The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1878-06-27
Our Young People
BY REV. R. H. RIVERS, D. D.
Human Destiny.


seriousness then has the Great Au
thor of your being designed you
more for exalted virtue, for perfec-
ton of moral character, for freedom
from the stains of sin than for any
other one thing. If woman is not
good she is a monst Whatever
be her intellectual attachments she
sinks to the lowest level of depraYed
humanity the very moment she loses
that moral equipoise which keeps
her properly balanced and prevents
her utter degradation. l would
have you polished and bright in in
tellect, but more than this l would
have you all stainless and pure. Let
no impure thought take possession
of the intellect, and no sinful pas
sion nestle in the heart. Cultivate
all the virtues, both active and pas
sive. Be just and fear not. Stand
firm and be strong. Cultivate
strength of character. A strong
character, whether in man or wo-
man, is sublime. 1t breasts the
storm of passion and drives back
the tide of evil which threatens the
destruction of society. In the ele-
walton of a moral standard l have
looked more to woman than to
man. At home in the domestic cir
Gle she moves a queen. From her
home she gives out an Influence ST.
lent as the dew and powerful as the
forces that wheel the world, and
pure and sweet as the fragrance watt
ed by spicy breezes. She is sun
shine amid the tempest, and her in
fuence is the rainbow that arches
the darkest cloud. A good woman
refined in her manners, pure Ia her
speech, benevolent in her conduct,
and faultless in her principles, is at
once the light of home and the Joy
of all its inmates. Home is not
home without woman, pure and
good, and where there is no home
patriotism dies, purity sickens, jus
tice decays, benevOlence ceases and
the land mourns. No evil is com
parable to the corruption of female
character. Famine and pestilence,
war and anarchy may bring dismay
and horror, and may sweep over the
land until a wall of woe bushes
every sound Of laughter and mirth,
but all this and more can be borne
rather than the blight of female
virtue and the utter blasting of fe-
male loneliness. This night as you
receive the honors of Martin Col
lege and set out afresh in the battle
of life, determine to pursue the
right, to move straight forward with
the zeal of Gods appreciation on
your brow and His ineffaceable i'm
age on your heart. Never falter fol
one moment, but with a strong de-
termination give your whole infu-
ence for every cause that will bless
man and honor God. Seize every
opportunity to speak or act fol
every righteous cause. Do not
mind the worlds dread laugh. Care
not for the scorn of the foolish, mol
the scoff of the heartless. The feal
of offending against the fashions oil
| the day should not even retard
much less prevent the acquisition
of the highest virtue. A corrupt
public opinion has deferred many
from entering the field of moral cul
ture and battling bravely and perse
veringly for the right. The dread
of being laughed at as singular has
robbed the world of many hero in
the strife. From the depths of my
inner nature L honor a woman who
can dare oppose fashion which is
! corrupt in its influence and which
leads its yQtaries to berdition. A
woman who can set her face as flint
against drinking parties; who can
oppose with all the might of Omnip-
otent truth round dances and all
their foul brood of vices, rises to a
| height of greatness rarely attained
4 by the daughters Of the nineteenth
century. A woman-d true i0onaa,a-
must have the nerve to resist all the
seductive influences of nsincere
and heartless fashionable life. A
woman, to be strong on the side of
virtue, must stand with the firm
ness of a martyr and with more
than the strength of the tabled I'll
tan to resist and drive back the
black and motley herd whose voca-
ton is to blight all the flowers of
virtue and to corrupt and blast all
/ the refined elements of society. 1t
is to educated women whose intel
lect cannot be despised, and whose
high culture and refined taste must
command respect that we are to
look for the elevation of the public
taste. Woman has always been the
greatest sufferer by the dissolute-
ness of unbridled passion. OF all
tears hers have been the bitterest,
and of all fates hers has been the
saddesE. When the morals of soci-
ETY. decay and the dance Of death
has begun, then it is that the lam
entations OF suffering woman are
heard all along the paths of social
life. Then it is that society is
loosed from its mornings and all
! that is stable in human hopes is
forever wrecked. Then conjugal
peace and happiness take their flight
from homes which might have been
happy and leave them in the widest
confusion without a trace Of virtue
or ray Of hope. And let me tell
you, when there is no home for yir-
tue in this land of ours, domestic
peace will be among the things that
were, the blessings of civil gnd re-
ligious liberty will take their flight
from the vile and seething passions
of a fallen race, and in homeless
wretchedness husbands and sons,
brothers and fathers will wander
beneath a dark and stormy sky
from which neither sun nor star
shines out to inspire hope or arouse
to some high and noble effort. /
have never fostered in my heart or
allowed to nestle in my bosom the
least bitterness of feeling, nor have
l permitted myself to indulge in a
fault finding or croaking spirit.
Armed with divine truth and burn
ing with a holy confidence in its
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