{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_9386/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_9386","id":"gutenberg_9386","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9386","summary":null,"tags":["Category: How To ...","Category: Parenthood & Family Relations","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Young women"],"text":"Produced by Ted Garvin, and PG Distributed Proofreaders.\nHTML version by Al Haines.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGIRLS: FAULTS AND IDEALS.\n\n_A FAMILIAR TALK, WITH QUOTATIONS FROM LETTERS._\n\nBY\n\nJ.R. MILLER, D.D.\n\nNEW YORK 10 EAST FOURTEENTH ST.\n\nTHOMAS V. CROWELL & CO.\n\nBOSTON: 100 PURCHASE STREET.\n\n\n\n\nGIRLS: FAULTS AND IDEALS.\n\n\n\"Cleanse thou me from secret faults.\" PSA. xix, 12. \"The King's daughter\nis all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.\"--PSA. xiv. 13.\n\nThe religion of Christ has something to say to every man, woman, and\nchild, in every relation, on every day, in every experience of life.\nIt is not something for Sundays, and for prayer-meetings, and for\nsick-rooms, death-beds, and funerals: it is just as much for the\nschool-room, the play-ground, the store, the kitchen, the street.\nWherever you may chance to be, if you listen you will hear a voice\nbehind you, whispering, \"This is the way; walk ye in it.\" The Bible is\nthe Word of God, our Father's will concerning his children; and it has\nsomething to say each day, at every point of experience, to every one of\nus. I want to help the girls and young women, if I can, to hear a little\nof what Christ has to say to them.\n\nIt is good for us to see ourselves as others see us. Hence, I have asked\na number of Christian young men to give me answers to certain questions,\nand from these I have quoted in this familiar talk. I take two of these\nquestions, viz.;\n\n1. \"What are some of the most common faults in young women of your\nacquaintance?\"\n\n2. \"What are some of the essential elements of character in your ideal\nof true young womanhood?\"\n\nWe shall think then of common faults and of ideals. The first text I\nhave chosen is a prayer for for the cleansing of faults. The second is a\ndescription of the life that pleases God.\n\n\"Cleanse thou me from secret faults.\" Is there one of us who does not,\nfrom deepest heart pray this prayer? I pity that man or that woman who\ndoes not long to be cured of faults, whatever they are, however painful\nor costly their removal may be.\n\nSome one says,--and the words are worthy of being written in\ngold,--\"Count yourself richer that day you discover a new fault in\nyourself,--not richer because it is there, but richer because it is no\nlonger a hidden fault; and if you have not found all your faults, pray\nto have them revealed to you, even if the revelation must come in a way\nthat hurts your pride.\" Mr. Ruskin has this word also for young women:\n\"Make sure that however good you may be, you have faults; that however\ndull you may be, you can find out what they are; and that however slight\nthey may be, you had better make some patient effort to get rid of\nthem.... Therefore see that no day passes in which you do not make\nyourself a somewhat better creature; and in order to do that find out\nfirst what you are now.... If you do not dare to do this, find out\nwhy you do not dare, and try to get strength of heart enough to look\nyourself fairly in the face, in mind as well as in body.... Always have\ntwo mirrors on your toilet table, and see that with proper care you\ndress both the mind and body before them daily.\"\n\nThese words show us the importance of the prayer: \"Cleanse thou me from\nsecret faults.\" We all have our faults, which mar the beauty of our\nlives in the eyes of others. Every noble soul desires to grow out of all\nfaults, to have them corrected. The smallest fault mars the beauty of\nthe character; and one who seeks to possess only \"whatsoever things\nare lovely\" will be eager to be rid of whatever is faulty. Ofttimes,\nhowever, we do not know our own faults: we are unconscious of them.\nWe cannot see ourselves as others see us. The friend does us a true\nkindness who tells us of the things in our character, habits, manners,\nwhich appear as blemishes, although many people have too much vanity to\nbe told of their faults. They resent it as a personal insult when\none points out any blemish in them. But this is most foolish\nshort-sightedness. To learn of a fault is an opportunity to add a new\nline of beauty to the life. Our prayer each day should be that God would\nshow us our secret faults, whatever messenger he may send to point them\nout, and then give us grace to correct them.