y to destroy, it is
happiness to save; and Oh! what a noble work there is before our nation!
Where is there a young man who would consent to lead an aimless life
when there are such glorious opportunities before him? Before our young
men is another battle--not a battle of flashing swords and clashing
steel--but a moral warfare, a battle against ignorance, poverty, and low
social condition. In physical warfare the keenest swords may be blunted
and the loudest batteries hushed; but in the great conflict of moral and
spiritual progress your weapons shall be brighter for their service and
better for their use. In fighting truly and nobly for others you win the
victory for yourselves.

Give power and significance to your own life, and in the great work of
upbuilding there is room for woman's work and woman's heart. Oh, that
our hearts were alive and our vision quickened, to see the grandeur of
the work that lies before. We have some culture among us, but I think
our culture lacks enthusiasm. We need a deep earnestness and a lofty
unselfishness to round out our lives. It is the inner life that develops
the outer, and if we are in earnest the precious things lie all around
our feet, and we need not waste our strength in striving after the dim
and unattainable. Women, in your golden youth; mother, binding around
your heart all the precious ties of life,--let no magnificence of
culture, or amplitude of fortune, or refinement of sensibilities, repel
you from helping the weaker and less favored. If you have ampler gifts,
hold them as larger opportunities with which you can benefit others. Oh,
it is better to feel that the weaker and feebler our race the closer we
will cling to them, than it is to isolate ourselves from them in
selfish, or careless unconcern, saying there is a lion without. Inviting
you to this work I do not promise you fair sailing and unclouded skies.
You may meet with coolness where you expect sympathy; disappointment
where you feel sure of success; isolation and loneliness instead of
heart-support and co-operation. But if your lives are based and built
upon these divine certitudes, which are the only enduring strength of
humanity, then whatever defeat and discomfiture may overshadow your
plans or frustrate your schemes, for a life that is in harmony with God
and sympathy for man there is no such word as fail. And in conclusion,
permit me to say, let no misfortunes crush you; no hostility of enemies
or failure o