Read Ebook: Aims and Aids for Girls and Young Women On the Various Duties of Life Physical Intellectual And Moral Development; Self-Culture Improvement Dress Beauty Fashion Employment Education The Home Relations Their Duties To Young Men Marriage Womanhood And Happin by Weaver G S George Sumner

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Lecture One.

GIRLHOOD.

Lecture Two.

BEAUTY.

God a Lover of Beauty--Every thing in the Universe Beautiful--The Admirer of Beauty should Reverence its Author--The Love of Beauty elevating in its Tendency--Its Abuses Fearful--Man a Part of Nature, and God in all--Woman the most Perfect Type of Beauty--Youthful Woman exposed to great Temptation--Beauty a Charming, but Dangerous Gift--The most Beautiful should be the most Pious--Beauty of Person Worthless without Loveliness of Character--"Strong-minded" Women not Beautiful--Beauty the Nurse of Vanity--Value of Character depreciates with Increase of Beauty when substituted for Moral Worth--Beauty only Skin-deep--Beauty Two-fold: Inward and Outward--Inward Beauty shines through--Beauty of Soul made Washington, Josephine, and Channing glorious--Every Woman may be Beautiful--Cheerfulness, Agreeable Manners, a Correct Taste, and Kindness should be Cultivated 22-40

Lecture Three.

DRESS.

Lecture Four.

FASHION.

Fashion made Superior to Health--Fashionable Religion--Unfashionable Ministers--Votaries of Fashion Despise it--Fashionable Women Short-lived--Mothers of Great Men Unfashionable--Woman's Greatness shown in Offspring--Example of Women of Fashion--Apostrophe to Fashion--Appeal to American Women--Nature in Freedom's Temple--Fashion is Monotonous--Woman needs more Freedom 58-72

Lecture Five.

EDUCATION.

Life a School--Education a Work of Progress--Schools of Vice--Every Circumstance a Teacher--Kinds of Education--Female Education--True Womanly Ambition--Improve your Opportunities--Principles should be Understood--Time Trifled Away--Some Excuses--Society Needs Woman's Influence--Education as it is--Girls should have Something to Live For 73-87

Lecture Six.

PHYSICAL AND INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT.

Natural Position of Woman--Relations of Body and Mind--Sound Minds only in Sound Bodies--To be Healthy is a Duty--Physical Laws Obligatory--Penalties for Violation--Girls and their Grandmothers--Causes of Difference--Physiological Studies Advised--Women the "Weaker Vessel;" Why?--Intelligence and Beauty--Woman's Sound Judgment--Woman's Mind not Powerless--Finished Educations--Education at Home--Schools only Helps to Education--Woman's Thought Wanted 88-105

Lecture Seven.

MORAL AND SOCIAL CULTURE.

Woman Judges by Impressions--Mental Powers should Harmonize--Effects of Different Culture--Male and Female Minds Differ--The Female Mind Analyzed--Feminine Purity--Woman's Benevolence--The Sentiment of Duty--Integrity in Woman--Cultivate Regard for Truth--Piety the Crown of Moral Virtues--Cultivation of Piety Urged--Development of Social Nature--Friendship and Love 106-121

Lecture Eight.

EMPLOYMENT.

Employment a Duty--Powers Developed by Labor--All Females are not Women--Dependence Usually Ignoble--Adversity gives Strength--Girls should have Trades--Self-reliance necessary to Women--Do Something and Be Something--Riches no Excuse for Idleness--Employment gives Activity and Strength--Labor considered Vulgar--Life is given for Employment--Woman was Made for Usefulness 122-135

Lecture Nine.

HOME.

Maternal Love--Ideas of Future Home Universal--Heaven's Home Perfected--Home the Garden of Virtue--Home Influence Permanent--Home is Woman's World--Place does not constitute Home--Our Homes will be like us--Home a Sensitive Place--Home Habits Second Nature 136-147

Lecture Ten.

THE RELATIONS AND DUTIES OF YOUNG WOMEN TO YOUNG MEN.

The Primary Principles of Being--Life is full of Solemnities--Influence of the Sexes--Influence depends on Culture--Men Reverence Female Worth--Much Influence is directly Evil--Woman should demand Morality--Errors of Society--The Sexes too much Separated--Equality of Moral Standards--Female Encouragement and Counsel--Time Trifled, Worse than Lost 148-160

Lecture Eleven.