\n\nThe young men who have replied to my question concerning the faults of\nyoung women have done so in most kindly spirit, for to a noble soul it\nis always an unwelcome task to find fault; it is much easier to name the\nbeautiful things in those we love than the blemishes.\n\nSeveral writers have referred to the matter of _dress_. One says \"Too\nmuch time is given by many young ladies to dressing. They scarcely think\nof anything else.\" Another names, \"The love of dress, the inordinate\ndesire to excel their companions in this particular,\" as among the\ncommon faults in young women, adding that it has led many of them\nto ruin. Another says they like to make themselves attractive by\nconspicuous colors, and suggests that if they would spend less time in\nshopping and more in some elevating occupation, for example in making\nhome brighter for brothers and parents, it would be better.\n\n\"Following fashion to an extreme that is unbecoming and often\nextravagant; too great attention to outward adornment at the expense of\ninner adornment,\" another marks as a too prominent fault. We remember\nthat St. Peter has a word about dressing: \"Whose adorning, let it not be\nthat outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or\nof putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in\nthat which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quite\nspirit.\" Every young woman should dress well, that is, neatly,\ntastefully, modestly, whether she be rich or poor. Conspicuous dressing\nis vulgar. True refinement avoids anything showy and flashy: it never\ndresses better than it can afford, and yet it is always well dressed,\neven in simple muslin or plain calico.\n\nAnother fault mentioned is _the lack of moral earnestness_. \"Frivolity,\narising from want of purpose in life,\" one names, \"even the most sacred\nduties and relations being marred by this frivolousness. The best years\nof life are wasted in small talk and still smaller reading, tears and\nsighs being wasted over a novelist's creations, while God's creatures\ndie for want of a word of sympathy.\" Another names, \"Frivolity, want of\ndefiniteness of purpose.\" Still another says: \"The giving of so little\ntime to serious reflection and for preparation for the responsible\nduties of life. In other words, frivolity of manner, shallowness of\nthought, and, as a consequence, insipidity of speech are strongly marked\nfaults in some young ladies.\" This writer pleads for deeper, intenser\nearnestness. \"Young women will reach a high excellence of moral\ncharacter only as they prepare themselves for life by self-discipline\nand culture.\" Another puts it down as \"A want of firm decision in\ncharacter and action,\" and says that too often, in times \"when they\nought to stand like a rock, they yield and fall;\" and adds: \"The young\nladies of our land have power to mould the lives of the young men for\ngood or for evil.\"\n\nThere is a caution in these words which every young woman should heed.\nLife is not play, for it has its solemn responsibilities, its sacred\nduties; and eternity lies beyond this little span. I call you to\nearnestness, moral earnestness. Determine to make the most and the best\nof your life. Get an education to fit you for life's duties, even though\nit must be gotten in the little fragments of time that you can redeem\nfrom busy days. Life is too short to crowd everything into it. Something\nmust always be left out. Better leave out many of your amusements and\nrecreations, than grow up into womanhood ignorant and with undisciplined\nintellectual powers. Train your mind to think. Set your ideal before\nyou,--rich, beautiful womanhood,--and bend all your energy to reach it.\n\nSome of these letters speak of the common _talk_ of girls as being\nlargely idle gossip; criticisms of absent people; unkind words about\npersons whom the ladies would meet with warm professions of friendship\nand fervent kisses if they were to come in a minute later.\n\nDear girls, I plead for sincerity in speech. \"Do not yield to the\npassion for miserable gossip which is so common. Talk about things, not\npeople. Do not malign or backbite your absent friend. What is friendship\nworth if the moment the person is out of sight the tongue that has\nprofessed affection becomes a poisoned fang, and the lips which gave\ntheir warm kiss utter the word of ridicule, or sneer, or aspersion?\nBetter be dumb than have the gift of speech to be used in the miserable\nidle words, insincerities, and backbitings too common in modern society.\nSurely something better can be found to talk about; if not, utter\nsilence is more heaven-like. A stupid girl who cannot talk at all\nis better far than a chattering girl who can talk of nothing good or\nuseful.