The Young Maiden Part 1
The Young Maiden.
by A. B. (Artemas Bowers) Muzzey.
THE YOUNG MAIDEN.
Chapter I.
THE CAPACITIES OF WOMAN.
The appropriate sphere of woman--how ascertained. By considering her Intellectual, Moral, and Physical Const.i.tution; by a view of the Scripture teachings on this point; by a reference to History, observation, and experience. The women of Babylon. Patriotism of Phoenician women. Grecians and Romans. Modern Pagan Women.
Occupations and Habits of Christian females friendly to improvement. State of Society, especially in this country, favorable. Effect of Chivalry on woman. The division of Duties between the s.e.xes, and their Mutual Influence demand separate spheres. Woman should not engage in severe Physical toil. Milton's opinion. Nor in Political life. Plato's theory. Nor in promiscuous public Discussions. Home one part of her sphere. Private Beneficence. The Statue of ivory better than that of bra.s.s.
Society requires Woman's presence. Lord Halifax's a good view of Female capacities.
Before entering on any statement of duties, it is inc.u.mbent on us to determine what power there is to perform them. An angel's task may not be laid on a mere mortal. It is only where many talents have been given, that great returns can justly be required. Nor should our requisitions fall below the powers of those of whom they are made. We may not claim simply a child's service, where the ability of a giant clearly exists.
Achilles would spurn the light offices of Adonis. So will that woman, who regards her s.e.x as co-equal in every part of their nature, with the opposite s.e.x, contemn the delicate tasks, usually termed feminine.
Much is said in our age and country of the appropriate sphere of woman.
The discussion of that point is too interesting and too important to be pa.s.sed over in this work, but the consideration of it involves another, viz., What are her Natural Capacities? How does she compare with, and wherein differ from man? This topic seems a fit introduction to what may follow in our survey of the wide field now open before us.
The capacities of woman may be ascertained by the study of her Physical, Intellectual, and Moral const.i.tution; by the disclosures of the Sacred Scriptures; and by a reference to History, observation and experience.
1. The Physical Const.i.tution of woman is peculiar. In barbarous nations she has often been subjected to the same manual exertions as man; sometimes to those even more arduous. But the progress of refinement and civilization always establishes a marked distinction between the two s.e.xes, in this respect. Nature revolts at the thought of the Amazon. A Boadicea and a Joan of Arc, were they now to appear, would be almost universally regarded as disloyal to their s.e.x. A masculine woman and an effeminate man are in equal disesteem. We instinctively p.r.o.nounce her to uns.e.x herself, who arms for the battle-field, or engages in those agricultural, mechanic, or other manual pursuits, which demand great bodily vigor. G.o.d hath made the s.e.xes herein to differ, and man, we feel, ought not to confound them.
In respect also to Intellectual Powers, there is among most people a conviction that severe reasoning, comprehensiveness, and logical acuteness belong pre-eminently to man. I know there are ill.u.s.trious exceptions to the truth of this statement; but do we not rightly esteem the Elizabeths and Somervilles that occasionally challenge our admiration of their intellectual strength, as exceptions to the ordinary female mind? Ascribe this difference, if you please, to the neglect of their education, say that man is only the superior, because of his higher advantages of culture, still must not the fact of his present mental superiority be conceded?
Nor should I deem it to the discredit of woman, were it incontestibly proved, that her Maker had given her less intellectual power in some provinces than man. For though, in civil affairs, in controlling the destinies of nations, in framing laws and administering justice, man labors in his exclusive sphere, yet in delicacy of perception and taste, and as a guardian at the fountains of Imagination, to woman he must yield the superiority. In the silence of her retirement she ponders on the themes of fancy, and while the consecrated names of Hemans and Sigourney shall endure, let man be slow to a.s.sume an absolute dominion in all the n.o.ble provinces of intellect.
But maintain as we may our const.i.tutional ascendancy in the Physical and Mental capacities, there is one realm where woman reigns in undisputed supremacy; it is the realm of Moral power.
