Girls: Faults and Ideals | Page 6

pouring out the best and
richest of her life for him, giving the very blood of her veins that he
might have more life; denying herself even needed comforts that he,
her heart's pride, might be educated and might become a noble man
among men.
Men who have true-hearted, self-forgetful older sisters rarely ever
honor them half enough for their sacrifices, their unselfishnesses, the
influence of their gentle purity and their hallowed love. Many a sister
has denied herself everything, and has worn out her very life, for a
brother who in his wealth or fame too often altogether forgets her.
There is a class of women in every community whom society flippantly
denominates "old maids." The world needs yet to be told what
uncrowned queens many of these women are, what undecorated
heroines, what blessings to humanity, what builders of homes, what
servants of others and of Christ. In thousands of cases they remain
unmarried for the sake of their families. Many of them have refused
brilliant offers of marriage that they might remain at home to be the
shield and comfort and stay of parents growing feeble and needing their
gentle care. Hundreds more there are who have hidden away their own
heart-hunger that they devote their lives to good deeds for Christ and
for humanity.
Florence Nightingale denied herself the joy and sweetness of wedded
happiness, and gave her life to service in army hospitals, carrying to
wounded and weary men the blessing of her kindly ministry, instead of

shutting it up within the walls of a home of her own. And "Sister
Dora," who wrought with such brave spirit in English perl-houses,
"whose story is as a helpful evangel, was the bride of the world's
sorrow only." Every community has its own examples of those whose
hands have not felt the pressure of the wedding-ring because home
loved ones seemed to need their affection and their service. We ought
to honor these unmarried women. Many of them are the true heroines,
the real sisters of mercy, of the communities where they live. Those
who sometimes speak lightly of them might better bow down before
them in reverence and kiss the hands, wrinkled now and faded, which
never have been clasped in marriage. Some one, by the coffin of one of
these unwedded queens, writes of the folded hands:
"Roughened and worn with ceaseless toil and care, No perfumed grace,
no dainty skill, had these! They earned for whiter hands a jewelled case,
And kept the scars unlovely for their share. Patient and slow, they had
the will to bear The whole world's burdens, but no power to seize The
flying joys of life, the gifts that please, The gold and gems that others
find so fair. Dear hands, where bridal jewel never shone, Whereon no
lover's kiss was ever pressed, Crossed in unwonted quiet on the breast,
I see through tears your glory, newly won, The golden circlet of life's
work well done, Set with the shining pearl of perfect rest."
Every writer speaks of Christlikeness as the real crown and
completeness of all womanly character. I have not space to quote the
words of any letter. I may say only that Christ is not merely the ideal,
the pattern, for every young woman to model her life upon, but that
Christ is to be her Friend as well as her Saviour, her Master, her Helper.
Mary, sitting at Christ's feet, is a loving picture which every young girl
ought to keep framed in her heart. One letter sums up the ideal
womanhood in these elements: "Trustfulness, hopefulness, joyfulness,
peacefulness." But Christ must be in your heart before you can have
these qualities in your life.
Let me now turn your thoughts to the other Scripture test. "The King's
daughter is all glorious within; her clothing is of wrought gold." As the
words read in our Common Version, they seem to describe the heart

life and the outer life, or conduct. "All glorious within," with heart pure,
beautiful, radiant, bearing the image of Christ. "Her clothing is of
wrought gold," woven of threads of gold; that is, her outward life also
is pure, beautiful, radiant, Christ-like. This is the King's Daughter's text;
it is the motto which gives them the aim of all their life and activity.
Let us look at it a few moments as containing the Scriptural ideal for all
young womanhood. _"All glorious within_." That is the first thing to
seek in your ideal of true young womanhood. You must have your
heart right, and it must be kept right. An evil heart never made a holy
life. A dark heart never made a shining life. A selfish heart never made
an unselfish life. A sad heart never made a glad life. Says Faber: "There