\n\n  \"Find thou always time to say some earnest word\n  between the idle talk.\"\n\nOne mentions \"_want of reverence for sacred things_\" as a sad fault in\nsome young women. He has seen them whispering in the church and Sunday\nschool, during sermon and lesson, even during prayer, and has marked\nother acts of irreverence. It is to be hoped that this fault is indeed\nrare, unless it be in very young girls, who know no better. But as the\nfault has been pointed out by one who has been sorely pained by it, will\nnot the girls and young women think of it a moment? A girl's religion\nshould be full of joy and gladness. It should make her happy, fill\nher lips with song; but it should make her so reverent that, in the\npresence of her God, in prayer, in worship, in the study of the Bible,\nher heart shall be silent with the silence of adoration. Dear girls,\nremember that in any religious service, you are standing or bowing\nbefore God, and let nothing for one instant tempt you to whisper, to\nsmile, to do aught that would grieve the Holy Spirit. Others speak of _a\nwant of respect for the aged_, and especially for parents, as a fault\nof young women. \"How often is the kind advice a father and mother set\naside, just because it goes against some whim or fancy of their own!\nA desire on the part of a young lady to live in the fashion, to be\nwell-dressed at all hours and ready for callers--how much toil and\nsacrifice often fall to a good mother from such an ambition!\" The writer\ngives other illustrations of the same spirit in some girls. It is hoped\nthat there are but few who see their own face in this mirror.\n\nNot long since I stood by the coffin and grave of a young girl whom\nI had known for a dozen years. She received a fine education, having\nfinished a course in one of the best colleges of the land. What did she\ndo with her education? Did she sit down as a lady of elegant leisure?\nDid she think her trained powers were too fine to be used in any common\nwork? Did she look down from her lofty height upon her mother as\nold-fashioned, out of date? No: she came home from college at the end of\nher course, and at once went into her home to lift the burden and care\nfrom the shoulders of the loving, patient mother who had toiled for her\nso long in order that she might receive her education and training. When\nthe beautiful girl was dead, the mother told me with loving gladness how\nGertrude had lifted one by one every burden from her during those years,\nuntil, at last, the child's own hands carried all the household care and\nresponsibility. She did not think her richly-furnished life too fine\nto be used in plain household duties, She remembered all her mother's\nself-denials in her behalf in earlier days, and rejoiced that now she\nmight, in some measure, reward her. I have spoken of this one young\nwoman's loving regard for her mother, and of the way she showed it, in\nthe hope that it may inspire in many another young girl's heart a spirit\nof noble helpfulness toward a tired mother.\n\nOne writer notes as a fault in some young women, that they are _careless\nof their good names_. \"They are not careful enough as to their\nassociates and companions. Some of them are seen with young men who are\nknown to be of questionable moral character. On the streets they talk\nloudly, so as unconsciously to attract attention to themselves. They act\nso that young men of the looser sort will stare at them and even dare\nto speak to them.\" In these and other ways, certain young women, this\nwriter says, imperil their own good name, and, I may add, imperil their\nsouls.\n\nWhen will young girls learn that modesty and shrinking from public gaze\nare the invariable marks of true beauty in womanhood; and that anything\nwhich is contrary to these is a mark of vulgarity and ill-breeding?\nGuard your name as the jewel of your life. Many a young woman with\npure life has lived under shadows all her later years, because of\nsome careless--only careless, not wrong--act in youth which had the\nappearance of evil.\n\nIn one letter received from a thoughtful young man, mention is made of\na \"disregard of health,\" as a common fault in young women. Another\nmentions but one fault,--\"the lack of glad earnestness.\" Another\nspecifies, \"thoughtlessness, heedlessness, a disregard of the feelings\nof others,\" Another thinks some young women \"so weak and dependent\nthat they incur the risk of becoming a living embodiment of the wicked\nproverb, 'So good that they are good for nothing.'\" On the other hand,\nhowever, one writer deplores just the reverse of this, the tendency\nin young women to be independent, self-reliant, appearing not to need\nprotection and shelter.