Summary
Our fifth section alludes to a class which (we say it with grief) no longer exists amongst us, and, therefore, can only be looked upon as a still farther proof of the Eternal's loving care for His female children. It cannot guide us till once more we have maid-servants of our own faith amongst us. How often, how constantly, this subject has engrossed the thoughts and wishes of the writer, that by any possible means, the daughters of our poorer and dependent brethren could be received as domestics in our families, and so enable us to adhere to the laws framed for them, can be known but to the Searcher of all hearts; for when spoken to man, the idea is received but as high-flown folly, impossible to be realised. If so considered by the mass, there is no help for it, and so it must remain till it please God to put His spirit once more within us, and enlighten the darkness which, in some instances, has gathered around us, rich and poor.
That it is only the rich and influential who can bring about reform in our poorer classes we quite acknowledge. Their religious education must be carried on on a different basis. The spirit and meaning of every form must be inculcated, or they can never rise from the ignorance and superstition in which, through long ages of fearful persecution, they are plunged.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Women of IsraelOr, Characters and Sketches from the Holy Scriptures, and Jewish History, pp. 266 - 282Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1845