MARRIAGE.

Unhappy Marriages--Marriage has its Laws--The Second Question in Life--Be sure you are Right--For Better or for Worse--Know whom thou Marriest--Marriage a Holy Institution--Marriage should be made a Study--Marriage is not for Children--Early Marriages Inadvisable--What are Early Marriages?--Influence of an Ignorant Wife--Woman the Hope of the World--Married Life must be lived well--Love should rule all 161-176

Lecture Twelve.

RELIGIOUS DUTIES.

Our Father in Heaven--Moral Obligations and Religious Duties--Impiety of Professed Christians--Deficiency of Religious Gratitude--Gratitude makes Life Cheerful--Religion gives Joy to Life--Love, the Seed of Religion--The Religion of Christ--Woman's Heart a Natural Shrine--Religion fit for all Conditions--Love for the Unseen--Personal Acquaintance not necessary for Love--The Idea of God Spontaneous--It is the Unseen we Love--Life well lived is Glorious 177-191

Lecture Thirteen.

WOMANHOOD.

Woman not an Adornment only--Civilization Elevates Woman--Woman not what She should be--Woman's Influence Over-rated--Force of Character Necessary--The Virtue of True Womanhood--Passion is not always Love--True Love is only for Worth--Good Behavior and Deportment--Spiritual Harmony Desirable--Importance of Self-control--What shall Woman do--Strive to be a True Woman 192-204

Lecture Fourteen.

HAPPINESS.

Happiness Desired--Fretful People--Motes in the Eye--We Were Made for Happiness--Sorrow has Useful Lessons--Happiness a Duty--Despondency Is Irreligious--Pleasure not always Happiness--The Misuse of the World--Contentment necessary to Happiness--Happiness must be sought aright--Truly seeking we shall Find--Our Success not always Essential--Happiness often Found Unexpectedly--Happiness overcomes Circumstances--A Tendency to Murmuring--God Rules over All--Health necessary to Happiness--Disease is Sinful--God Loves a Happy Soul--Happiness Possible to All 205-224

AIMS AND AIDS.

Lecture One.

GIRLHOOD.

A second duty devolves upon Girlhood. It is to preserve its physical health and strength. The richest mind is of but little avail to the world if locked up in a feeble, sickly body. The noblest character would not half make its impression on the world if it was imprisoned in weakness and barricaded with disease. A woman can not be herself unless she possesses physical as well as mental and moral strength. Girlhood has both beauty and strength. Why may they not be carried into womanhood? Shall not the wife and mother retain the beauty and health of the girl? Shall not the woman retain the physical integrity of the girl? There is no good reason why she shall not. Health and strength were made to be life-lasting, or nearly so. So beauty is a rich gift of the Divine Artist given for life. Why should we dissipate it in an hour? It is ungrateful, impious to do it. We ought to prize and retain it as a divine benefaction. God could as well have made Girlhood ugly as beautiful. His wisdom and love chose to make it a model of grace and elegance. Has he laid a necessity upon woman's nature that this beauty shall last but an hour? Far from it. On the other hand, he has made every provision for its preservation. Why, then, is it not preserved? Simply because Girlhood is not instructed in the science of health or life. And this is not so much the fault of young women as it is of parents and society. We study astronomy in all our schools, but where is a class instructed in the economy of health? True, some go through a text-book on physiology, but how meager is the instruction there gleaned relative to the preservation of health, and how few ever think of putting into practice what they do get! When physiologists say that pure air, much exercise, comfortable and airy dress, frequent bathing, sufficient sleep, a plain, simple diet, and regular habits, with a peaceful and active mind, are essential to health, how many young women heed the instruction? Now of what avail will a good character be without health to apply its forces to the work of life? Of what avail is a good boiler and a high pressure of steam to the engineer if his engine is all out of order, so that it has neither strength nor freedom to work? So it is with a good character in a fragile, broken-down body. If there was any other way to use the forces of a good character than through the medium of a physical engine, health would not be a matter of so much importance; but as there is not, it is clear that for all the active, benevolent, and useful purposes of this life, health is about as important as character. Neither is of much utility alone. A boiler pressed full of steam would be useless without an engine to use and apply its forces, and the engine would be as useless without the boiler. Why, then, is Girlhood so prodigal of its health and strength? Why does it imprison itself in close, hot rooms? Why live on a diet that no brute could bear? Why confine every limb and muscle of its body? Why engirdle its waist in warmth and cordage, and expose its feet to every storm and frost, to mud and snow? It is useless to talk, and preach, and write about the value of a good character unless we couple it with an equally earnest lesson about the value of health. It is useless for Girlhood to be anxious about its moral character unless it is equally anxious about its physical character. If we have no right to cultivate a bad character, we have no right to abuse the only means by which a good character can be of use to the world. If we have no moral right to set a bad example before our fellow-men, we have no right to weaken and disease a good physical organization. And it would be difficult to show the reasoning at fault, should we conclude that we have no more moral right to be sick than we have to sin. But we hope to say more on this subject before our work is done.

