the earth; he sees light rising in the regions of darkness; he sees that knowledge is increased; and he feels, with almost the strength of Daniel, that a glorious future is drawing near, and that the prophetic picture may soon be realized in all its beauty. Leaving out the special hopes of individuals-so bright to the eye of faith-there is no doubt that the coming glory depicted in the Bible is an animating thought and exciting hope to multitudes of Christians. It stands out clear, and above all the obscurity of our present circumstances: it is the rising, not the setting star. Cloudy and tempestuous as may be the day of our pilgrimage here, yet to our longing eyes that light will remain the consolation of the past, the support of the present, and the hope of the future. 25 CHAPTER XIV. THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN. "So God created man in his image: in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”—Genesis, i. 27. "Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam in the day when they were created."-Genesis, v. 2. “And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the Spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore, take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth." -Malachi, ii. 15. Nor many years since women were exposed to sale in the market-places of Egypt and Turkey. The sale of white women is now confined to the houses of the slave-merchant; but that of black girls still continues in the open streets. At the time when Circassian, and even Greek girls, were yet the subjects of open sale, it was related by an English traveller,* that he saw, in a market for slaves, about twenty young white women sitting upon the ground half naked, awaiting a purchaser. One of them fixed the attention of an old Turk. The barbarian examined her shoulders, her limbs, her mouth, her neck, as minutely as he would have examined a horse. During this examination, the slave-merchant extolled the eyes, the elegance of form, and other personal perfections of the poor girl, who he said *This story is taken from the work of Aimy Martin. was an innocent of fourteen. In short, after a severe scrutiny, and a higgling for price, the innocent and beautiful girl was bought for one hundred and sixty-five francs! She was bought, body and soul; but the soul counted nothing in the bargain. Her mother, too, was there; and half fainting in her mother's arms, she shrieked for help to her sad companions. Alas! what could that avail? In that barbarous land all hearts were closed. The law made them insensible to the crimes it permitted. The affair was concluded. The girl was delivered over. Thus vanished for her, and thus vanishes for all women in that part of the world, all the future of a happy love !* This scene was enacted eighteen hundred years after the advent of Christ, and to this hour such is the treatment and such the fate of women among the nations which number two-thirds of the human race. But if such be the condition of woman, what is man? Can he forget with impunity that male and female, God created he them, in his own image? * All of Africa, nearly all of Asia, and some part of Europe, are yet in that unhappy condition of society in which women are really if not nominally, slaves. The system of polygamy, although in practice confined chiefly to the rich, degrades the whole social condition of women; and the system of ignorance degrades them, if possible, still more. + Some persons (whose minds seem capable of better reasoning) say that women who are slaves are not so much to be pitied, for, after all, they have all things necessary to their comfort;—they want Can he, unpunished, rob one half the human species of their heaven-granted inheritance? Can he roam a freeman, while his copartner remains a slave? Divine justice has, in the constitution of things, made a punishment for every social crime. Man cannot overturn the divinely-constituted fabric of social order, and not fall in its ruins. The blows which one portion of the race inflict upon another, rebound upon themselves. The cries of one suffering being re-echo in the ears of another. The dark minds of mothers cast their shadows upon their children; and upon their posterity will rest clouds and darkness till the day dawns from on high. In the wide and ancient Orient, the cradle of the human race, man has degraded woman; but what is man? Free born, he has no idea of liberty: a despot without a people; civilized without humanity; possessed of beauty which he cannot love, and a family without affections-he stands alone amidst slaves, and amidst ruins! Man degraded himself by degrading women. An eminent writer has said, that it is an eternal law of justice, that man cannot abase women without falling into the same degradation; and he cannot elevate them without becoming better. The last thought is as consolatory as the first is nothing more, and are very happy and contented! This sort of argument excites in one a feeling of profound indignation. It is in itself an insult to human nature. It places the human being on a level with brutes. Have not the cattle what is necessary to their wants, and are they not contented with their condition? ------------------------- ད ག---བ་བ- ---་་ painful. If we can elevate the future mothers of the race to a higher level, we shall thus erect a platform upon which to elevate the race itself. How can we do so excellent a thing? Let us contrast the degradation of woman in the Old World, with her greatly improved, but still imperfect, condition in the New. Let us turn from the Orient to the Occidental. It is in our prosperous, and, compared to the greatest part of the earth, felicitous country, that woman has attained both more freedom and more elevation of character, than has been attained by her sex in any nation of the earth. Splendid and beautiful examples of female excellence, heroism, and worth, shine out from the Hebrew commonwealth and the classic nations; but, like stars in a dark night, they but make more obvious the thick and profound darkness of the mass beyond. It is in the Republic of North America only that women have begun to take their proper rank in society. To this fact, our testimony might not be received by the world, if it were not confirmed and established by the impartial testimony of intelligent travellers in all nations. Among those who have given the strongest evidence in favor of the superior character of American women, and their influence on national manners, is M. De Tocqueville, who speaks of this element as one of the remarkable and peculiar characteristics of American society. One of the peculiarities noticed in the condition of women, is their great freedom, and therefore, greater self-sustaining power. But whence arises this greater |