\n\nDoubtless there is truth in both those criticisms: there are some young\nwomen who are so dainty, so accomplished, so delicate, that they can be\nof little use in this world. When misfortune comes to such and they\nare thrown out of the cosy nest, they are in a most pitiable condition\nindeed. They can do nothing to provide for themselves. Then there are\nothers who so pride themselves on their independence, that one of the\nsweetest charms of womanhood is lost--the charm of gentle trustfulness.\n\nI have suggested enough faults for one lesson,--perhaps as many as you\ncan carry in your mind, certainly as many as you can correct, although I\nhave not exhausted the list that I find in my correspondence. As I said\nat the beginning, these faults are pointed out, not in the spirit of\ncriticism, but in the spirit of kindness, of truest interest, and with\ndesire to help. Many of them may seem very trivial faults, but small\nspecks stain the whiteness of a fair robe. \"Little things make\nperfection.\" You cannot afford to keep the least discovered fault in\nyour character or conduct, for little blemishes are the beginnings of\ngreater ones that by and by will destroy all the beauty of life.\n\n  \"It is the little rift within the lute\n  That by and by will make music mute,\n  And, ever widening, slowly silence all--\n  The little rift within the lover's lute:\n  Or little pitted speck in garnered fruit,\n  That rotting inward, slowly moulders all.\"\n\nWill you not, then, pray this prayer: \"Cleanse thou me from secret\nfaults\"? Do not try to hide your faults--hiding them does not cure them.\nEvery true woman wants to grow into perfect moral and spiritual beauty.\nIn order to do this, she wants to know wherein she fails, what blemishes\nothers see in her, what blemishes God sees in her. Then, as quickly as\nshe discovers the faults, she wants to have them removed. The old artist\nApelles had for his motto: \"_Nulla dies sine linea_\"--\"No day without a\nline.\" Will you not take this motto for yours, and seek every day to get\nthe victory over some little blemish, to get some fault corrected, to\nget in your life a little more of the beauty of perfect womanhood?\nCleanse thou me, O Lord, from secret faults.\n\nNow I turn your thoughts away from faults to ideals. The second question\nwas: \"What are some of the essential elements of character in your ideal\nof true young womanhood?\" Here also I can give only very few of the\nanswers received.\n\nNearly every one emphasizes the element of _gentleness_. One says: \"I\nlike to see a young lady kind and agreeable to all, yet dignified.\"\n\"Gentle in speech, voice, and manner; full of love for her home, yet\nfirm and decided in her convictions,\" says another. One sums up his\nideal in these particulars: \"An unspotted character, a cheerful\ndisposition, a generous, untiring heart, and a brave will.\" Nearly all\nput strength with gentleness, in some form. \"All the firmness that does\nnot exclude delicacy, and all the softness that does not imply weakness.\nLoving, helpful, and trusting, she must be able to soothe anxiety by\nher presence; charm and allay irritability by her sweetness of temper.\"\nAnother writes: \"A beauty of spirit in which love, gentleness, and\nkindness are mingled. Patience and meekness, fortitude, a well-governed\ntemper, sympathy, and tenderness,\" Says another: \"Kind, courteous,\nhumble, and affectionate to old and young, rich and poor, yet ambitious\nto right limits.\" One young man writes: \"Loving and kind, a Christian\nin heart and arts; a character based on Christ and his teachings.\" Then\nfollows this noble tribute: \"My own mother has lived and proved this\nideal for me.\"\n\nOf this tenor are all the letters. Without gentleness no woman can be\ntruly beautiful. Cruelty in a man is a sad disfigurement, but in a woman\nit is the marring of all her loveliness.\n\n_Purity_ is another element which, in many of the letters, is\nemphasized. I need not quote the words. I need only remind you that\npurity must have its home in the heart, if it is to be the glory of the\nlife. \"Blessed are the pure in heart,\" is the Master's beatitude. \"You\nare pure, you say; are your thoughts as white\n\n  As the snow that falls with the midnight's hush?\n  Could you see them blazoned in letters of light,\n  For the world to read, and feel no blush?\n\n  If you stood in the court of heaven, mid swift,\n  Glad greetings of loved ones who know no wrong,\n  Could you bare your heart to them all, and lift\n  Unshrinking eyes to that spotless throng?\"\n\n_Faithfulness_ is named by many as another essential element in true\nwomanhood. One answers: \"Courage to take a positive stand on all moral\nquestions ... Industry that consists in something more than playing\nmechanically a few pieces on the piano, or tracing grotesque figures\nin wool or silk.