e true
to its highest ideas of affectionate life. In no particular do they make
impressions of strong moral force. They do not exert the deep,
resistless influence of full-grown womanhood. The great lack of young
women is a lack of _power_. They do not make themselves felt. They need
more force of character. It is not enough that they are _pure_. They
must be virtuous; that is, they must possess that virtue which wins
laurels in the face of temptation; which is backed by a mighty force of
moral principle; which frowns on evil with a rebuking authority; which
will not compromise its dignity, nor barter its prerogatives for the
gold or fame of the world, the very frown of which would annihilate him
who would attempt to seduce it; which claims as its right such virtue in
its associates. There is a virtue which commands respect; which awes by
its dignity and strength; a virtue exhibited in such commanding strength
of moral purpose as silences every vile wish to degrade it; a virtue
that knows why it hates evil, why it loves right, why it cleaves to
principle as to life; a virtue more mighty in its potency than any other
force--which gives a sublime grandeur to the soul in which it dwells and
the life it inspires. This is the virtue that belongs to womanhood. It
is the virtue every young woman should possess. It is not enough to have
an easy kind of virtue which more than half courts temptation; which is
pure more from a fear of society's rebuke than a love of right; which
rebukes sin so faintly that the sinner feels encouraged to proceed;
which smiles on small offenses, and kindly fondles the pet evils of
society out of which in the end grow the monsters. This is the virtue of
too many women. They would not have a drunkard for a husband, but they
would drink a glass of wine with a fast young man. They would not use
profane language, but they are not shocked by its incipient language,
and love the society of men whom they know are as profane as Lucifer out
of their presence. They would not be dishonest, but they will use a
thousand deceitful words and ways, and countenance the society of men
known as hawkers, sharpers, and deceivers. They would not be
irreligious, but they smile upon the most irreligious men, and even show
that they love to be wooed by them. They would not be licentious, but
they have no stunning rebuke for licentious men, and will even admit
them on parol into their society. This is the virtue of too many
wo