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WHAT A FEMALE CAN DO.

with other Christians, you may stir up a missionary spirit. To aid you in this, become acquainted with what has been done, and what is now doing, for the conversion of the heathen. Make yourself familiar with the arguments in favor of this cause. By this means, you may become a zealous and successful advocate of the claims of hundreds of millions of perishing heathen. As an opportunity occurs once a month for all to contribute to this cause, you know not what effect such efforts may have upon the amount contributed. There are other ways in which you can advance this cause; but, for further suggestions on the subject, I must refer you to an interesting little work, published by the Massachusetts Sabbath School Society, entitled "Louisa Ralston," which presents the subject of missions to the heathen in a most interesting light, and furnishes examples of various methods of promoting the cause.

IV. You can make your influence felt in behalf of the Poor. By frequenting the abodes of poverty and distress, you may administer to the wants of the afflicted, and call into active exercise the feelings of Christian sympathy in your own bosom. By this means, also, you will be prepared to enlist others in the same cause. In large towns, much is done for the poor by the aid of benevolent associations; and you may assist in this department. But perhaps there is no way in which you can do so much for them as by assisting them with your own hands in their afflictions, and aiding

A PLEA FOR THE POOR.

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them by your advice. Be careful, however, that you do not make them feel that you are conferring an obligation.

It is often objected against rendering assistance to the poor, that they are improvident, wanting in industry and economy; and that relieving their necessities has a tendency to make them indolent, and prevent them from helping themselves. This may be true to some extent; for intemperance has brought ruin and distress upon many families, and we cannot expect either industry, economy, or any other virtue in a drunkard. But there is much suffering even among the virtuous poor. Sickness and misfortune often bring distress upon deserving people.

The only way we can realize the sufferings of the poor is to suppose ourselves in their situation. Let a wealthy gentleman and lady, with five or six small children, be suddenly deprived of all their property, and compelled to obtain a support for their family by daily labor, in the lowest employments. Would they think they could live comfortably upon perhaps no more than seventy-five cents a day, as the proceeds of the husband's labor? Yet such is the situation of thousands of families, even in this land of plenty. I have met with families of small children, in the severity of winter, destitute of clothing sufficient to cover them, and without shoes. And, upon inquiry into their circumstances and means of support, I could not see how the parents could make any better

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EXAMPLE OF CHRIST.

provision. Again, even supposing that the wretchedness of the poor is brought upon them by their own vices, is it agreeable to the spirit of Christ to refuse to relieve their distresses? Has not sin brought upon us all our wretchedness ? If the Lord Jesus had reasoned and acted upon this principle, would a single soul have been saved? But he has commanded us to be merciful, even as our Father which is in heaven is merciful. And how is he merciful? "He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." Again, "If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” And are we to suppose that the poor in our day are any worse than they were when Christ was upon earth? Yet he greatly honored the poor, in appearing himself in a condition of extreme poverty. At his birth, his parents could provide him no better bed than a manger; and while wearing out his life in the service of a lost world, he had no place to lay his head! Yet, poor as he was, he set us an example of giving. At the last supper, when he told Judas, "That thou doest, do quickly," his disciples supposed he had sent him to give something to the poor. From this we may safely infer that he was in the habit of frequently doing so. He also exhorted others to give to the poor; and similar exhortations are frequent in the apostolical writings.

A Christian is but the steward of God's property. By withholding it, when the kingdom of Christ, or the wants of the suffering poor, require it, and

spending it in extravagance, or hoarding it up for himself and family, beyond a competent provision for their necessities, he robs God. But, even on the principle upon which the world acts, shall we neglect the sufferings of a deserving woman, because her husband is intemperate and vicious? Or should we suffer the children to grow up without instruction, in ignorance and vice, because their parents are vicious? Be, then, the devoted friend of the poor; and seek to relieve distress wherever you find it, or whatever may be its

cause.

Still, it may be

It may be necessary, however, to use some caution against indiscriminate giving; so as not thereby to encourage idleness and dissipation. As a general principle, it is not best to give to beggars; as, by so doing, we encourage a practice that is demoralizing in the extreme. The more deserving poor are retiring, and unwilling to make known their wants. It is better to seek out such, as the objects of your charity, than to give indiscriminately to those that ask for it. well to follow those who seek your charity to their places of residence, and ascertain their circumstances, lest there might be suffering which you could relieve. But there is not much confidence to be placed in those whose sensibilities have been blunted by the habit of begging, and we are very liable to be imposed upon by them. The best way in which you can help such persons is to furnish them with employment; and this will test their

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CONVERSATION.

honesty. If they are deserving of aid, they will be willing to labor for it.

V. You may make your influence felt in the cause of Temperance. A false delicacy prevails among many ladies in relation to this subject. They seem to think that, as intemperance is not a common vice of their own sex, they have no concern with it. But this is a great mistake. No portion of society suffer so much from the consequences of intemperance as females. On them it spends its fury. My heart sickens when I contemplate the condition of the drunkard's wife. I turn from the picture with horror and disgust. But is there no danger that females themselves may become partakers of this monstrous vice? Nay, every town, village, and hamlet, furnishes appalling evidence that they are not proof against this besotting vice. But, independent of this, it is scarcely possible to dry up the secret elements of this wasting pestilence without the aid of female influence. If the curtain were lifted from the domestic history of the past generation, it would doubtless appear that many of the intemperate appetites which have exerted such a terrific influence upon society were formed in the nursery. But, besides the formation of early habits, females exert a controlling influence over the public sentiment of the social circle. Here is the sphere of your influence. If young ladies would with one consent set their faces against the use of all intoxicating liquors, their influence could not fail to be felt throughout society. Make yourself