Still another duty presses upon Girlhood. It relates to a livelihood, to the practical work of pushing its way through life. Woman must eat, wear, be sheltered, educated, protected, warmed, and amused, as much as any other human being. She can not be thus supplied except by charity or her own labor. It is degrading to accept of all life's necessities at the hand of charity. No woman possessed of a genuine womanly character will do it. The character would forbid that she should do it. She must then be independent, or as much so as any are. She must have some livelihood. She must not only have a good character and good health, but an ability to do something for herself and others. Both character and health would be of little avail if she was a shiftless, homeless, useless know-nothing in relation to all the great activities of life, by which we secure the necessaries and comforts of our existence. It is through useful industry and labor that the rarest beauties and forces of character shine. Men show themselves great and good in their professions and callings. The man whose hands are taught no skill, who is trained to no profession, is a ninny, or nearly so. Why is not a woman who is equally useless? Characters must have some way to embody themselves in an outward form to be of service to the world. The best way is in devotion to some useful calling or profession, by which our powers may be called upon for their best efforts in a direction that shall promise a full reward for ourselves and a good surplus for our fellow-men.

Lecture Two.

BEAUTY.

God a Lover of Beauty--Every thing in the Universe Beautiful--The Admirer of Beauty should Reverence its Author--The Love of Beauty elevating in its Tendency--Its Abuses Fearful--Man a Part of Nature, and God in all--Woman the most Perfect Type of Beauty--Youthful Woman exposed to great Temptation--Beauty a Charming, but Dangerous Gift--The most Beautiful should be the most Pious--Beauty of Person Worthless without Loveliness of Character--"Strong-minded" Women not Beautiful--Beauty the Nurse of Vanity--Value of Character depreciates with Increase of Beauty when substituted for Moral Worth--Beauty only Skin-deep--Beauty Two-fold: Inward and Outward--Inward Beauty shines through--Beauty of Soul made Washington, Josephine, and Channing glorious--Every Woman may be Beautiful--Cheerfulness, Agreeable Manners, a Correct Taste, and Kindness should be Cultivated.

