of penetrating the heart in a way unknown and impracticable to man;
her never-failing presence of mind, and personal attention on all
occasions; her numerous and fertile resources in the management of her
domestic affairs; her ever ready access and willing audience to all
who need her; her freedom of thought and action in the midst of
the most agonizing sufferings and accumulated embarrassments; her
elasticity,--may I say her perseverance,--in spite of feebleness; her
tact to practise it, were it not instinctive; her extreme perfection
in little things; ... her incomparable skill in re-awakening a
sleeping conscience, in re-opening a heart that has long been closed;
in fine, innumerable are the things which she accomplishes, and which
man can neither discern nor offset without the aid of her eye and
hand. Thus, mentally as well as physically, is she predestined for a
work and sphere different from those of her stronger companions. And,
as everything is beautiful in its place and season, so is woman most
beautiful and useful when, like a modest flower, she blooms in
the privacy for which her nature fits her, and perfumes, with the
fragrance of her character, the hallowed precincts of home."[A] "No
man," says Mr. Jay, "was ever proof against the kindness of a sensible
woman; but where, in all history, can an instance be produced in which
an ascendency over him has been obtained by forwardness, scolding, and
strife for preeminence? No wife has such influence with, or even such
control over, her husband, as

"'She who never answers till her husband cools,
Or, if she rules him, never shows she rules;
Charms by accepting, by submission sways,
Yet has her humor most when she obeys.'"

[Footnote A: Woman's Sphere and Work, by Rev. Wm. Landels, D.D.,
London.]

2. Woman's mission is social as well as domestic. The domestic part
of her life is the garden, in which the seed is planted, which brings
forth the flower of social joy. A woman who is the soul of a beautiful
home is a power in society. No matter what her talents may be, let it
be known that she is a slattern at home, and she is without influence.
The pen may serve as a feather to adorn her social life, but it looks
mean when the use of it causes the neglect of the needle.

Woman may be a secret power in the home. She may make home attractive
to the refined and cultured, and thus prove to be the magnet
attracting to herself and to her fireside those gifted so