Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1871-03-29
The
AN,SPIE

II is said that woman is less moral
but more devOut, than man. She GER
taiuly has the more sentiment OF the
two. She acts more from feeling than
from calculation. Even her thoughts
seem STEPPED in emOtiOu, aud her words
are charged with some LearJ qualify Of
the long sale between passion and
pride, rage and reverenced. B tit y
40 mean follows, from this fact, that
she has less intellect and conscience
than man. The signs nI sentiment so
pTedOminate in wOman's life that they
throw into the sliade other qualities
aud traits, aslhe thick, green foliage
OF the tree hides its branches and fruit
from the eye. Il is the glory Of wo-
man that she has q surplusage Of seu-
timent that her reason Is forgotten in
its warmth. and what man painfully
performs rs a duty she does spOntan-
euusly from love.
Certainly woman seems to be more
religious by nature than mall. She is
generally more susceptible To spirit
III Impressions. more Tete tive of
spiritual influences, and she feels
more of the attractive power Of Inf
mite Goodness than her colder. more
res.stiye, active brother. Woman 8
lot aud experience are mure religious
Ia their discipline and influence than
the rough. stern schooling Of h world
into which man is plunged, To he loss
ed on the pillows, bufietted by the
storms, borne down by the tempests
very often, though now aud then to
ride in triumph over the waves. In
the calendar Of saints there are five
Marys to one John. Were not wO-
me more religious than men, We
should have few churches or charities.
II is mostly wuman's deepand earnest
faith that rears these Christian tenn
plies. wOmAn's holy aspirations that
point these graceful spires to heaven,
wOman's fervOr that keeps alive the
fire upon the sacred alters, and the
incense Of wOman's soul that fills the
sanetuaries with the spirit Of praise.
Men may pay the bills, but it is wO-
man who wOrships and adOres. II
man has more az tile moral element,
she exeels in that piety which il the
soul Of goodness, and that fervOr
which transforms faith into inspira-
ton. Ii nan has the greater sanity,
woman atiains the greater sanetity.
We look upon an i~TreligiOus man
as unripe, the block Of marble In the
rough ; he is incomplete or imperfect.
But we instinctively regard an ire
ligiOus wOman as unnatural. a PER-
version, a defOTmity. The mother
that does not pray is hardly ht to
have u child. II seems Il great thing
for man { o attain to a religious state
and character; but religion seems the
native bloom and ~efhOrescence of a
wOman's being, and we expect wO-
d to be religious, without always
giving her the credit for what she
does 10 becomeSO. Let US be just and
generous enough to appreciate every
merit and praise every effort by
which she realizes this great expec-
tatiOn. And may all our women feel
that, in a very peculiar and sacred
sense, they are the chosen fepOsitO-
ries of GOd's grace, priestesses at his
altar. and ministers Of his truth and
mercy. If women of our land, and
the young women especially, could
once be brought to feel how much
1.-THE religious condition of the future
depends uDou them, the fate Of con
tending sects and dlssOlving denOmi-
nations could be contemplated with
out anxiety for every home would be
a uusery-Of virtue, and the child whose
earliest a d deepest memories are laid
therein would be proof against what is
worse than speculative iHideliY.