Readings for the young.
By S. S.
No. IV.
ALTHOUGH the subject upon which
I now shall treat is one which more able pens have
done full justice, still its immense importance must
be my excuse for dwelling upon so trite a theme.
There are times when the same
thoughts and words to which we have often listened
with a careless ear will make a permanent impression
upon our minds, and we wonder that heretofore they
were not in unison with our feelings, or that we
were not before struck with their force and truth.
It has been said by an able
writer, “Show me your women, and I will tell you
what your men are!” For, according to the degree of
virtue and refinement existing in the former, so in
proportion will be found to exist pure sentiments
and intellectual vigour in the latter.
The Most High has himself
proclaimed that “it was not good for man to be
alone,” but that it was necessary to “make a help
meet for him,” a being who could share his joys,
sympathize with him in sorrow, counsel him in peril,
and support his tottering strength in the day of his
affliction. As the world became overshadowed by
wickedness, woman stooped from this high destiny,
and her spirituality was lost by her sinking into
the mere sharer of the criminal pleasures of man;
and with but few exceptions, the true dignity of her
character was not reasserted until the foundation of
the Jewish commonwealth. Then she shone forth in all
her original purity and truth. The mother of
prophets, and imbued herself with prophetic fire,
yet did she not neglect the most important. of her
duties. The beauty of her character was reflected on
her husband, without lessening any of his manly
dignity. Her children gained the honour and respect
of the aged and of the young; for had they not
learned virtue and wisdom from her lofty example?
Her acts had ever been the exponents
<<303>>of her
precepts, and she had taught her offspring ever
to do thy right, and leave the consequences to God.
What a different moral phase would the world now
present, had the Hebrew mothers all acted thus! Not
then would our harps have hung unstrung upon thy
willows, O Babylon! From the luxury and
licentiousness of King Solomon’s reign may we date
the commencement of the downfall of the Hebrew
nation. The mighty tree had been pierced at the
core; and though it retained freshness and vitality
in some of its branches, its fall, though prolonged,
could not be averted, and she who had been the pride
and boast of kingdoms, became their scorn and jest
Had the mother of Solomon been
a Deborah or a Hannah, how different might have been
our fate! The mother that could forget the sacred
ties that bound her to her husband, and wed him who
had been that husband’s destroyer, scarcely could
imbue the mind of the infant prince with a lasting
love for holiness and purity, which, like bright
jewels, alone should shine on the maternal brow. The
love of virtue for virtue’s self, should be
implanted at the first stage of existence, if we
wish to reap its fruit at the portals of the tomb.
And the Creator, to the exhaustless love of a
mother, added those finer sensibilities which
enabled her to bind her children (if she was
conscious of her power, and knew how to direct it)
to her by ties which no force could sever, no time
could weaken; sympathies which never lost their
freshness or strength, and which enabled her to
enter and share all the joys and sorrows of her
children—to soothe, to counsel, and to guide them.
When the mind, in its first innocence and
joyousness, plumes itself for flight, but shrinks
back with pain at meeting the laugh of derision, or
the smile of pity from those who comprehend not the
holiness and beauty of a youthful enthusiasm, whose
hand but a mother’s can withdraw the cankering dart?
When early manhood, in its young ambition, with
eager haste seeks to realize those day-dreams whose
iris rays have coloured all the scenes through which
his imagination has wandered, but to discover the
vast chasm that exists between the ideal and the
real, where will he find sympathy?—whence will he
draw new vigour and hope, but from the pure fountain
of a mother’s love?
If, then, what history affirms
is true, that “the wise, the great, the good,” owe
much of their superiority to the superior virtues,
<<304>>intellectuality, and judgment of their
mothers, how noble is that self-denial! how exalted
that ambition! which would induce her to conquer and
root out all of passion in herself, all tendencies
to evil (even at the expense of her maternal
feelings) in those whom the Most High has consigned
to her guardianship, that her name might be placed
amidst the most pleasing memories of man—that it
might simply be said that she was their mother!—that
her children lived not alone for themselves, but
for others!—that duty to them was a pleasure, and,
their conduct was without fear and above reproach!
that so true were they to their country, so faithful
in their friendships, so humble in their piety, that
“none knew them but to love, none named them but to
praise!”
Daughters of Israel, if such be
your ambition, ought you not, ere you assume the
duties of mothers, first to prepare yourselves for
the task? Can you look around you, and see your
Sabbaths violated, your religion desecrated by the
descendants of that “holy nation”—that “wise and
understanding people,” who, in their petty cares for
physical wants, forget the store they should lay up
for a spiritual existence—and know that had those
that first taught their infant lips to lisp the name
of God been capable of guiding aright their tender
charges through all the dangers and quicksands which
beset the paths of youth, and instilled into their
minds a proper appreciation of their past history,
and the bright and blissful future which they have
the power to realize for themselves by the due
observance of those virtues inculcated by their
sacred faith, we should not now have to mourn over
our degeneracy,—and hesitate in preparing yourselves
to properly fulfil your high and holy duty?
Think you that high religious
feelings, useful and necessary knowledge, and
intellectual attainments, will render you less
lovely in the eyes of your youthful choice?—or that
he will prefer a beautiful form to a beautiful
soul?—or a mind with which he can reason—a
companion, a friend—to a play mate,—one fit for the
sunshine, and not for the shade? If any of you
entertain such ideas, how terrible will be your
awakening! Accomplishments may weary; beauty may
fade, or companionship soon rob it of its power; and
happiness, on its butterfly wings, elude your grasp.
Will it be easy then to retrieve the ground already
lost? Will affection return at our bidding, and
shall we persuade hap<<305>>piness once more to
abide with us? By earnest striving, by steps weary
and slow, by prayerful trust in our Maker’s
goodness; peace may again irradiate our homes, and
the bitterness of the past be remembered no more.
But would it not be better, far better, to lay early
the foundation of that happiness which is beyond
the reach of accident or time? a happiness owing
nothing to beauty, to riches, or to position, but
laying its basis upon our holy religion, imbibing
therefrom its pure and exalted precepts, and
cultivating those traits of character which inspire
the beholder with the love and the reverence due to
a sweet womanly nature, that cares only to be the
centre of a happy household—rejoicing in the
sunshine that her own smile has thrown around
it—herself the light, the hope, the joy of her
family circle; and as the days of youth draw to a
close, and the evening of existence approaches, to
feel that in the esteem of her friends, the love and
approval of her husband. the affection of her
children, she is and shall be blessed? |