We doubt not that God is a lover of Beauty. We speak reverently. He fashioned the worlds in Beauty, when there was no eye to behold them but hiseown. All along the wild old forest he has carved the forms of Beauty. Every cliff, and mountain, and tree is a statue of Beauty. Every leaf, and stem, and vine, and flower is a form of Beauty. Every hill, and dale, and landscape is a picture of Beauty. Every cloud, and mist-wreath, and vapor-vail is a shadowy reflection of Beauty. Every spring and rivulet, lakelet, river, and ocean, is a glassy mirror of Beauty. Every diamond, and rock, and pebbly beach is a mine of Beauty. Every sun, and planet, and star is a blazing face of Beauty. All along the aisles of earth, all over the arches of heaven, all through the expanses of the universe, are scattered in rich and infinite profusion the life-gems of Beauty. All natural motion is Beauty in action. The winds, the waves, the clouds, the trees, the birds, the animals, all move beautifully; and beautifully do the joyous light-words of the skies dance their eternal cotillion of glory. From the mote that plays its little frolic in the sunbeam, to the world that blazes along the sapphire spaces of the firmament, are visible the ever-varying features of the enrapturing spirit of Beauty. All this great realm of dazzling and bewildering beauty was made by God. What shall we say then, is he not a lover of Beauty? Is it irreverence thus to speak? No; but rather reverence. What reverent soul does not love to look at God in his works? Go out in the still morning, when the golden gates of day are turning slowly back to let the morning king come in with a great crown of rosy light streaking half around the heavens, on his brow; or at noon, when the whole firmament and the joyous earth are bathed in a golden flood, soft, and warm, and life-inspiring; or at evening, when even the zephyrs are folding up their wings with the little birds, and the trees, and the fields, and the smiling mountain tops are bidding a sweet good-night to their heavenly king as encurtained in diamond glory he sinks to rest; or at night, when the stars come out to keep their vigils over the sleeping earth; go out at such times, and what heart is not bewildered with the sense of Beauty that steals over it like a divine charm? and through that beauty is not carried up to God the beautiful and bountiful author of it all? God hath made every thing beautiful in its time. I envy not him who is undevout in the presence of so much Beauty. How easily can the devout spirit go through nature up to nature's God. Who loves nature should love God. Who admires Beauty should reverence its Author. Natural beauty inspires piety in a good heart. To commune with nature intelligently is to commune with God. Who ever loves a flower, a bird, a landscape view, a rainbow, a star, the blue sky, should love God. God is in them all. He is in the aisles of the forest, the waves of the deep, the solitudes of the mountain, and the fragrance of the green fields. Beauty is of divine origin, and we should admire, ay, and love it too. It should fill us with sweet thoughts of God, with worshipful emotions, with reverent aspirings. The love of Beauty we should cultivate within us as a gift of the good Father, and a shrine at which we may worship him acceptably. He has not given us this delicate sense of Beauty to be neglected. It is our duty to preserve it well and cultivate it diligently. None of us love Beauty too much, if our love is enlightened and devout. He who has no love of Beauty in his soul is a great way from God, and very near the earth, the animal. The love of Beauty is refining and elevating in its tendency. Yet it is too often indulged without a thought of God or a reverent emotion. It is a love which may be united with earthly desires, or with heavenly aspirations. It may lead us downward or upward, according to the use we make of it. It may pander to pride and vanity, lust and appetite, or inspire to virtue, religion, and inward life. It is a love which should be brought within the sphere of moral government as much as the passions of our lower nature. It is a love, too, which perhaps leads as many astray, corrupts as many lives, degrades as many natures, as almost any feeling we possess. Its abuses are fearful in their character and wide in their influence. It is a power of mind lovely to behold, and even when degraded it is like a diamond in the dust. So far as the love of natural things is concerned, there is but little danger of abuse. Nature is always lovely, and always to be admired. She always reminds us of God and our duty; always teaches us our own littleness and frailty, and works upon all our passions a calming subduing influence.

But we may pass from Beauty in nature to Beauty in man. Strictly speaking, man is a part of nature; but by common usage we often speak of nature as distinct from both God and man. Really, man is a part of nature, and God is in it all. Take God away from his works, and where would they be? They would vanish like a body deprived of its soul. Take God out of a flower, and it would wither and vanish in an instant. Take God out of a sun or star, and they would go out as a candle in the wind. Take God out of any thing--a tree, an animal, a man--and it would cease to be. So take God out of nature, and there would be no nature. Not that nature is God, but that there is no nature without God. God is in all things; he pervades, sustains, and moves all things. The laws of nature, of which we often speak, are the arteries and veins which God has made, along which he pours through the great body of his universe the spirit of his infinite being. Man, then, as a part of this nature, is pervaded by God. And here, as elsewhere, he has shown his presence in the surprising Beauty in which he has made his creatures. Yes, man is beautiful; the natural man, undeformed by abuses, is an object of Beauty. We speak of man in the generic sense, as including women also.

Woman, by common consent, we regard as the most perfect type of Beauty on earth. To her we ascribe the highest charms belonging to this wonderful element so profusely mingled in all God's works. Her form is molded and finished in exquisite delicacy of perfection. The earth gives us no form more perfect, no features more symmetrical, no style more chaste, no movements more graceful, no finish more complete; so that our artists ever have and ever will regard the woman-form of humanity as the most perfect earthly type of Beauty. This form is most perfect and symmetrical in the youth of womanhood; so that youthful woman is earth's queen of Beauty. This is true, not only by the common consent of mankind, but also by the strictest rules of scientific criticism.

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