CHAPTER V.

WOMAN.

Extract from Watts-Her creation-Its design-Man made alone-Then woman-Was created a wife-Marriage necessary for her-Secondary with man-He loves parade and fame-She, retirement-He strongShe weak Yet he seeks home and marriage-Affinities-MotherWife-Children-Disregards opposition to her marriage-In power of man-Her patience-Suffering-Sorrows-Faults-These are the best— Those not so-Women of King Henry's age-Emelia Osborn-Thackary -Their employments-Poor and rich-Poverty-Labor-Grades of capacity-Self-government-Quakers' charity-Virtue-Benevolence-Woman's sphere-Lazy men-Extracts-Comparisons-Their separate destiny Dana's lecture on woman, on Shakspeare-Lucretia Mott in reply to Dana's do. Women holding offices, &c.-The power and sagacity of a wife in discovering and circumventing an intrigue to prevent her husband's re-election to an office-Marriage essential for this-Wife holds control of husband and children-Husbands lean on home-Fault of wife generally if he deserts it-Exceptions-Her power over his passions and love-Allan Ramsay's Gentle Shepherd.

"THE expanding rose just bursting into beauty has an irresistible bewitchingness;-the blooming bride led triumphantly to the hymeneal altar awakens admiration and interest, and the blush of her cheek fills with delight;—but the charm of maternity is more sublime than these. Heaven has imprinted on the mother's face something beyond this world, something which claims kindred with the skies-the angelic smile, the tender look, the waking, watchful eye which keeps its fond vigil over her slumbering babe.

"These are objects which neither the pencil nor the chisel can touch, which poetry fails to exalt, which the most eloquent tongue in vain would eulogize, and on which all description becomes ineffective. In the heart of men lies this lovely picture; in his sympathies; it reigns in his affections; his eyes look round in vain for such another object on the earth.

"Maternity, ecstatic sound! so twined round our heart that

it must cease to throb ere we forget it! 'Tis our first love; 'tis part of our religion. Nature has set the mother upon such a pinnacle, that our infant eyes and arms are first uplifted to it; we cling to it in manhood; we almost worship it in old age. He who can enter an apartment, and behold the tender babe feeding on its mother's beauty-nourished by the tide of life. which flows through her generous veins-without a panting bosom and grateful eye, is no man, but a monster. He who can approach the cradle of sleeping innocence without thinking that of such is the kingdom of Heaven,' or view the fond parent hang over its beauties, and half retain her breath, lest she should break its slumbers, with a veneration not beyond all common feeling, is to be avoided in every intercourse in life, and is fit only for the shadow of darkness and the solitude of the desert; though a lone being, far be such feelings from me."-WATTS. In the 27th verse, 1st chapter of Genesis, it is written :"So God created man in his own image; in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."

And after this, in the 31st verse of the same chapter, it is recorded:

"And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” This is the general historical statement of the creation of man. In the second chapter, there is given a more detailed and chronological account of it.

It proceeds as follows: The heavens and the earth were finished with the sixth day, and God rested on the seventh day. It then proceeds to state, that the herbs had been made, but had not begun to grow; for there had been no rain, and "there was not a man to till the ground."

"And

A mist then went up, which watered the ground. the Lord formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." “And a garden was planted."

And out of the ground every tree did grow. And the man was put into the garden, to dress and keep it; and he was told what fruit he might, and should not eat.

After this, every beast and fowl was formed, and brought to him; and he named them all. Which must have taken several years; for Adam was but a mere man; he was not inspired; and he could not think of names, and call them over, any faster

than we can.

But for Adam there was "not found an help meet for him."

Now, after all this, "a deep sleep fell upon Adam;" when the rib was taken out of his side, of which a woman was made, and "brought to," and delivered "to the man.'

So that man was not only made by himself, but he must have lived alone, or without any other human being, for many years before the woman was made.

The general narrative of the creation of all things, given by the first chapter of the Bible, will not permit the inference to be drawn, that man and woman were both made together, or at the same time; or that there was a female made before Eve, as it would seem by the words of the 27th verse, "Male and female created he them;" for this was the sixth day, and Adam was not made until after the seventh day; nor was "woman" made until after Adam had been made, nor until after a lapse of time sufficiently long for the execution by him of works of infinite magnitude, and which perhaps required years to perform.

The cavil that the Scriptures are inconsistent, in this respect, is thus explained. It is said, by some, that Moses wrote from tradition, three thousand years after the Creation. The more reasonable supposition is that the books of Moses are fragments of ancient and primitive history, made by different individuals of the successive generations from Adam; which were specially preserved amongst the chosen people of God, and now by Moses collected, arranged, and published for the general information of the rest of mankind.

