And whilst he goes abroad and enjoys the means of enchancment afforded by collision of intellect with cultivated minds, his spouse is condemned to draw practically all her instruction from books, if she has time to peruse them; and if not, from her meditations, while engaged in those home duties, which are crucial for the consolation of her lord and grasp. I shall only comment that it’d effectively swimsuit the poet’s fancy, who sings to me utterly inconsistent with the dignity of a Christian body, to endeavor to draw such an antiscriptural distinction between men and women. She is in obligation bound to communicate with all, who are in a position and willing to help her in saving her fellow creatures, each women and men, from that destruction which awaits them. She views herself, and teaches her youngsters to regard themselves as moral beings; and in all their intercourse with their fellow males, to lose the animal nature of man and girl, in the recognition of that immortal thoughts wherewith Jehovah has blessed and enriched them. We especially deplore the intimate acquaintance and promiscuous conversation of females with regard to issues ‘which ought not to be named,’ by which that modesty and delicacy, which is the charm of domestic life, and which constitutes the true influence of woman, is consumed.’ How wonderful that the conceptions of man relative to woman are so low, that he cannot perceive that she might converse on any subject connected with the improvement of her species, without swerving within the least from that modesty which is one in all her biggest virtues!
Nothing, I believe, has tended more to destroy the true dignity of woman, than the truth that she is approached by man in the character of a female. Now I imagine will probably be inconceivable for girl to fill the station assigned her by God, till her brethren mingle with her as an equal, as a ethical being; and lose, within the dignity of her immortal nature, and in the fact of her bearing like himself the picture and superscription of her God, the concept of her being a feminine. The idea that she is sought as an clever and heaven-born creature, whose society will cheer, refine and elevate her companion, and that she will obtain the same blessings she confers, isn’t held as much as her view. This concept I utterly reprobate. The general Association say, that ‘when girl assumes the place and tone of man as a public performer, our care and safety of her seem unnecessary; we put ourselves in self-defense against her, and her character becomes unnatural.’ Here again the unscriptural notion is held up, that there is a distinction between the duties of men and women as ethical beings; that what is advantage in man, is vice in lady; and ladies who dare to obey the command of Jehovah, ‘Cry aloud, spare not, elevate up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression,’ are threatened with having the protection of the brethren withdrawn.
Two things may right here be noticed; first, the value set upon personal charms, simply as a handsome horse commands a excessive price; and second, the utter disregard which is manifested in direction of the emotions of girl. So far from lady dropping any factor of the purity of her mind, by visiting the wretched victims of vice in their miserable abodes, by talking with them, or of them, she becomes increasingly more elevated and refined in her feelings and views. I generally discover that prayer can evoke sexual emotions of want in me. By way of earnings, important inequalities could be observed among the French départements. The final victory in the Hundred Years’ War marked an vital stage in the evolution of French structure. LETTER IV. SOCIAL INTERCOURSE OF THE SEXES. MY Dear Friend,-Before I proceed with the account of that oppression which woman has suffered in every age and nation from her protector, man, permit me to offer to your consideration, some views relative to the social intercourse of the sexes. I have suffered too keenly from the teaching of man, to lead any one to him for instruction.
HE Teach in the way in which that he shall choose.’-‘I will instruct thee and Teach thee in the way in which which thou shalt go-I’ll guide thee with mine eye’-the young convert is directed to go to man, as if her have been within the place of God, and his instruction important to an advancement in the path of righteousness. Woman has inflicted an harm upon herself by submitting to be thus regarded; and she is now called upon to rise from the station the place man, not God, has positioned her, and declare these sacred and inalienable rights, as a moral and accountable being, with which her Creator has invested her. She should feel, if she feels rightly, that she is fulfiling one of the vital duties laid upon her as an accountable being, and that her character, as a substitute of being ‘unnatural,’ is in precise accordance with the desire of Him to whom, and to no different, she is answerable for the skills and the gifts confided to her. Her personal thoughts being purified and elevated, she instils into her children that genuine religion which induces them to maintain the commandments of God.