ism; folly dancing to the tune of ignorant mirth; intemperance
gloating over its roast beef, or whisky-jug, brandy punch, champagne
bottle, bearing thousands upon thousands down to the grave of ignominy,
sensualism, and drunkenness. Is there not a need of more vigorous virtue
in woman? Is there not a call for a more active religion, a more
powerful impulse in behalf of morality? Who shall heed this cry of
wicked, wasting humanity, if young woman does not? To youthful woman we
must look for a powerful leader in the cause of morality and religion.
The girls of to-day are to be greatly instrumental in giving a moral
complexion to the society of to-morrow. It is important that they should
fix high this standard of virtue. They ought to lay well their
foundations of religion. They ought early to baptize their souls in the
consecrated waters of truth and right.

I. The first element in their moral character which they should seek to
establish firmly is _purity_. A pure heart is the fountain of life. "The
pure in heart shall see God." Not only is purity of life needed to make
a young woman beautiful and useful, but purity in thought, feeling,
emotion, and motive. All within us that lies open to the gaze of God
should be pure. A young woman should be in heart what she seems to be in
life. Her words should correspond with her thoughts. The smile of her
face should be the smile of her heart. The light of her eye should be
the light of her soul. She should abhor deception; she should loathe
intrigue; she should have a deep disgust of duplicity. Her life should
be the outspoken language of her mind, the eloquent poem of her soul
speaking in rhythmic beauties the intrinsic merit of inward purity.
Purity antecedes all spiritual attainments and progress. It is the first
and fundamental virtue in a good character; it is the letter A in the
moral alphabet; it is the first step in the spiritual life; it is the
Alpha of the eternal state of soul which has no Omega. Whatever may be
our mental attainments or social qualities, we are nothing without
purity; only "tinkling cymbals." Our love is stained, our benevolence
corrupted, our piety a pretense which God will not accept. An impure
young woman is an awful sight. She outrages all just ideas of womankind,
all proper conceptions of spiritual beauty. To have evil imaginings,
corrupt longings, or deceitful propensities ought to startle any young
woman. To feel a disposition to sensuality, a cr