Year: 1866

cities TOO often DflnR 10 iight the shame
that has been hiding itself in our quiet
towns and rural villages. Eut sensuaiity,
we believe, but the desire. so universal in
America, of appearing well dressed,
causes the downfall of the greater number
of American girls who lapse from purity.
To most parents, the mere supposition of
a daughters disgrace Is an utter monstrosi-
ty not to be thought of for moment
May it always continue to be so consider
ed And that it may be SO, the causes
that sometimes tempt innocence to shame
must be studied and guarded against.


In our soleitude for the lot Of Amcri-
can daughters. We confess that We think
more anxiously of the general average
than of exceptional cases. whether above
or below the average. We think more
frequently of the girls in our public schools,
who are 70 share the common welfare and
decide the general character of the nation,
than of the few rich who are petted in
palaces, OF the few poor who are left to
starvc in the streets.


Our standard American woman ousht to
be a fair representative Of the common
lot and We look for her in the pleasant
array OF Intelligent faces that cheer the
visitor at our public school ext munitions.
from year to year. Go into one OF our
best schools on such a day, and mediate



upon the probable destiny of thatcompany.
Listen to the recitations of some twenty
girls, and try in their faces to read the
horoscope of their destiny. OF many OF
| them We may predicate one fact-the fact
that they are, in thc main, to depend upon
themselves, and ucct the trials incident 10
American society with a temperament
peculiarly ambitious and sensitive. y few
of them have bee: educated by sone sacri-
fee on the part Of their parents. and will
have no dowry except good education,
and a little help III setting up their house
hold goods, whenever they have y house
hold of their own. Most of them are
evidently not robust, and even their pretti-
ness is purchased b. fragility Of frame, and
In too many of them the palencss or thc
delicate bloom Of the check, are offset by
stopping shoulders and narrow chest.
Somr high prizes are to be distributed
among them in the lottery of life, bnt the
fifteen years will make marvellous rcvcla-
| tons to thnse twenty maidens, and will
call not Il few Of them away from the
world. Those of the company whose lot
is most to be eherishsd as an example. are
those Of them who bless somc honest mans
home as wife and mother and adorn and
enlarge with true woman's grace the
moderate share of worldly good bestowed.
! Two or three of them may be called to
preside oycr SPLENDID mansions. with
/ husbands Of large wealth, more probably
acquired than inherited AMI at least quite
as many will lure peTplexed husbands into
reckless extravaganza, and sacrifice the
household to the frequent folly of trying
Ia seem what we are not. and DESTROYING
the reality of peace to keep up the ar-
pca.ancc of pride,


4 few Of the twenty may never marry
for it is evident :hat the proportion of
marriages does net increase among the
educated class in America, especially
among those who are trained To study
actions in their consequences and to tenn
per impulse by discretion; ard the mo
mcnt the mercantile habit Of counting the
cost prevails the listo marriages signally
| falls.


We coufcSs that We are advocates for
marriage, and for marriages as early as
the laws OF health and the dictates Of
prudence allow. Young people are saved
from many evils by identifying their whole
destiny with each other, and the wlie's
purity, and the husbands affections are
then in the best possible keeping; under
Gods law and Chr;st's grace. We believe
that true Christian vile has purity that
angels may not scorn, and many a man
might covct, and that the man who keeps
his marriage VOWS need not ask OF any
monk for lessons in manly virtne. The
longer we live the more We reverence
Gods obyions lava, and the less admire
the devices of men against marriage, and
so undertake to be wiser than God.


We 10 not incline TO follow those alleg-
ell refocmer5 who promise TO bring on a
new future Of woman hy making her
the rival Of man. We are ready To &c =.
qniescc in all reasonable efforts to rid her
of legal and social burlcns-to secure 70
her due rights Of person, property, and
employment. We hclieye that much
wider field should be opened for her gifts.
and that many branches of art both use
ful and ornamental have been wrongly
closed against her At the same tima she
is herself and not man, and she is made
less effective instead of more so by train
ing her to initiate man either in speech
manner, or costume. The masculine
school, of woman's rights reformers have
hurt the sex whom they profese to be-
friend, by dsparaging the traits most
characteristic of their nature, and giving
ti.em certain b0ldness and hardness that
fail of being manly and are ashamed OF
being womanly.