\" Here two elements of faithfulness are\nindicated--faithfulness in one's place in all one's work, and moral\nfaithfulness in following conscience. Other letters suggest practically\nthe same essential quality.\n\nIt is impossible to over-emphasise this element. The time has gone\nby forever when woman, in Christian lands, can be regarded as a mere\nornament, and can be shut out of active life. She is not a doll or a\ntoy. She has her duties and responsibilities. She is not born merely\nto be married as soon as possible, and from girlhood to consider her\nwedding as the goal of her life. Thousands of young women will never be\nmarried, and yet their life need not be a failure though their fingers\nare never circled by a wedding-ring. Women have immortal souls. Their\nheaven does not depend upon being linked with a husband, as the Mormons\nteach. Marriage is a good thing for a woman, if she marry well. I honor\nmarriage as one of the holiest and most sacred of God's ordinances.\n\nBut, here is the truth which I want to impress, that a young woman\nshould not begin her life with the thought that she must get a husband.\nOh, the sad desecration of womanhood that such a purpose in life\nproduces! Every young girl should set for her great central aim in life,\nto be a woman, a true, noble, pure, holy woman, to seek ever the highest\nthings; to learn from her Master her whole duty and responsibility in\nthis world, and to do the one and fulfil the other, That should be\nher aim,--to realize in her character all the possibilities of her\nwomanhood, and to do all the work for her Master which he may give her\nto do. Then, if God shall call her to be a wife, let her still go on\nwith the same reverence, faith, and love, in whatever lines she may\nbe led. I call young women to faithfulness--that is all, simple\nfaithfulness, Accept your duty, and do it. Accept your responsibility,\nand meet it. Be true in every relation you are called to fill, Be brave\nenough to be loyal always to your womanhood.\n\nOne letter refers to what a true and noble sister may be to her brother,\nespecially of the better than angel guardianship of an older sister\nover her younger brother. Evidently this young man writes with the\nconsciousness that he himself has had the benediction of such an older\nsister. Volumes could be written concerning such ministries. Moses was\nnot the only child by whose infancy's cradle an older sister has kept\nsacred watch. He was not the only great man who has owed much of his\ngreatness to a faithful, self-denying Miriam. Many a man who is now\nhonored in the world owes all his power and influence to a woman,\nperhaps too much forgotten now, perhaps worn and wrinkled, beauty gone,\nbrightness faded, living alone and solitary, but who, in the days of\nhis youth, was guardian angel to him, freely pouring out the best and\nrichest of her life for him, giving the very blood of her veins that he\nmight have more life; denying herself even needed comforts that he, her\nheart's pride, might be educated and might become a noble man among men.\n\nMen who have true-hearted, self-forgetful older sisters rarely ever\nhonor them half enough for their sacrifices, their unselfishnesses, the\ninfluence of their gentle purity and their hallowed love. Many a sister\nhas denied herself everything, and has worn out her very life, for a\nbrother who in his wealth or fame too often altogether forgets her.\n\nThere is a class of women in every community whom society flippantly\ndenominates \"old maids.\" The world needs yet to be told what uncrowned\nqueens many of these women are, what undecorated heroines, what\nblessings to humanity, what builders of homes, what servants of others\nand of Christ. In thousands of cases they remain unmarried for the\nsake of their families. Many of them have refused brilliant offers of\nmarriage that they might remain at home to be the shield and comfort and\nstay of parents growing feeble and needing their gentle care. Hundreds\nmore there are who have hidden away their own heart-hunger that they\ndevote their lives to good deeds for Christ and for humanity.\n\nFlorence Nightingale denied herself the joy and sweetness of wedded\nhappiness, and gave her life to service in army hospitals, carrying to\nwounded and weary men the blessing of her kindly ministry, instead of\nshutting it up within the walls of a home of her own. And \"Sister Dora,\"\nwho wrought with such brave spirit in English perl-houses, \"whose\nstory is as a helpful evangel, was the bride of the world's sorrow\nonly.