Sunny Memories Of Foreign Lands, Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 432 pages of information about Sunny Memories Of Foreign Lands, Volume 1.

Sunny Memories Of Foreign Lands, Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 432 pages of information about Sunny Memories Of Foreign Lands, Volume 1.
against those outrages on our common nature which circumstances have forced on your observation.  They engage in no political discussion, they embark in no public controversy; but when an intrepid sister appeals to the instincts of women of every color and of every clime against a system which sanctions the violation of the fondest affections and the disruption of the tenderest ties; which snatches the clinging wife from the agonized husband, and the child from the breast of its fainting mother; which leaves the young and innocent female a helpless and almost inevitable victim of a licentiousness controlled by no law and checked by no public opinion,—­it is surely as feminine as it is Christian to sympathize with her in her perilous task, and to rejoice that she has shed such a vivid light on enormities which can exist only while unknown or unbelieved.  We acknowledge with regret and shame that that fatal system was introduced into America by Great Britain; but having in our colonies returned from our devious paths, we may without presumption, in the spirit of friendly suggestion, implore our honored transatlantic friends to do the same.  The ladies of Great Britain have been admonished by their fair sisters in America, (and I am sure they are bound to take the admonition in good part,) that there are social evils in our own country demanding our special vigilance and care.  This is most true; but it is also true that the deepest sympathies and most strenuous efforts are directed, in the first instance, to the evils which exist among ourselves, and that the rays of benevolence which flash across the Atlantic are often but the indication of the intensity of the bright flame which is shedding light and heat on all in its immediate vicinity.  I believe this is the case with most of those who have taken a prominent part in this great movement.  I am sure it is preeminently the case with respect to many of those by whom you are surrounded; and I hardly know a more miserable fallacy, by which sensible men allow themselves to be deluded, than that which assumes that every emotion of sympathy which is kindled by objects abroad is abstracted from our sympathies at home.  All experience points to a directly opposite conclusion; and surely the divine command, ’to go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,’ should put to shame and silence the specious but transparent selfishness which would contract the limits of human sympathy, and veil itself under the garb of superior sagacity.  But I must not detain you by any further observations.  Allow me, in the name of the associated ladies, to present you with this small memorial of great regard, and to tender to you their and my best wishes for your health and happiness while you are sojourning among us, for the blessing of God on your children during your absence, and for your safe return to your native country when your mission shall be accomplished.  I have just been requested to state the following particulars:  In December last,
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Sunny Memories Of Foreign Lands, Volume 1 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.