. In
no heart is selfishness more ugly. To do good is noble; to be good is
nobler. This should be the aim of all young women. The poor and needy
should occupy a large place in their hearts. The sick and suffering
should move upon their sympathies. The sinful and criminal should awaken
their deepest pity. The oppressed and down-trodden should find a large
place in their compassion. How blessed is woman on errands of mercy! How
sweet are her soothing words to the disconsolate! How consoling her
tears of sympathy to the mourning! How fresh her spirit of hope to the
discouraged! How soft her hand to the sick! How balmy the breath of her
love to the oppressed! Woman appears in one of her loveliest aspects
when she appears as the practical follower of Him who "went about doing
good." The young woman who does these works of practical benevolence is
educating her moral powers in the school of earnest and glorious life.
She is laying the foundations for a noble and useful womanhood. She is
planting the seeds of a charity that will grow to bless and save the
suffering of our fellow-men. In no other way can she so successfully
cultivate the virtue of benevolence. It is not enough that she pity the
sorrows of the poor and suffering. Her hand must be taught to heed the
pleadings of her pitying heart. What she feels, she must do. What she
wishes, she must make an effort to accomplish. What she prays for, she
must strive to attain. Everybody predicts a beautiful life from a
good-doing young woman.

Active and cheerful should be every young woman's efforts for the
needy. Thus will she make to herself a large heart of benevolence, and
draw around her a large circle of admiring and worthy friends.

The third virtue which the young woman should cultivate is _integrity,
or the sentiment of duty_. A German philosopher has poetically and
truthfully said, "The two most beautiful things in the universe are the
starry heavens above our heads and the sentiment of duty in the human
soul." Few objects are richer for the contemplation of a truly
high-minded man than a young woman who lives, acts, speaks, and exerts
her powers from an enlightened conviction of duty; in whose soul the
voice of duty is the voice of God. In such women there is a mighty force
of moral power. Though they may be gentle as the lamb, or retiring and
modest in their demeanor, there is in them what commands respect, what
enforces esteem. They are the strong women. The sun is