts ia the IL Of astronomy achieved
great an glorious results, and the story of their
uniol forms warm and poetic episode in the
cold annals OF science. Goethe and his sister !
were deyOteily attached 10 each other, and after
the death oi the latter, the great author design !
ed the portraitIre of her character in thu pages
OF Il fiction, but the tumult of the world inter
fered with the execution of this loving task,
thUug gh he left many touching Re membranes OF
her exalted worth in his writings. The al story
of tae friend ships ofClAries aud Mary Lamb was
then alluded t). Charles was % years old, when
his sister, in a moment of insanity, struck her
mother dead. Ths fearful tragedy altered his
fate. He abandoned. al thoughts of marriage
and gave himself up entirely to his sister. 'Sne,
for whom he gave up all, says De Quincy, I'm
return gave up all for him. Toe speaker touched
uuon the loves of Byron and sister Augusta, of
Felix AMI Fanny Msnle,SsOlI anl other noted
examples. There are friendships, he remarked,
which spring up under the primary impulse OF
consInguinty-they are warm, precious and
sacred, but we should look elsewhere for the
more vivid and passionate attachments. The
ties of consanguinIty, the speaker thought, were
IN a process Of historic decrease, while the att
tachments without the bond of family ties or
relationship in the process OF steady increase,
Mr.. Alger closed by giving few samples of
the friendships between husbands aud wives.
Within the shielded enclosure of matrimony, the
most intimate of all relationships, the inmost
secrets of the parties are exposed The idea OF
each other, with which husband and wife begin
their married life, is largely made up ofilusions,
and accordingly as those wear away, the COM
patibility or incompitbility of the parties is
made manifest, and nddisappointment and antipathy
on the one hand, or greater depth of affection
on the other are the results.-B0ston Post.
IL nf In nlrin ma V