Lucy (Chapter_14)

Chapter14

Who can find a virtuous woman--her price is above rubies--Strength and honor are her clothing and she shall rejoice in the time to come. Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman that fearth the Lord, she shall be praised. Proverbs

humiliation and wretchness of the poor girl; She could only weep, and sob and wring her hands and wish that she and her child were laid in the peaceful grave. "It is the only home that is left to me," she exclaimed. Contrast the present condition of this frail being, with the innocent and happy days she once enjoyed. Then the pride and comfort of a respected father, the darling of a fond mother--the sole object of all the love and all the cares of one devoted being. Then, every wish was indulged, every pain was soothed, every pleasure shared by those dear objects. Now destitute of all comfort, abandoned by every friend--supported by the charity of poor servants

an object of pity and scum even to them. and spurned by the virtuous. Ah could the fond and tender female, while listening to the seducing persuasions of some favoured lover, could she but discern the consequences of yielding to her own fond heart and her lover's wishes. She would start back with terror, fly from the brink of that precipice on which she stood. A precipice, concealed by pleasure! But passion always has and always will blind the reason; and notwithstanding the experience of thousands, woman will still believe in the truth and {constancy?} of man. believe, that she will be exempt from the suffering and contempt that others have fallen into. will believe that she is beloved, as no other had been beloved--she will be esteemed tho' others have been scorned--and why? Her lover says so--and what woman ever loved and did not implicitly believe

what her lover said? Oh woman, is there nothing that can awaken you from this fatal error? How long will you turn a deaf ear to the admonitions of experience and the Councils of Virtue? Listen then to SelfInterest and tho' Duty fails to constrain you, let happiness persuade you, for who is there seeks not Happiness? Complain not of your destiny. Complain not of your own weakness, or of the superior strength which Nature has bestowed on Man. Nature is impartial. It has indeed formed Woman in a mould more delicate and with powers more feeble, but has imparted to that very delicacy and feebleness, a charm, more powerful than size or strength. Be just to your clues--and never will you have to complain of the injustice of men!

Oh that woman would assert her own worth She would then become the honored companion, the trusted friend and indivisible partner of his existence. "Wine and Women"! I blush to write it. Shame, shame on her whose indignation is not excited by an association so degrading. And is she doomed to such an association? No, neither Nature or society condemn her to a destiny so vile. Her own weakness and credulity sinks her from being the friend, to be the slave of man. Nature has given to purity more charms than it has confirmed even on beauty; Virtue unaccompanied by beauty, strengthens and confirms the ardour of affection, while beauty unsustained by chastity soon loses its power to charm, and is thrown away like a withered and faded flower. To be the slave of man, is a degradation to which the Mahomaden must submit but from which the christian female may be exempt.

To the irresistible influence which nature has confirmed, society adds the sanction of authority, the protection of the laws, and to complete the happiness of her destiny, christianity has raised her to a moral dignity which establishes her on an equality with man. Woman! assert your dignity--Inseparable from the destiny of man, refuse to be his slave and you become his companion. Then, no longer shall we see debased and deserted females, scorned and avoided with a wretched offspring exposed to misery and contempt--but in their stead we shall behold honored wives, respected mothers and children rewarding parental love with filial duty. Preserve your virtue, and you will preserve your rights. But until convinced of their true interest, men will persuade and women will comply, and in a vain search of pleasure wander as far from happiness, as from virtue, which ever dwell to gether and to whose abode there is but one father.