Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-03-09
THE MISSION HOME.
An Earnest WOman's Ideas About
WOman's Work.


ence TO an institution at Nashville called
the Mission Home, and have ever since de-
sired to send greetings and congratulations
to those Christian ladies who, / suppose.
have inaugUrated so gOodly a charity.
am Oue Of those who, in a quiet way,
indulge an eager enthusiasm for every
judiciOus movement looking to the anchor
alton of the unfortunate conditions Of my
own sex. This enthusiasm springs, if
can know my own heart, from the profound
conviction that many questions pertaining
to women involve high and Weighty posi-
bilities; salutary and beneicient domestic
and social reforms; the improvement and
exaltatiOn Of marriage; the moral and in
tellectual elevation Of our own sex, and the
attainment Of higher standards By men.
Favored with weekly visitations of news
papers at the freside of a country home,
look out occasionally upon the great heaY-
ing sea Of civilized life, and notice with
lively attention the many forms and de-
vices Of progress that moor over its bosom.
Surely the spirit Of this age traveleth every
whereand continually, in the moral as
well as the material world. EiOW is it
possible to look toward the fut ire, then,
without feeling the stimulation Of intense
concern in view of the solution of prob
lens that still lie in embryo, or do now
but begin to grow with promise of beauty
and fruitiOn?
In this latitude we are prone % disgust
at the defOrmed OutgrOwths OF women's
movements, so called. And vet. in the in
creasing sunlight which God now dispenses
we cannot be blind to His will or ignorant
of our own responsibilities. We, too, must
move. There is work for us to 10, and, as
women, higher destiny to fulfill.
II is neither wise nor necessary that we
lose time in discussion and contest. 1t is
unnecessary that We lOiter over intellectual
inferiOrity or other questions that confront
rs; or, that We even rise to explain how
this infeIiOrity is due to physical and cir
cumstantid reasons pertaining 10 sex.
II is not necessary that We dwell too per-
sistently upon another fact equal y manifest
the perfect identity of the sexes in inhe-
rent, moral and intellectual constitution.
We may safely waive these things without
wasting word, yielding dist nelly and
CheeTfuily the point that women always
have been, are now, and, so ia. as we can
judge, always will be Gin an earthly sense),
inferior and dependent. Discussion has its
EAeAANs anu Il I'LL NAAC hOANC u NfO4s
is not often expedient that women deal
stTenuously with even truth itself.
In all these matters, TO those who will
stake our coat" we can we'll afford TO s'give
our cloak also if We may be free to act
act in the living present. So, we may be
sure, the results Of christian love and labor
will remain our best solution o. questions
that would surely grow vexed il. al atmos-
phere Of unwOmanly assertion and contest.
May the ladies Of Nashville render, con-
stantly, the inspiration Of warm hearts and
strong convictions to this work Of mercy
and reform. And surely, those who have
attained so much true and vital charity as
to deal in discreet pitywith this class, must
look with penetrant and kindly eyes to-
wards all those struggling again st adversi-
ties incident to our sex. l know they
would have society withhold its just pen
alties, or in any way render the sin of these
Outcasts less hideOus. l know, assuredly.
that every chaste, judicious woman would
interpOse these as a perpetual bulwaTk TO
protect and secure female virtue. But il is
at once their noble work, to repeat practi-
Cllly the divine words, "NeitheT do | con-
denim thee-gO and sin no more and TO
provide place for repentance and honest
livelihood for those who may b. drawn by
the Saviour towards a new and better life; a
home, where Jesus may come n and sit
down and teach; where He will not con-
denim, but rescue from the deadly stones Of
still Unreleuting OblOquy and contempt,
and where we may confidently hope His
words Of test may convict secret vice before
its own conscience, arOusing the long slum-
bering sense Of guilt and shame in those
sCOffeTs of Himself and enemies Of women,
who are not "without sin" themselves.
Il can be but manifest Justice, that while
we reprOaCh the prostitution Of woman
hood with irremediable shame, we shall
avail ourselves Of this, not alone as our
only expedienJ Of plying alienation, but
also 10 admonish men firmly. We should
al least strive 10 be just in the lefty consci-
business that fTailties and disabilities Of sex
are removed beyond the grave, and that
only those whom the Master finds worthy
shall then "be equal with the
angels" May We not most ardently
hope that it is fast becoming the
high purpose Of our Christianity, not only
to lift the fallen, but 70 make these insti-
buttons q very light from heaven to warn of
undecided vice, piercing into those shad-
Owy cOyerts where conscience fain would
rest in Undisturbed repOse, reminding open
ly Of the equality of guilt, and appealing
to those nObler Determinations that have
so long been lost in the weakness of low
propensity and the silent fOrDearance of
public sentiment aud social maIims.
Never, in my humble judgment, can
these evils be reached and corrected, except
so far as Christian women become, in a
new and peculiar sense, the brave and de-
teTmined champions of virtue. So long as
we fail to devise wholesome restraints and
exercise necessary watchfulness over our
own sex, and pursue even indiscretiOns
with reckless gossip and cruel unchariia-
bleneSs; so long as we condemn our fallen
sisters without faithful hearing and CON
sideratiOn, for the sake of judgment and
mercy; so long as we render, knowingly,
Understanding courtesy to those society
men whose lOw-creeping vanity seeks dis
honorable pastime in paltry triumphs
over the mOdesty ard confidence
Of inexperienced or Unsuspeciing
women; so long as we give wi ling ear to
their exploits, or smile in gay ScquiesCence
while they tampeT with wOmanly honor in
the very midst of those influential and SEN
sItive circles where it must be held as SUI
premcly delicate and of priceless value; so
long as we are willing in our Utmost
hearts, TO latter and fawn upon the bril-
liant or high-born habitual Gu prit, just so
long may We expect to evoke unutterable
miseries upon society.
May christian wOmanhOOd quickly real
ize its responsibilities in those matters, and
bear itself with modest but courageous dis
CretiOn, for the love of God and for the
sake Of the Lord Jesus Christ.