\" Every community has its own examples of those whose hands have\nnot felt the pressure of the wedding-ring because home loved ones seemed\nto need their affection and their service. We ought to honor these\nunmarried women. Many of them are the true heroines, the real sisters\nof mercy, of the communities where they live. Those who sometimes speak\nlightly of them might better bow down before them in reverence and kiss\nthe hands, wrinkled now and faded, which never have been clasped in\nmarriage. Some one, by the coffin of one of these unwedded queens,\nwrites of the folded hands:\n\n  \"Roughened and worn with ceaseless toil and care,\n  No perfumed grace, no dainty skill, had these!\n  They earned for whiter hands a jewelled case,\n  And kept the scars unlovely for their share.\n  Patient and slow, they had the will to bear\n  The whole world's burdens, but no power to seize\n  The flying joys of life, the gifts that please,\n  The gold and gems that others find so fair.\n  Dear hands, where bridal jewel never shone,\n  Whereon no lover's kiss was ever pressed,\n  Crossed in unwonted quiet on the breast,\n  I see through tears your glory, newly won,\n  The golden circlet of life's work well done,\n  Set with the shining pearl of perfect rest.\"\n\nEvery writer speaks of _Christlikeness_ as the real crown and\ncompleteness of all womanly character. I have not space to quote the\nwords of any letter. I may say only that Christ is not merely the ideal,\nthe pattern, for every young woman to model her life upon, but that\nChrist is to be her Friend as well as her Saviour, her Master, her\nHelper. Mary, sitting at Christ's feet, is a loving picture which every\nyoung girl ought to keep framed in her heart. One letter sums up\nthe ideal womanhood in these elements: \"Trustfulness, hopefulness,\njoyfulness, peacefulness.\" But Christ must be in your heart before you\ncan have these qualities in your life.\n\nLet me now turn your thoughts to the other Scripture test. \"The King's\ndaughter is all glorious within; her clothing is of wrought gold.\" As\nthe words read in our Common Version, they seem to describe the heart\nlife and the outer life, or conduct. \"All glorious within,\" with heart\npure, beautiful, radiant, bearing the image of Christ. \"Her clothing is\nof wrought gold,\" woven of threads of gold; that is, her outward life\nalso is pure, beautiful, radiant, Christ-like. This is the King's\nDaughter's text; it is the motto which gives them the aim of all their\nlife and activity. Let us look at it a few moments as containing the\nScriptural ideal for all young womanhood. _\"All glorious within_.\" That\nis the first thing to seek in your ideal of true young womanhood. You\nmust have your heart right, and it must be kept right. An evil heart\nnever made a holy life. A dark heart never made a shining life. A\nselfish heart never made an unselfish life. A sad heart never made a\nglad life. Says Faber: \"There are souls in the world who have the gift\nof finding joy everywhere, and of leaving it behind them when they go.\nJoy gushes from under their fingers like jets of light. Their influence\nis an inevitable gladdening of the heart. It seems as if a shadow of\nGod's own gift had passed upon them. They give light without meaning to\nshine. These bright hearts have a great work to do for God.\"\n\nThe reason these lives are such benedictions is because they are\nglorious within. I cannot press home this truth too earnestly.\nEverything depends upon the heart. The heart makes the life. A beautiful\nsoul will make even a homely face beautiful. Seek, dear girls, to be\n\"all glorious within.\"\n\nThere is only one way. Our natural hearts are not beautiful, not pure,\nnot glorious. We must let Christ wash our souls till they are made\nwhiter than snow. We must let the Holy Spirit cleanse us and purify us\nand glorify our life within. Here is a little prayer for all who would\nhave their hearts transformed:\n\n  \"Holy Spirit, dwell with me;\n  I myself would holy be;\n  Separate from sin, I would\n  Choose and cherish all things good;\n  And whatever I can be,\n  Give to him who gave me thee.\"\n\n\"_Her clothing is of wrought gold_.\" Not only is the inner life of the\nKing's daughter all glorious, but her outer life also is resplendent.\nHer character is beautiful. Her disposition is kindly. Her spirit is\ngentle. She does lovely things. The heart makes the life. A glorious\nlight within shines out and transfigures all the being. It is wonderful\nhow the whole life is brightened by a loving, joyful heart. So I counsel\nthe young women to seek to have their very faces shine with the glory\nof peace. Watch your life, your temper, your disposition, your conduct,\nyour acts, your words. You are a daughter of the King; wear your royal\ngarments wherever you may go. Go continually on your King's errands.