Young Womans Guide, The | Page 2

use of lectures. Study of our peculiarities. Study of
mental philosophy. The Bible. How the Bible should be studied.

CHAPTER VI.
CONSCIENTIOUSNESS.
Is there any conscientiousness in the world? How far conscientiousness should extend.
Tendency and power of habit. Evils of doing incessantly what we know to be wrong.
Why we do this. Errors of early education. False standard of right and wrong. Bad
method of family discipline. Palsy of the moral sensibilities. Particular direction in regard
to the education of conscience. Results which may be expected.

CHAPTER VII.
SELF-GOVERNMENT.
What self-government includes. Cheerfulness a duty. Discretion. Modesty. Diffidence.
Courage. Vigilance. Thoughts and feelings. The affections. The temper. The appetites
and passions.

CHAPTER VIII.
SELF-COMMAND.
Presence of mind. Examples. Napoleon. Female example. Mrs. Merrill. Use of the
anecdote. Self-command to be cultivated. In what manner. Consult the experience of
others. Consult your own reason and good sense. Daily practice in the art of
self-command.

CHAPTER IX.
DECISION OF CHARACTER.

Decision of character as important to young women as to others. Why it is so. Illustration
of the subject by a Scripture anecdote. Misery and danger of indecision. How to reform.
Perseverance. Errors of modern education.

CHAPTER X.
SELF-DEPENDENCE.
Fashionable education. Why there is so little self-dependence in the world. Why orphans
sometimes make out well in the world. Error corrected. What young women once were.
What they are now. The best character formed under difficulties. Cause of the present
helpless condition of females. Three or four to get breakfast. Modes of breaking up these
habits. Anecdote of an independent young woman. Appeal to the reader.

CHAPTER XI.
REASONING AND ORIGINALITY.
Females not expected to be reasoners. Effects of modern education on the reasoning
powers. Education of former days, illustrated by an anecdote of an octogenarian. Extracts
from her correspondence. Difficulty in getting the ears of mankind. The reasoning powers
in man susceptible of cultivation indefinitely. Reflections on the importance of maternal
effort and female education.

CHAPTER XII.
INVENTION.
Why woman has invented so few things. Abundant room for the exercise of her inventive
powers. Hints. Particular need of a reform in cookery. Appeal to young women on this
subject.

CHAPTER XIII.
OBSERVATION AND REFLECTION.
Advice of Dr. Dwight. Other counsels to the young. Some persons of both sexes are
always seeing, but never reflecting. An object deserving of pity. Zimmerman's views.
Reading to get rid of reflection. Worse things still.

CHAPTER XIV.
DETRACTION AND SCANDAL.
Universal prevalence of detraction and slander. Proofs. Shakspeare. Burns the poet.
Self-knowledge, how much to be desired. Reference to the work of Mrs. Opie--to our
own hearts--to the Bible.

CHAPTER XV.

THE RIGHT USE OF TIME.
Great value of moments. An old maxim. Wasting shreds of time. Time more valuable
than money. What are the most useful charities. Doing good by proxy. Value of time for
reflection. Doing nothing. Rendering an account of our time at the last tribunal.

CHAPTER XVI.
LOVE OF DOMESTIC CONCERNS.
Reasons for loving domestic life. 1. Young women should have some avocation. Labor
regarded as drudgery. 2. Domestic employment healthy. 3. It is pleasant. 4. It affords
leisure for intellectual improvement. 5. It is favorable to social improvement. 6. It is the
employment assigned them by Divine Providence, and is eminently conducive to moral
improvement.--The moral lessons of domestic life. A well ordered home a miniature of
heaven.

CHAPTER XVII.
FRUGALITY AND ECONOMY.
Economy becoming old fashioned. The Creator's example. Frugality and economy should
he early inculcated. Spending two pence to save one, not always wrong. Examples of
disregarding economy. Wasting small things. Good habits as well as bad ones, go by
companies. This chapter particularly necessary to the young. Frugality and economy of
our grandmothers.

CHAPTER XVIII.
SYSTEM.
General neglect of system in families. Successful efforts of a few schools. Why the
effects they produce are not permanent. Importance of right education. Here and there
system maybe found. Blessedness of having a mother who is systematic. Let no person
ever despair of reformation. How to begin the work.

CHAPTER XIX.
PUNCTUALITY.
Evil of being one minute too late. Examples to illustrate the importance of punctuality.
Case of a mother at Lowell. Her adventure. General habits which led to such a disaster.
Condition of a family trained to despise punctuality.

CHAPTER XX.
EXERCISE.
The muscles, or moving power of the body. Their number and character. Philosophy and
necessity of exercise. Why young women should study these. Various kinds of exercise. 1.
Walking. 2. Gardening and agriculture. 3. House-keeping. 4. Riding. 5. Local exercises.--
Difficulty of drawing the public attention to this subject. The slavery of fashion.

Consequences of the fashionable neglect of exercise. A common but shocking sight.

CHAPTER XXI.
REST AND SLEEP.
Why rest and sleep