rk hours of life. What true woman would not prefer that
the statue erected to her honor should be of the delicate ivory, rather
than of brass, that emblem of boldness?

She who would follow Christ, must, I am sure, take generally the
sequestered path of private charity, rather than live for the public
gaze, though it were that of the host of officers and members of all the
benevolent societies in Christendom. Who were the women, whose charities
are engraven on the eternal records of the New Testament? Private
almoners, Joanna, Mary Magdalen, Susanna, and others "ministered unto
their Lord of their substance," by personal attendance.

But still farther, in the intercourse of Society, woman has duties
appropriate to her sex, grave and weighty duties. I would not that she
engage in a single pursuit, that shall disqualify her for this function.
If she degrade herself to the rank of a painted image, decked in apparel
to charm simpletons, or if she flutter in the breeze of silly speeches
and simpering airs, she is a traitress to her nature. She goes out,
deplorably out, of her sphere.

Nor would I that, by sun-burnt labors and field-tasks, she should bronze
herself, and lose that refinement, which is a guardian to her virtue,
and the anchor of her spiritual hope. A coarse woman, she who fails in
all the attractions and graces of her sex, and who is a corrupter of
good society, steps sadly aside from her place. While Christian
gentleness, seeking to render all happy, and Christian purity, frowning
on every shade of guilt, in social intercourse, are the true praise of
this sex.

Lord Halifax, in his advice to his daughter, observes, "Nature hath made
you such large amends for the seeming injustice of the first
distribution, that the right of complaining is come over to our sex. You
have it in your power, not only to free yourselves but to subdue your
masters, and without violence, throw both their natural and legal
authority at your feet. We are made of different tempers, that our
defects may be mutually supplied. Your sex wanteth our reason for your
conduct, and our strength for your protection; ours wanteth your
gentleness to soften, and entertain us. The first part of our life is a
good deal subjected to you in the nursery, where you reign, without
competition, and by that means, have the advantage of giving the first
impressions. Afterwards you have stronger influences, which well
managed, have more force on your behalf