el is precisely such
as the Apostle recommended that Christian females should avoid; while
the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is thrown wholly out of the
account. They have no books, and no means of moral or intellectual
improvement. It is considered a disgrace for a female to know how to
read and write, and a serious obstacle to her marriage, which is the
principal object of the parent's heart. This abhorrence of learning in
females, exists most strongly in the higher classes. Nearly every pupil
in our school is very indigent. Of God's word they understand nothing,
for a girl is taken to church perhaps but once a year, where nothing is
seen among the women but talking and trifling; of course she attaches no
solemnity to the worship of God. No sweet domestic circle of father,
brother, mother and sister, all capable of promoting mutual cheerfulness
and improvement, greets her in her own house. I do not mean to imply
that there exists no family affection among them, for this tie is often
very strong; but it has no foundation in respect, and is not employed to
promote elevation of character. The men sit and smoke their pipes in one
apartment, while in another the women cluster upon the floor, and with
loud and vociferous voices gossip with their neighbors. The very
language of the females is of a lower order than that of the men, which
renders it almost impossible for them to comprehend spiritual and
abstract subjects, when first presented to their minds. I know not how
often, when I have attempted to converse with them, they have
acknowledged that they did not understand me, or have interrupted me by
alluding to some mode or article of dress, or something quite as
foolish." "Thus you see, my young friends, how unhappy is the condition
of the females of Syria, and how many laborers are wanted to cultivate
this wide field. On the great day of final account, the young females of
Syria, of India, of every inhabited portion of the globe, who are upon
the stage of life with you, will rise up, either to call you blessed,
or to enhance your condemnation." "God is furnishing American females
their high privileges, with the intention of calling them forth into the
wide fields of ignorance and error, which the world exhibits. I look
over my country and think of the hundreds and thousands of young ladies,
intelligent, amiable and capable, who are assembled in schools and
academies there; and then turn my eye to Jerusalem, Hebron,