that the good are happy, that honesty is the best policy, etc., are of
no avail. They will not do as a guide for life, and the sooner American
mothers and teachers learn this, the better for America.

When the girl yields in every direction unquestioning obedience to Duty,
she is virtuous, and she is virtuous only in so far as she does this.
But as duty rules in every direction, to God, to the State, Society, the
Family, and ourselves, and as her voice is as authoritative at one time
as at another, it follows that no one virtue can be said to be superior
to any other. Those of us who have had the widest experience have
learned that the whole hierarchy of virtues generally stand or fall
together, for they are all only the making actual of simple duty.

I quote again from Rosenkranz, with regard to a habit often found among
girls: "The pupil must be warned against a certain moral negligence,
which consists in yielding to certain weaknesses, faults or crimes, a
little longer and a little longer, because he has fixed a certain time,
after which he intends to do better. Perhaps he will assert that his
companions, his surroundings, his position must be changed before he can
alter his internal conduct. Wherever education or temperament favors
sentimentality, we shall find birthdays, New Year's day, confirmation
day, etc., selected as these turning points. It is not to be denied that
man proceeds, in his internal life, from epoch to epoch, and renews
himself in his most internal nature, nor can we deny that moments like
those mentioned are especially favorable in man to an effort towards
self-transformation, because they invite introspection; but it is not to
be endured that the youth, while looking forward to such a moment,
should consciously persist in his wrong doing. If he does, when the
solemn moment which he has set, at last arrives, he will, at the
stirring of the first emotion, perceive with terror that he has changed
nothing in himself, that the same temptations are present to him, and
the same weakness takes possession of him. * * * In morality there are
no vacations and no interims."[27]

The power of voluntary Renunciation is another power which the educator
has to develop in the girl. It can be cultivated, of course, only by
judicious exercise.

But the formation of Character is the great work of the educator, for
this may be said to be the object of a woman's existence. Character has
been defined as "a complete