G.o.d has given her a keen sensibility, and a strength of feeling, and sympathies and affections which prepare her for singular eminence in moral attainments. In the religion of Ancient Greece, it was she who presided at the tribunal of fate; her native enthusiasm qualified her for this office. "A man," says Diderot, "never sat on the sacred tripod; a woman alone, could deliver the Pythian oracle; alone could raise her mind to such a pitch as seriously to imagine the approach of a G.o.d, and panting with emotion, to cry, 'I perceive him, I perceive him; there!
there! the G.o.d!'" The same zeal which was displayed in devotion to a false faith, is seen in Christian lands, sustaining the morals and piety of eternal life.
Woman is more susceptible than man of sudden and strong impressions. Her impulses are quick and prompt, but this trait unless counterbalanced by others, would expose her to irresistible evil. She would fall an easy prey to lawless emotions. G.o.d has kindly averted this calamity, by inspiring her with a constancy and devotedness seldom witnessed in man.
Let her place her affections on any object, and they will cling to it through every trial and change. What love so strong as woman's? What moral power can compare with hers, when principle, duty, devotion, once engage the full energies of her soul?
2. What we have learned from this glance at the const.i.tution of your s.e.x, is verified by the Sacred Scriptures. In the book of Genesis we are told that G.o.d "took one of the ribs of Adam, as he slept, and closed up the flesh instead thereof." Some commentators translate this pa.s.sage thus: "he took one out of his side, and put flesh in its place;" and they thence infer that Adam and Eve were created at once, and joined by the side to each other; that G.o.d afterward sent a deep sleep upon Adam, and then separated the woman from him. They were thus on a perfect equality till the period of the fall. After that melancholy event, the sentence was p.r.o.nounced on woman, "Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." And through all the subsequent history of woman, as found in the Bible, it is said, her inferiority to man is constantly implied.--Among the woes predicted by the prophet Isaiah, as awaiting Jerusalem and Judah, this is included, "Women shall rule over them."
Let the original relative capacities of woman have been as they might, one fact is clearly apparent, that the general condition of women among the ancient Jews, and in contemporary nations, was one of degradation and servitude. She was the slave of man. The Essenes, a Jewish sect not unlike the modern Shakers, treated this s.e.x with little respect, often with contempt. The system of polygamy, of old almost universally prevalent, tended directly to "stifle the best emotions of the female heart, and to call all its worst pa.s.sions into exercise." It has been supposed by some, that the wonder which the disciples of Christ expressed, when they found him conversing with the woman of Samaria, originated partly in their low opinion of her s.e.x. The Talmud teaches that it is beneath the dignity of a Rabbi, to talk familiarly with a woman; and the Jew was accustomed, we are told, to give thanks to G.o.d, that he was not a woman.
But open the New Testament, and how in a moment is this estimation elevated. Of the Physical and Intellectual rank of woman, nothing is, indeed, there said. But as a creature of G.o.d, and a member of the great family of mankind, she is placed on an entire equality with man.
Christianity does not make her responsible, as a moral and immortal being, to man, but represents both as having a common Master in heaven.
No virtue inculcated on the one s.e.x is omitted in describing the duties of the other. The Christian character is a moral statue, to be wrought by every living hand; and taste, composition, symmetry, effect, are required and expected, in the spiritual workmanship, no less of woman than of man.
The personal treatment which this s.e.x received at the hand of Jesus, was always respectful, as well as tender and kind. "His earliest friend was a woman; his only steadfast friends through his ministry were women." It was "the daughters of Jerusalem," who wept for him in his final agony.
"The last at his cross, and the first at his sepulchre, was a woman. And when, after his ascension, the little company of believers was a.s.sembled, waiting for the fulfilment of his promise, there also were found the women who had accompanied him in life and stood by him in death." How could he, with such proofs of their piety, zeal and perseverance, fail to regard the s.e.x with a consideration, at least equal to that he bestowed upon man?
