love that her
father and brother become ashamed of their little tricks in business or
politics which they had once thought trifles. True culture does always
react on life.

And yet in one direction culture seems to weaken the moral fibre. The
kind of courage which leads to quick heroic action in great emergencies
is apt to be lost by the habit of balancing arguments for and against
action. The gentleness which comes from quiet study often makes one
incapable of decision when severity is necessary. I was shocked not long
ago by hearing a group of sweet, high-bred girls discussing the scene in
"William Tell" where the wife of the hero tries to prevent him from
going out with his bow and arrow while Gessler is in the neighborhood.
With one accord the girls thought Tell should have yielded to his wife's
wish. It is true she was right in regard to the danger, but Tell's
carelessness about it was so clearly the result of his high-minded
freedom from suspicion that it seemed as though every heart should beat
quicker at his nobleness. These girls have moral courage. I dare say
some of them would die at the stake rather than tell a lie. But it would
take a sharply defined test like that to rouse them. Too much thought
has made it difficult for them to take any risk through unconsciousness
of danger. They could not act freely and spontaneously, and they could
not even admire such action in others.

How shall we train our girls so that they may have just judgments and
yet not make them so introspective that the bloom shall be brushed off
the beauty of every action? Perhaps Emerson's suggestion, that every
young person should be encouraged to do what he is afraid to do, would
meet the case.

In a city like Boston there is a great temptation to undertake too many
lines of study at once. There are free lectures every day in the week
from men who have mastered their subjects, and it seems as if one might
lie still and drink in all knowledge without effort. There are lectures
in private parlors for those who are too delicate to go to a public
hall--elementary lectures, and advanced lectures and readings. But no
one ever became cultivated by going to lectures. If a girl would choose
a single course and study the subject between times by herself, then she
would really be the better for the instruction. I think the difficulty
of choice among many good things in the city is the reason that so many
earnest girls have dissipated minds.