| Strength and Beauty |
Chapter 16 |
Page 4 |
Life is full of sudden changes in which hardness comes unexpectedly to many persons. By some rude experience they are tossed out of the cozy nest in which they had been so happily nourished, and without warning are called to endure the world’s cold and hardness almost unaided by human help. There are many young women, for example, who have been brought up in luxurious circumstances, never knowing a care, never required to give a moment’s thought to the providence of their own life, as to what they shall eat, or what they shall drink, or wherewithal they shall be clothed, who by the loss of their father have both shelter and support taken away. They must now leave the quiet refuge, in which they have been so gently reared, and go forth to face the storms and struggles of life for themselves. Instead of being cared for and ministered unto by strong, thoughtful love, their own hands must now find employment in which to earn bread for themselves, and perhaps for other home loved ones as well.
There is something startling in the first experience of such a condition. No wonder that many young women are dismayed as they face the new responsibility. Well is it for them if in the happy days that are gone their hands have been trained to do something which they can now take up as a means of livelihood. No girl, however luxurious her home, however adequately provided for against misfortune she may seem to be, should fail to learn something, some art, some handicraft, by which if adversity should ever come she may earn her own living. Such a preparation is like a life preserver on the great ocean steamer. If disaster does come it is the one hope and safety. A woman who is conscious of her ability to provide for herself if it should become necessary is not afraid of life’s vicissitudes and is not overwhelmed by calamity when it comes, leaving her with nothing.
In any case, however, it is a serious crisis in a young girl’s life when she is compelled to go into the world to fight its battles for herself. What can she do? How can she keep herself gentle and sweet amid the roughness and bitterness which she must experience? How can she, with her delicate strength, fight the battles and endure the struggles amid which she must now live? Will she not beneath the tread of the relentless forces of evil be crushed like a lily in the street under trampling hoofs?
Yet one of the most wonderful triumphs of Christian life is seen just at this point in the thousands of young women who live victoriously in their hard condition, passing through the ordeal unhurt, with character enriched and developed into nobler beauty. Instead of falling the in the battle or coming out with beauty tarnished, they emerge more than conquerors, with heaven’s light in their eye. Instead of losing the sweet bloom of their womanliness in their rough encounters with the world, they pass through all the strange experiences, not only with purity and delicacy unsullied, but with transfigured loveliness.
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