And in the religion itself, we find qualities with which the capacities and powers of woman singularly harmonize. It is based upon the affections. Love to G.o.d, and love to man, are its two great commandments. The sacrifice it requires on the altar of life is that of the heart. And what is this but the unquestioned empire of woman?
Sentiment with her is natural, the growth of her moral being; in man it is usually acquired, the result of thought. Deny, as man may, her mental equality with himself,--doubt as we may, the comparative strength or capabilities of any other portion of her nature, as related to man, in the possessions of the heart, no man can contest the ascendancy with woman. She is naturally less selfish than man. She can, if she will but obey her best impulses, rise to the loftiest heights of Christian excellence. And, if serious impediments oppose her progress, on herself, her own culpableness, not on her nature, must each consequent failure be charged.
Another characteristic of our religion is its call for what have sometimes been termed the pa.s.sive virtues, fort.i.tude, submission, patience, resignation. The acquisition of these qualities is to man a most arduous task. He can toil, and struggle, and resist. In scenes of active effort, and strong conflict, he is at home. But his power of endurance is by no means commensurate with these traits. In woman they find a congenial spirit, a heart open, and waiting for their reception.--"Those disasters," says an elegant writer, "which break down and subdue the spirit of man, and prostrate him in the dust, seem to call forth all the energies of the softer s.e.x, and give such intrepidity and elevation to their character, that at times, it approaches to sublimity." Who does not perceive that this s.e.x enjoys pre-eminent advantages for the culture of that spiritual union with G.o.d required of the Christian? And in sustaining the ordinary trials of our lot, as social beings; in cherishing forbearance toward the unjust, kindness to the thankless, and love toward those who inflict personal injuries, woman is endowed by her Maker with a divine power.
3. The History of this s.e.x is a still farther testimony to their moral capacities. We have examples of ill.u.s.trious female virtue in the annals of the Patriarchs, as Sarah, Rebecca, and Rachel. In Holy Writ, we read also of Miriam and Deborah; and the picture left us by Solomon, of "a virtuous woman," evinces not only the existence, but the appreciation of a true woman, by some in those early ages.
If we turn to the records of heathen nations, we find them occupied, when they speak of this s.e.x, almost universally, in describing rare cases of personal prowess or physical conquests. The wealth of Babylon was such, and its advancement in science and refinement so great, that we may presume the female character to have been more elevated, than in savage countries. There was a true moral courage in that act recorded of the Phoenician women, who agreed, that if their countrymen lost a certain battle, they would perish in the flames, and who crowned with flowers her who made that proposition in a council. Would that history had transmitted the testimony of those quiet, un.o.btrusive virtues, which must at some ancient periods have prevailed, and which are the glory of woman.
In more recent ages, we find among the Greeks n.o.ble examples of female heroism, of conjugal love, and sisterly affection; but the exclusion of woman from society placed her under great moral disadvantages. Rome allowed this s.e.x more free intercourse in social life, and the renowned Cornelia was hence a representative of no small number of her age.
But how few opportunities do modern Pagan religions allow woman for exhibiting her moral capabilities. The stern creed of the Mussulman p.r.o.nounces, we are told, that woman has no soul; she is treated, in any event, according to this doctrine. In China, among the lower cla.s.ses, all the hard labor is laid upon the wife, while the husband performs only the lighter tasks. In the higher cla.s.ses, the s.e.x is completely secluded from all places of public instruction, and subjected to laws which repress all their energies, both of mind and heart. India furnishes examples of conjugal devotedness, worthy a more enlightened direction. Alas! that such a spirit can find no purer modes of self-sacrifice, than casting the body on a funeral pile, or beneath the wheels of Juggernaut. Profane History, in its wide range, gives us indeed but an occasional gleam of the genuine virtues of woman. How unlike Christianity, which presents a brilliant succession of these fair examples.
In Christian lands the occupations and habits of woman are such as to give scope for moral eminence. She has fewer worldly interests and engagements than man. She is not here accustomed to command armies, nor lift up her voice in the Senate chamber. Nor is she subjected to those coa.r.s.er employments, and that severe bodily toil, which elsewhere rob her of all true delicacy. What an immense chasm do we see between the Christian female, devoted to her quiet domestic duties, and the inhabitant of Van Dieman's land, for example, diving into the sea for sh.e.l.l-fish, while her husband sits by the fire, pampering his appet.i.te with the choice morsels which she has procured for him.