So that man was made alone; that is, he was the only human being then made, and he was thus alone for years, tending and dressing an immense garden, from which went out a river so large as to water all the world; and sorting and naming all the beasts and fowls. During all this time, he lived entirely alone; and he has, therefore, ever since been better qualified to live alone, or without marriage, than women have been.

Again man was given universal dominion over all things in the world; and all things have ever since been held and controlled by him; his pursuits, his employments, and his power, are designed for the open world; the woman was not made for any such objects, nor for any purposes but " a help meet for him," not a help-mate; and that her " conception should be multiplied," her "desire should be unto her husband;" and that he "shall rule over her." How literally true are these Almighty decrees!

Man, therefore, consistently, may live unmarried; his pursuits require him sometimes to remain single; but this is not so with woman.

Most of the occupations of man have always been from home and out of doors; those of woman at home and in doors; man is naturally single and singular, and may remain so. beginning he was made by himself, and lived alone.

In the

The first woman was created a wife; all women are born to be wives, and cannot remain single. They were not born alone, and they cannot remain alone. Marriage is a secondary, and not a necessary consideration with man; but with woman it is primary, and absolutely essential. With all the perils of child-bearing, married women live twice as long as those who do not marry; and even those who lead lives of open prostitution have better health, and longer life than virtuous females not espoused. So intimate and urgent are the necessities of their nature identified with the occasions for their intercourse with man.

Man delights in parade and show; woman is timid and helpless; and, when married, prefers and seeks retirement and peace. Man is restless, and roves about by himself; woman is contented, and never leaves her home alone.

He is strong, and she is weak; he is ambitious for wealth and glory-she desires no fame but her husband's love, no riches but his happiness.

He mixes with the world, and racks his genius for distinctions and rank in the arts, sciences, war, and politics; she devotes her life to her household, and her immortal soul to her God.

Notwithstanding these distinctions, it does not follow but that man most ardently prefers matrimony; or that woman is inferior to man. He always looks anxiously to the hour of domestic repose; she has a destiny to fill as important as his, for which she is endowed with wonderful qualifications. "All things" were "very good in the sight" of the great Creator; but one other exercise of his omnipotent power was required to complete its transcendent perfections. To fulfil this object of his holy and exalted conceptions, he finally created woman, as the crowning glory of his Divine wisdom.

Woman combines in her exalted attributes all that was required to accomplish the moral perfections of creation.

was enriched with the proclivity for ardent passion, and per

petual affinity. Her winning charms fan up the eagerness of mutual love, and startle into joyful life the quick and proud conceptions of mysterious nature.

She is unconscious of her own beauty, knows no guile, and suspects no wrong. If she is poor, she cheerfully works, and wastes nothing; if she has money and lands, with the artless simplicity of a child, she gives them all to her husband; thanks him to take them; and is delighted, if they win his love.

Woman is not fastidious; she marries the wise and ignorant, rich and poor, old and young, good and bad, the ugly and the handsome.

If her husband is more learned or rich, she makes it up by kindness and complacency; if he is poorer, or more ignorant, she cheerfully brings herself down to his level; if older or younger, the spirit of accommodation is still triumphant.

If he is bad, she keeps herself respectable, goes to church, makes him no worse, and very often persuades and reclaims him from sin.

All restraint and opposition to her marriage are unheeded, however proudly born, or delicately educated. If a groom, a gardener, or a stranger, significantly looks at, or pauses for her, he is not suspected, repulsed, or reported; but thought of, watched, and waited for, countenanced, secretly met, and, if marriage is offered, run away with.

She is always in earnest, and is much more dependent on man's respect for her than he has credit for. When he dares to play the part of seducer and bigamist, it would seem that he can do so with impunity.

It would also seem that she was made for no other purpose than marriage, and that, unless she is suffered to fall into this abyss of her manifest destiny, she comes to nothing.

True, she is not now perfect, for she fell with man; but she was once perfect, and now is more perfect than man.

She was not forbidden by God to eat the apple; and it does not appear that Adam told her she must not eat it.

She was not reproached with this as of a wilful sin; besides, she was beguiled; her sin was not profane, and her condemnation was not so heavy.

There are bad women; but there is not one bad woman to every ten thousand bad men: every man has some bad propensity; something sly, selfish, or sinister.

When she is kind and pure, she feels no lack of filial love