in a thousand victories as brilliant
as Napoleon's proudest or sit on the throne of earth's greatest kingdom.
To me there is something so grand in virtue, so priceless and deathless,
so celestial in the powers of a great and good human soul, that to give
existence to one is the cause of a deeper joy and a richer gratitude
than is otherwise granted to mortals here below.

In this light, how stands the tawdry foolery of Fashion? and what place
does the fashionable woman take?

Then the _example_ of a fashionable woman, how low, how vulgar! With her
the cut of a collar, the depth of a flounce, the style of a ribbon, is
of more importance than the strength of a virtue, the form of a mind, or
the style of a life. She consults the fashion-plate oftener than her
Bible; she visits the dry-goods shop and the milliner oftener than the
church. She speaks of Fashion oftener than of virtue, and follows it
closer than she does her Saviour. She can see squalid misery and
low-bred vice without a blush or a twinge of the heart; but a plume out
of Fashion, or a table set in old style, would shock her into a hysteric
fit. Her example! What is it but a breath of poison to the young? I had
as soon have vice stalking bawdily in the presence of my children, as
the graceless form of Fashion. Vice would look haggard and mean at first
sight, but Fashion would be gilded into an attractive delusion. Oh,
Fashion! how thou art dwarfing the intellect and eating out the heart of
our people! Genius is dying on thy luxurious altar. And what a
sacrifice! Talent is withering into weakness in thy voluptuous gaze!
Virtue gives up the ghost at thy smile. Our youth are chasing after thee
as a wanton in disguise. Our young women are the victims of thine
all-greedy lust. And still thou art not satisfied, but, like the
devouring grave, criest for more. Where shall we get the strong women of
the next generation--the women who will live for principle--whose
commanding virtues shall be a tower of strength--whose wisdom shall be a
poem of prophecy, and whose love a hymn of praise? Who will be the
mothers of genius and wisdom, of the manhood and womanhood that shall
redeem mankind? Oh, not from thee, all-degenerating Fashion! shall we
get them. Thy reign is the blast of womanly virtue and manly strength.
Thou art the precursor of destruction. Thou dost intoxicate, bewilder,
and make mad the nations whom thou wouldst destroy. Thou dost lead to
dazzle and delude to ru