But Christianity must be pure, to produce this change; we shall else retain, under the light of the Gospel, the spirit and practices of Paganism. "In one place on the road," says a recent traveller in Italy, "we saw at least one hundred young girls, mixed up with as many rough coa.r.s.e men, carrying baskets of earth, some fifty rods, upon their head, for the purpose of filling up an embankment or road." "Heathenism, and paganized Christianity," he remarks, "degrade woman to a level with the slave." "In none of the slave States which I have visited," says Professor Stowe, "have I ever seen negro women drudging in such toilsome out of door labors, as fall to the lot of the laboring women in Germany and in France." "Haggish beldames fill all our markets," says Chevalier, "and three-fourths of our fields."
But in the beautiful language of another, when speaking of the sect called Friends, which language I would apply to all genuine piety, "The Inner Light sheds its blessings on the whole human race; it knows no distinction of s.e.x. It redeems woman by the dignity of her moral nature, and claims for her the equal culture and free exercise of her endowments. As the human race ascends the steep acclivity of improvement, the Quaker cherishes woman, as the equal companion of the journey." The Christian's home is a scene of retirement favorable to moral culture and to growth in grace. There the soul may contemplate its Creator, and hold communion with the lovely image of his Son. Far from the fields of ambition and gain, away from the agitations of a public arena, in sacred seclusion pursuing her domestic avocations, why should not woman be distinguished for her spiritual attainments? Can it be, that with the same watchfulness, and self-denial, and toil, she should not surpa.s.s man in the acquisition of holiness and purity?
Another circ.u.mstance, friendly to the developement of woman's capacities, is the state of society and the country in which we live.
Our free inst.i.tutions do much to remove those obstacles, that elsewhere exist, to the full exercise of her powers and faculties. Those false distinctions in society, by which wealth and rank alone can secure to a child its rightful education, are here seldom witnessed. In the public schools, the daughters of all, rich or poor, high or low, mingle for literary instruction. A mighty arm is thus raised to level that barrier, which in other lands, rises even between the cradles of the t.i.tled and the obscure.
Not only is the intellect of woman thus trained in childhood to equal progress with that of the opposite s.e.x, but all those moral advantages, which are connected with mental culture, are secured to this s.e.x. The const.i.tutional advantage she possesses, for attainments in virtue and piety is thus indulged with peculiar facilities for its exercise, and her sphere of employment, so quiet and hallowed, is not corrupted but purified by the social atmosphere she breathes from her earliest days.
We are now prepared for a reply to that exciting inquiry alluded to in the commencement of this work, "What is the appropriate sphere of woman?" Having determined for what duties and occupations she is qualified, it becomes less difficult to decide when she is acting within her true sphere, and when she departs from it. If Nature has intimated any cla.s.s of employments, as more suitable, from their delicacy, for her physical powers than others, then we infer, that if she forsake those for sterner avocations, she disobeys the will of G.o.d; and that too, as clearly and certainly, as if it were inscribed in letters of fire on the material heavens.
It would have been surprising, however, had not many in this age, and especially in our own country, have pa.s.sed to extremes in their opinions of the rights of woman, and of her appropriate sphere. Having escaped, through the influence of Christianity, from the error of degrading her to the station of a slave, it was natural that they should more and more elevate her, until her true position in the world would be entirely misapprehended.
The first impulse in this direction was seen in the age of Chivalry.
Then woman was the idol of man. She was served with a sickly and sentimental devotion, through which its object became indolent, degraded, and lost to all moral and intellectual excellence. Then came the influence of those Political changes produced by Christianity, which, while they somewhat elevated the mental condition of this s.e.x, left them still subordinate in many respects to man. At length a republic was founded on these sh.o.r.es, tending, in its true uses, to elevate all cla.s.ses, but still to render each individual, when his own best interests were perceived, content in that state, for which Providence manifestly designed him.
