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TITLE: THE YOUNG WOMAN'S GUIDE
AUTHOR: WILLIAM A. ALCOTT
EBOOK: E06413 (O'Briens Book Cellar)
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

THE YOUNG WOMAN'S GUIDE

by

William A. Alcott

[Illustration: Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books, Ease and
alternate labour, useful life, Progressive virtue, and approving
Heaven!  Thomson]

PREFACE.

This work was begun, soon after the appearance of the Young Man's
Guide--and was partially announced to the public. For reasons, however,
which I have not room to give in this place, it was thought proper to
defer its publication till the appearance of several other volumes in
the same spirit, involving more particularly the relative duties.

I wish to have it distinctly understood, that I do not propose to give
a complete manual of the social and moral duties of young women. Every
one has his own way of looking at things, and I have mine. Some of the
duties of young women have appeared to me to receive from other writers
less attention than their comparative importance demands; and others--
especially those which are connected with the great subject of
"temperance in all things"--I have believed to be treated, in several
respects, erroneously.

Permit me, however, to say, that while I have not intended to follow
the path, or repeat the ideas of any other writer, I have not attempted
to avoid either the one or the other. If I have presented here and
there a thought which had already come before the public from my own
pen, I can only say that I did not intend it, although I did not take
special pains to avoid it. The sum is this. I have presented my
thoughts, without so much reference to what has already been said by
myself or others, as to what I have supposed to be the necessities of
those for whom I write. I have gone straight forward, asking no
questions; and I trust I shall be dealt with in a manner equally
direct.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. EXPLANATION OF TERMS.

Defining terms. The word excellence here used as nearly synonymous with
holiness. What is meant by calling the work a Guide. The term Woman--
why preferable, as a general term, to Lady. The class to whom this work
is best adapted.

CHAPTER II. FEMALE RESPONSIBILITIES.

Comparison of the responsibilities of young men and young women. Saying
of Dr. Rush. Its application to young women. Definition of the term
education. Bad and good education. Opinions of Solomon. Influence of a
young woman in a family--in a school. Anecdotes of female influence.
West, Alexander, Caesar, Franklin. Story of a domestic in Boston. The
good she is doing. Special influence of young women in families--and as
sisters. Female influence in the renovation of the world.

CHAPTER III. SELF-EDUCATION.

Views of Agesilaus, king of Sparta--of Solomon, king of Israel. Mistake
corrected. What the wisest and best parents cannot do. What, therefore,
remains to the daughter. Necessity of self-education. The work of self
education the work of life--a never-ending progress upward to the
throne of God.

CHAPTER IV. LOVE OF IMPROVEMENT.

Female capabilities. Doing every thing in the best possible manner.
Unending progress. Every person and every occupation susceptible of
improvement, indefinitely. Doing well what is before us. Anecdote
illustrative of this principle. Personal duties. Two great classes of
persons described. Hopes of reaching the ears of the selfish.

CHAPTER V. SELF-KNOWLEDGE.

Vast extent of the science of self-knowledge. Spurious self-knowledge.
Knowledge of our physical frame--its laws and relations. Examples of
the need of this knowledge. Instruments of obtaining it. The 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.--

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