THE WOMAN saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat and gave also to her husband with her and he did eat. Eve has generally been accounted a beautiful woman; she was certainly a wife, and she led her husband into sin; and hence I infer, from the Bible itself, notwithstanding all our fine imaginings, that the fair may be frail; that the grossest vice may deform and disgrace the tenderest sex.

The influence of females may be great in promoting temperance, and all its happy consequences.

The influence of woman has been great in all the departments of life. Her smiles cheer, her frowns depress, her counsels are heard, her tears are felt, and her example will be followed. It is true, her power is not like the thunder, which strikes and consumes, but it is like the blossom which silently perfumes the air. Solomon, the wisest of men, has represented the tenderness of maternal wisdom, pouring its counsel into the ears of a son; and it is generally supposed to be himself under a fictitious name. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink; lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. The wisdom of Solomon would have been useless without temperance, and temperance was taught from a mother's tongue. In Greece, the state of female manners was one of the most powerful

causes of the cold and heartless fashions of domestic life. Education was lavished on the harlot, while the wife, imprisoned at home, raised but a little above the domestic slaves, was denied all those accomplishments which would surround utility with the ornaments of the imagination, and give new attractions to the beauties of virtue. Female influence was felt in Roman history. It has been justly remarked, that most of their great revolutions are to be traced to the influence of woman on the public councils. The names of Julia, Lucretia, Virginia, Fulvia and Cleopatra, are proofs of what I say. Female influence never can be accounted as trifling, when it is recollected that two of the greatest events in which this world was ever interested, were accomplished by their instrumentality. By a woman sin entered our world, and by a woman a Saviour was born!

But especially in domestic life is their example felt. A garden is not more the proper place for some fair flower to unfold its leaves, and diffuse its sweetness, than domestic life is the place where a woman, by a constant action amidst quiet shades, is to accomplish the good which is not the less real, because it may never reach the public ear. It is the throne of her influence, the sphere of her duties, the paradise of her enjoyments. Take a man of the most decided character, of the most settled resolution, of the clearest views, and he will sometimes be influenced by his wife. Buonaparte was an example. The impetuous

temper of the warrior, before whom all Europe trembled, was guided and directed by the insinuating Josephine. What a beautiful example have we in Scripture. Manoah was afraid; he had seen a vision. The terrible countenance of the angel of God, had been uncovered to him; and he was afraid he should die; but what says his wife? If the Lord had been pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering at our hands; neither would he have showed us all these things. Solomon, the wisest of men, was beguiled by fair idolatresses; and Samson, the Danite strong, lost his locks on the lap of her who conquered strength by the smiles of deceitful love. Over children, the power of a mother is immense. The influence of a woman on the world through the medium of her family, may be compared to the action of the gentle breeze on the trees of the forest. The breeze is invisible, the tree is a pillar, lofty and strong, apparently too firm to be moved by the varying air, in which its branches wave without resistance. But at the rising of the evening gale, every leaf trembles, and the whole vegetable phalanx derives its life and vigor from the apparently feeble agent which it seems to deride. St. Paul recognizes that influence as great, when he asks, what knowest thou, O wife, but thou shalt save thy husband? Yes, I exult in the strength of my examples, for they reach to salvation!

THE PURITAN.

No. 38.

At Bacchus' feast non shall her mete

Ne at no wanton playe;

Nor gasing in an open street,

Nor gadding as astray;

The modest mirth, that she doth use,

Is mixed with shamefastness;

All vice she doth wholly refuse,

And hateth ungodleness.

Old song, of uncertain auctores.

THE influence of w an is felt by direct example; and the temperance cause is precisely the one in which it is most likely to be salutary and extensive. I am not sure that this sex have not been as deep in this sin as the other part of our race. I know it is pleasing to believe, that a delicate lady is above such low appetites; that a female heart, is the seat of refinement; and purity, and softness, and, at least, temperance. A lover, can hardly bear the idea that his mistress is given to eating; in some romances, they

never eat at all; they have the art of subsisting on love alone; he can hardly bear that she should prefer a glass of wine, to water. But it is shocking to him beyond measure, that she should keep a bottle of cordials in her closet, which is nothing but alcohol under a softer name; and that the hues on her cheek, red as the blushes of the morning, should not be the fresh paint of nature, but of something else. It is very pathetic when we see a miserable family, to suppose that the husband drinks all the rum, and the wife sheds all the tears. I have several pamphlets written in this very strain, which I have thoughts of sending in to our societies, which offer prizes for excitements to benevolent genius. But I am afraid, if we should establish a strict system of induction, and put down the result in those figures which cannot lie, we should find an alarming proportion of women, who have so much of flesh and blood, as actually to drink spirit; and if they do drink it, the consequence is inevitable-it will intoxicate their delicate brains, as well as those of the vilest drunkard that ever attempted in vain to walk the street. It is horrible to think of it; but perhaps if we were to take the world through, we should find an equal proportion of drunkards in one sex, as the other. True, they become so in very different ways. With man, it is a social vice; they become intemperate in company. With women, it is taken as a medicine. They have feebler constitutions; they are denominated the weaker vessels.