But how natural that the condition for which G.o.d had created the strongest physical frames and intellectual capacities, should be an object of envy, and discontent, and ambition, with those to whom he had denied these endowments. Could it be antic.i.p.ated that woman would in all cases be true to her s.e.x, and reply, as did the discreet Shunamite to the prophet's interrogatories, "What is to be done for thee? Wouldst thou be spoken for to the king? or to the captain of the host?" "I dwell among mine own people." That is, "Where G.o.d has appointed my lot, I am content to live and toil."
It may be objected that I a.s.sume the existence of two distinct spheres of action, in this world. This is acknowledged, and it is, I believe, susceptible of demonstration. In all nations there is found a division in the character of human occupations. The savage has his hunting and fishing grounds, which call for labors of a wholly different character from those of the wigwam. And though woman may, and often does engage in the sterner duties of the tribe, yet man cannot supply the earliest wants of the infant, and he violates the plainest decrees of nature, if he leave not some other duties exclusively to woman.
Civilization modifies this division of labor, but cannot obliterate it.
Rather must its true work be the more wide separation of the sphere of each s.e.x from that of the other. Christianity elevates the rank of woman, and through civilization, gives her a new moral and intellectual importance in society. Mental culture, again, diminishes both the taste and the necessity for those coa.r.s.er tasks, to which, in ruder ages she must in some degree be subject. But if it qualify her for higher intellectual employments, her progress does not surpa.s.s that of man.
They are relatively, as distant in this respect from each other, as they were in the days of the Patriarchs. The cultivated female mind enchants the world,
"And fills The air around with beauty; we inhale The ambrosial aspect, which, beheld, instils Part of its immortality."
This leads us to say, that G.o.d must have designed woman for a peculiar sphere of action, because it is only when she is thus situated, that the mutual influence of the s.e.xes, so important to earth's moral good, can be fully exerted. The boy at school inclines to rough manners. What more effectual restraint upon this tendency, than the delicacy and gentleness which marks the little girl? She again, may become painfully diffident, and a recluse in her bearing, if not subjected to the society of the more confident s.e.x. Encourage the boy to sit always by the fireside, and studiously shun conversation with the opposite s.e.x, or put the girl forward and incite her to a bold and boisterous manner, and their mutual influence is diminished and soon lost. You transgress a plain law of the Creator.
So in the society of adults. Let men group themselves together, and they will converse only of their farms, their merchandize, and their manufactures, or of governments and administrations. Insulate the female s.e.x, and they shall discourse upon dress, or the minor affairs of their neighbors, far too exclusively. But shall we, to obviate these evils, completely transpose their conditions? Do we wish to see woman on Change, or man given up to fashion, and culinary duties? No; let the main pursuits of each be distinct; but let neither regard him or herself as having no influence on the duties of the other.
What check were there on man's wrong impulses as a lover of gain, or a devotee of ambition, should woman partic.i.p.ate with him in these dispositions? And would not the inevitable consequence of her resigning herself to masculine offices and labors be, that she became as insane in the toil for riches as man; that she proved his rival instead of his ally; that far from composing and regulating the fire of his ambition, she did but kindle it to a devastating flame? To argue the contrary were to close our eyes on the native ardor of woman, and to forget the fearful agency of sympathy, when it takes an unholy direction. Morality, religion, the order, if not the very existence of society, hence point out a peculiar and appropriate sphere to woman.
Let me say first, negatively, what is not the province of this s.e.x.
They should not engage in pursuits, for which their Physical powers are inadequate. If man is endowed with superior bodily strength, to him exclusively be allotted those manual avocations, which demand that strength. Let not the more delicate s.e.x be tasked with the severe exercises of the field or the workshop. And if mental power depend at all on physical, if giant minds are usually found in vigorous frames, woman may infer that she can engage in the highest intellectual pursuits only by becoming an exception to the ordinary character of her s.e.x.