you degrade man more. She is the fluid of the ther mometer of society, placed there by the hand of the great Creator. Man may injure the instrument, but can neither destroy, or provide a substitute for the mercury. Her rights are as sacred as those of the male sex. Her mental powers are underrated by those only, who have either not seen, or were so blinded by prejudice, that they would not see their development. Educate girls as boys, put. Women in the business arena designed for men, and they will acquit themselves far better than boys and men would, if they were placed in the departments designed for females. As a species, the perception of Woman, especially in cases of emergency, is more acute than that of the male species; unquestionably so designed by an all-wise Creator, for the preservation and perpetuity of our race. Her patience and fortitude, her integrity and constancy, her piety and devotion; are naturally stronger than in the other sex. If she was first in transgression, she was first in the breach. Her seed has bruised the ser pent's head. She stood by the expiring Jesus, when boasting Peter and the other disciples had forsaken their Lord. She was the last at his tomb, embalmed his sacred body, and the first to discover that he had burst the bars of death, risen from the cleft rock, and triumphed over death and the grave. Under affliction, especially physical, the fortitude of Woman is proverbial. As a nurse, one female will endure more than five men. That she is more honest than man, our penitentiaries fully demonstrate. That she is more religiously inclined, the records of our churches will show. That she is more devotional, our prayer meetings will prove. The fact of greater numbers of females becoming pious, than males; has been often referred to by infidels, to prove the fallacy of religion, by asserting their inferiority in strength of mind. The argument proves the reverse in the abstract. Religion is the loftiest subject that can engage the attention of the human mind, and is more enrapturing to a strong, than a weak one. Base must be that heart, that aims to destroy the one and degrade the others, with the same poisoned arrow. The very fact, that Woman depraved, excites in the breast of man, a stronger feeling of regret and disgust, than to see the male sex degraded; arises from our innate consciousness of her more refined nature, and her less frequent appearance in the arena of vice and crime. This trait in her character, is of vast importance in a moral and religious point of view. From the mother, the child receives its first impressions, which are most lasting. Her example is its model, her lessons its sentiments, her precepts, its laws. These impressions have a strong influence in forming the character of the adult. To their mothers, Washington, La Fayette, Sir Philip Sidney, and many other great and good men; were indebted for their bright and noble career. To mothers, we are indebted for the liberty we enjoy; on mothers its perpetuity depends. Montesquieu truly observed, "The safety of a State depends on the virtue of Women," and I will add, the virtue of Women depends on their being properly treated by men. By elevating them in the scale of being and intelligence, their virtue is best protected. By elevation, I do not mean an introduction into the poisonous atmosphere of fashion and gaiety; the danc ing school, the ball room, the theatre, the levee, and whist parties; that, in our day, are disqualifying thousands for the duties of wife and mother, by keeping them in utter ignorance of domestic life. By intelligence, I do not mean a knowledge of French, Italian, instrumental music, wax flowers, or fancy drawing; that are also depriving many of that solid education, fit for every-day use, and calculated to improve the mind, correct the head, inform the understanding, and better the heart. The mother of Washington was ignorant of them all, and was never contaminated in the gay circles of the upper ten thousand. Let girls, no matter how wealthy their parents, be first thoroughly instructed in the solid branches of an English education, including the Bible, and in all the duties of housewifery, from the cellar to the garret. Without these, they are not qualified to be wives or mothers. If they should never be under the necessity of laboring, they need all these, to enable them to manage the affairs of a house. Here is the sphere designed for Woman by the great Creator, where she should have as unlimited control, as the man in his sphere; not to be cooped up, like a hen with chickens, but with as much liberty to go and come, as the interests of her department will permit; and with as full scope for her mental powers, as man. In no circle is Woman as lovely, as safe, and as useful, as in the domestic; and on errands of mercy. Such was her circle when Greece and Rome flourished. When she became a student of the school of fashion and gaiety, they fell; an awful warning to those in our country, who are making fearful innovations upon the republican simplicity and domestic habits, that characterized our nation fifty years ago. I again repeat, that upon intelligent, domestic, pious mothers; the perpetuity of our liberty depends. If we are sacrificed, it will be at the shrine of fashion, sensual pleasures, and infidelity, in their various shades; which mutually beget each other, and have borne, on their fiery billows, the wrecks of numerous nations that once flourished as happily as our own-but have sunk to rise no more. XANTIPPE. Such women feel not, while they sigh and weep; XANTIPPE was the wife of the great Philosopher Socrates, and the greatest scold of which history gives any account. To use an illustration-She could scold at a target for hours together, hit the nail every shot, keep her own tally, and, like a well regulated air-gun, her ammunition was as exhaustless as the atmosphere. Whether this aided in producing that extraordinary composure, manifested by Socrates, when he took the fatal hemlock ordered by the tribunal that unjustly condemned him to death; the historian does not inform us, but it is reasonable to suppose, that such a battery of words, discharging its whole fury upon even a philosopher, for fifty years, must have made some impression. This scolding propensity is still one of the ugly excrescences of human nature, and, occasionally, its thrilling music may be heard. Habit has much to do with it. Indulgence gives it strength, and greatly increases its volume, but not its melody. It converts a sour disposition into elixir vitriol, and a sweet one into vinegar. Of all scolds, the crying ones most disfigure the human face divine. They remind me of the flutter wheel of a saw-mill, clogged with brushwood. They produce no dry thunder gusts. This unfortunate, unnecessary, self tormenting, others provoking, all annoying habit, is not confined to females, as in the case of Xantippe. I have known some husbands and wives, who were all honey and dear to each other, when entertaining company and on visits, who were both adepts in this business; as their poor children and servants could attest. Occasionally, by way of change; they would open their battery on each other, and make the splinters fly freely, and sometimes the crockery too. O shame! I have known master mechanics, who converted their workshops into bedlams by scolding; spoiling good apprentices, making the bad worse, and driving away each journeyman in quick succession. A scolding teacher in a school, is worse than New Orleans mosquitoes in dog days. I have known a scolding physician destroy the usefulness of brilliant talents, and they highly cultivated, by indulging in this mad freak. I have known scolding lawyers make themselves a butt, and often injure, and sometimes ruin the cause of a client, by indulging in this sad propensity. I have known scolding preachers drive away all their parishioners, and have seldom known one to do any good. It is no where sanctioned or recommended in the Bible, in ethics, or by any philosopher, although some have been cynics. If once fixed on a person by |