Travel over the world, make
your path a belt around the earth, visit all that is wonderful, and
see all races of people,--do this without ever thinking deeply on the
objects presented to sight or mind, and all things will become
commonplace, unsatisfactory, dull, dronish.
Believe me, girls, there is nothing commonplace that is worth thinking
about. And, pray, has God made any object which is not worth a thought?
Are you living in a city, girls, surrounded by opportunities for
improving your mental faculties; blessed by association with persons
of refinement; favored with that peculiar culture which only great
cities can freely offer in their art-galleries, their museums, their
lecture-rooms; and stimulated to do good to the poor about your streets?
You are, indeed, favored: your lot is an enviable one.
Do you live out of town, and quite removed from the attractions of
a metropolis? Ah! your home, then, is under clearer skies, which the
city artists can only imitate; you live amidst the decorations which
highest Nature imparts but to country landscapes. Without the especial
occupations of city life, you escape its rush and tumult. You are being
taught by slower, yet as attractive, methods, the grand lessons of
life. The instruction which comes from woods and streams and hills,
and the intercourse which arises among hearty country people, are more
thorough and more cordial than the brick walls and hurrying crowds
of a city can afford.
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