INFLUENCE OF AN ELDER SISTER. AMONG the many topics which have, within a few years, been brought more before the public mind than formerly, female influence holds a prominent place. Much has been said of it as exerted by mothers and teachers, and it is a most cheering circumstance that the efforts to lead those who sustain these relations to see and feel their responsibility have not been made without success. There is, however, one class of the female community which has, I think, been too much overlooked, and of whose influence less has been said than of almost any other. I refer to the influence of an elder sister. No one, who has mingled much with the world, can have failed to notice the difference existing between families, as regards the harmony which prevails among their members; and almost every one has observed the different feelings with which young men, after having left the paternal roof, regard the home of their childhood. Undoubtedly much of this difference is owing to a father's example, and a mother's moulding hand; yet much, very much, depends on the sister. And we can easily see how this is the case. Α young man leaves home to engage in the business of one of our large commercial cities. He has previously been under the judicious parental 190 INFLUENCE OF AN ELDER SISTER. T restraint of a Christian family, and has ever been surrounded by religious influence. He leaves all this, and finds himself almost overcome by the many temptations which press upon him. His youthful impressions remain unaffected for some time, and he stands firm, resolutely resisting all attempts to lead him astray. The usual cares devolving upon the head of a family must necessarily prevent his parents from writing often to him; and as, like all others of the human race, he needs "line upon line and precept upon precept," the young man is in great danger of yielding to sin. Now, let the letter of a refined, intelligent, beloved sister come to him weekly, full of the little details, which, though trifling in themselves, are nevertheless calculated to keep alive in his breast a strong interest in the family circle, and he is probably saved from the gulf of a ruin into which too many plunge. During a long life, it has been my lot to reside many years near one of our principal colleges, and often have I been struck with admiration at the gentle, but all-constraining, influence of a sister's love on those who, from natural levity of spirit, or from habits of dissipation, seemed perfectly reckless. On one occasion a rebellion seemed just ready to break out among the students. One of them, a wild youth, was besought by an intimate elderly friend not to commit himself in any way with the disaffected party, but, as he saw the cloud was about to burst, to retire to his own apartment. "Don't ask me, Mrs. G.; I can't stay in my room,” was his reply. In vain was he reminded that, expelled from that institution, he could never enter another that this step might, and probably would, shade all his future prospects in life. "It would be glorious to be expelled in such a cause I should never regret it if I were sent home tomorrow," said he. The good lady, as a last resort, exclaimed, "But your sisters, who take so much pride and pleasure in your well doing, how will they feel at the disgrace of their brother?" He was silent for some minutes, then, rising, said, "You have conquered, madam. I could never see sister Julia again. I shall not leave my room to-night, happen what will." And he kept his word. That week witnessed the expulsion of several of George B.'s most intimate friends; yet he stood firm, and lives an ornament to his country, to bless God for a sister's love. Yet it is as an active Christian that the influence of a sister is most deeply felt. "Never," said a foreign missionary now in heaven-"never did I feel the reality of religion till I saw it transforming my proud, though kind and affectionate, elder sister into a meek and humble Christian. Then, indeed, I saw its power, and felt that the efficacy was of God." The parents of this young man were active, devoted children of God, and they had acted on the principle that their eldest 192 INFLUENCE OF AN ELDER SISTER. O daughter was to assist them in forming the characters of their younger offspring. They were not disappointed. The younger members of the family "rise up and call her blessed; her husband, also, and he praiseth her;" for, by thus doing good in her youth, she is better prepared to act her part as a wife and mother. If it be true that a sister's influence is so very important, ought not parents to feel, while training their eldest daughter, that (instead of being indulged because she is the eldest, as is too often the case) she should be more carefully watched over, more strictly disciplined, and that, in educating aright this child, they are lightening their future burden? And shall not the daughters of our land feel that upon them rests, in some measure, the responsibility of forming the characters of their brothers? O, shall they not come up to the labor which devolves upon them, and so live and act, that the generation now coming upon the stage of action shall be one which shall be eminently virtuous and holy-one which God will delight to bless? WATCHMAN OF THE SOUTH. THE timid fawn is not more mild, Nor yet more gay and free; Of all the wildflowers in the wood, There's none more pure or fair than she The farmer's peerless daughter! Then tell me not of jewelled fair : The brightest jewel yet Is the heart where virtue dwells And innocence is set. The glow of health upon her cheek, Give me a look, give me a face Robes loosely flowing, hair as free; ANON. BEN JONSON. The bearing and the training of a child TENNYSON. |