\n\nYou know the morning prayer which each \"King's Daughter\" is requested to\noffer: \"Take me, Lord, and use me to-day as thou wilt. Whatever work\nthou has for me to do, give it into my hands. If there are those thou\nwouldst have me to help in any way, send them to me. Take my time and\nuse it, as thou wilt. Let me be a vessel close to thy hand and meet for\nthy service, to be employed only for thee and for ministry to others in\nthy name.\"\n\nIt does not need great and conspicuous things to make a life golden and\nradiant in God's sight. Go out each day with this prayer of consecration\non your lips, and be a blessing to every one you meet. Be a blessing,\nfirst, in your own home, to those who love you most. Leave joy in their\nhearts as you go forth, or as they go forth, for the day. Then go with\nbenedictions to every other life you meet or touch.\n\nWe are told of Jesus that when persons touched even his garment's hem,\nvirtue went out of him and healed them. We read of Peter that the people\nlaid their sick in the street, that the apostle's shadow as he passed by\nmight fall on them and heal them. It should be so, dear Christian young\npeople, with your lives. You should be so full of the Spirit of God that\nat every touch of love or need or sorrow, virtue may flow out of you to\nheal and bless, and that the mere shadow of your presence may have a\nbenediction for every one on whom it falls. Is there not some one whom\nyou know, perhaps some lowly one, whom it always does you good to meet?\nSeek to have your life such a reservoir of good, of blessing, of life,\nof peace, of joy, that no one can meet you without taking away some\nblessing.\n\nSome one may be discouraged by this setting forth of so high an ideal.\n\"I can never reach it. I can never train my life into such beauty. I can\nnever be such a woman. I can never do the duties of a Christian in such\na perfect way.\" No, never in your own strength. If no help came from\nGod, if there were set for us all the lofty ideals of the Scriptures,\nand we were then left alone to work them out as best we could, unhelped,\nwe might well despair. But, for every duty and requirement there is a\npromise of divine grace.\n\nRuskin says: \"He gives us always strength enough, and sense enough, for\nwhat he wants us to do. If we either tire ourselves or puzzle ourselves,\nit is our own fault.\" This puts tersely, and in strong, homely phrase,\nthe essence of such promises of the Scriptures as \"My grace is\nsufficient for thee;\" \"As thy days so shall thy strength be,\" and many\nothers, \"Strength enough and sense enough.\" The latter is a fresh\nreading of the old assurance. We often say we shall get strength enough,\nbut we do not always remember that we shall get sense enough for every\nduty, every perplexity, every place where great delicacy of wisdom is\nrequired. Yet there is a promise to any one who knows that he lacks\nwisdom and will ask for it.\n\nSo the young girl need not be afraid to step out into life, if she have\nChrist with her. He will show her the way. He will make her strong for\nduty. He will be in her, and will help her to grow into radiant beauty\nof life. He will give her wisdom for every place where wisdom is\nrequired. As you bow at his feet, Christ looks into your face with love\nand yearning, eager to grant you a new blessing. Ask him for what you\nwant most, and will it not be for the blessing of simple goodness, the\nlove of Christ to fill your heart and pour out through all your life? No\nother gift can be such a benediction to you; no other can make you such\na benediction to others.\n\nI cannot tell you how my heart yearns for the young people to whom these\nwords are addressed; how I long and pray that they may be cleansed of\nall hidden faults and made all glorious within, and that their garments\nmay shine as if woven of threads of gold. With all sincerity I can make\nfor each one who may read these pages this earnest, loving prayer:--\nFather, our children keep!\n\n  We know not what is coming on the earth;\n  Beneath the shadow of thy heavenly wing,\n  Oh keep them, keep them, then who gav'st them birth.\n\n  Them in thy chambers hide!\n  Oh hide them and preserve them calm and safe,\n  Where sin abounds and error flows abroad,\n  And Satan tempts, and human passions chafe!\n\n  Oh keep them undefiled!\n  Unspotted from a tempting world of sin;\n  That, clothed in white, through the bright city gates\n  They may with us in triumph enter in.\"","title":"Girls: Faults and Ideals: A Familiar Talk, with Quotations from Letters","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":5783}