epter of authority among men.
Wherever cultivated woman dwells, there is refinement, intellectual and
moral power, life in its highest form. To be a cultivated woman, one
must commence early and make this the grand aim of her life. Whether she
work or play, travel or remain at home, converse with friends or study
books, gaze at flowers or toil in the kitchen, visit the pleasure party
or the sanctuary of God, she should keep her object before her mind and
tax all her powers for its attainment. She must learn to make the most
of opportunities. One fault with our young women is, that opportunities
avail them but little. They see much and perceive but little, talk much
and think but little, hear much and learn but little, read much and
acquire but little.

I suppose almost every young woman has seen many steamboats, yet it may
be doubtful whether one understands the mechanical principle by which
they are propelled and directed. They have seen the flowers and
vegetation, birds and beasts, of our region of country, and yet they
doubtless are about as ignorant of them as of the products of the torrid
zone. They live under our form of government, yet how many know wherein
it differs from other governments! They have heard or read of almost
every science, yet how little acquainted are they with the commonest
principles of science! They have all had their countenances
daguerreotyped, yet who knows how it is done? They all wear silk,
cotton, linen, yet who knows the history of either one of these articles
of apparel? They have bodies "fearfully and wonderfully made," yet how
little they know of their structure, laws, and uses! They have minds,
beautiful and immortal gifts of divine wisdom and goodness, yet how
little attention have they given to learn their principles of action!
All around them are little worlds of every-day things upon which they
have never bestowed a passing thought, things which are full of
interest; yet the common habit of seeing much and thinking little has
led them into this same superficial habit. It is like the young man of
whom I was told a few days since, who had traveled all over the world,
rode on every sea and ocean, and visited every principal seaport, and
yet knew nothing of any of them. It is a sad fault with us all, and
especially with women--we don't _think_ enough. The mass of young women
trifle a great portion of their life away on the smallest imaginable
things. They chatter like birds and gab