MRS. BEECHER ON MARRIAGE.
“I see unrest, discontent, strife, and sin; I see girls from whose cheeks the first blush of innocence, from whose soul the last vestige of youth, have vanished; women sold to frivolity, women wasting most precious gifts, women whose ambition has no higher object than to mislead and triumph over men, and men growing hard, selfish, and wicked, going down to death with no hand to save—all for the lack of a true home,” said Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher, in a recent address. “Then I remember that the home is the true kingdom of woman, where her rights can never be dethroned; that all pure love, all right thoughts, all religion, if you would have them live, must have their roots beneath its altar. This conviction impels me to say to every woman who has a home. Let home stand first before other things. No matter how high your ambition may transcend its duties, no matter how far your talents or your influence may reach beyond its doors, before everything else, build up a true home. Be not its slave; be its minister. Let it not be enough that it is swept and garnished, that its silver glistens, that its food is delicious. Feed the love in it, feed the truth in it, feed thought and aspiration, feed all charity and gentleness in it. Then from its walls shall come forth the true woman and the true man, who together shall rule and bless the land.”