Clara Lucas Balfour

“ All the thoughtful people of her own time, and still more since the narrative of her life has been given to the world, will not take her own estimate of herself. She achieved individual, quite as much as relative greatness.
Space will not permit me to follow the career of Miss Herschel as an astronomer, except to remind my young readers that she did not allow herself to become less diligent as she grew more celebrated. A real love of science for its own sake, and not for any praise, still less for pecuniary advantage, possessed and ennobled her mind. ”

“ To see God in all things, and to praise Him for all His gifts to mankind, is the hallowed duty and privilege of the young Christian. It is in this grateful frame of mind that we should read of the wise and good; and if, amid much that is beyond our imitation, either in the possession or application of special faculties, yet there should be some sweet lessons of love and duty that come home to the ordinary pursuits and business of life, the interest will be increased, and the teaching of the life more valuable. ”

“ It was this spirit of patient endurance and hallowed resignation that aided her to give to all who are passing through deep waters, that perfect hymn,
"Thy will be done."
In the year 1821, during a season of great suffering, she became deeply conscious of sin—a great mental conflict distressed her. Ah, my dear young reader! we must know ourselves to be sinners, before we can turn with full purpose of heart to Christ as a Saviour. The sin-sick soul must know and feel that it is sick, before it hastens to seek the Great Physician. ”

“ The sweet, strong bond which nature knits at birth between the children of the same parents, nursed at the same bosom, fondled on the same lap, kneeling at the same household altar, ought to be able to defy the changes and vicissitudes of life, although these affect this relationship more than any other. Sons go forth to battle with the world, daughters marry and enter upon other and nearer ties and responsibilities; still the heart cannot be quite right which does not always retain and respond to the first early claims—the associations identified with childhood. ”

“ Somerville, speaking of his son's marriage, says, "Miss Fairfax had been born and nursed at my house, her father being abroad at the time on public service. She afterwards often resided in my family, was occasionally my scholar, and was looked upon by me and my wife as if she had been one of our own children. I can truly say, that next to them she was the object of our most tender regard. Her ardent thirst for knowledge, her assiduous application to study, and her eminent proficiency in science and the fine arts, have procured her a celebrity rarely obtained by any of her sex. ”

“ Ah, my dear young reader! multitudes are satisfied to pass through the daily round of their simple duties, and think they have done all that is required of them, if they are amiable and kindly, and avoid all flagrant offences against the moral law. Lulled by self-complacency into a sense of security, they cast aside all serious thought, all salutary fear, as to their spiritual state. The answer to the solemn demand, "Give Me thy heart," has never been made. Prayer has been merely a daily formula, perhaps endeared by memories of childhood, or sentimentally practised as a salutary habit. ”

“ While rejoicing heartily that the difficulties in the way of school instruction are removed, that elementary knowledge is insisted on for all, and that culture in the higher branches of attainment in generally accessible, I yet think that there is some danger—it may be great danger—that the young will depend too much on what is done for them, and think too little of what, if they are to be really cultivated and intelligent women, must be done by them. ”

“ There are mental heights we may not ever scale, yet it is well to know of those who have, and in struggling upward we are strengthened even by the effort. As the feeblest climber on a mountainside gets wider views at every step and breathes a more exhilarating air, winning some increase of vigour by the effort, so we dwellers on the more level plain of humanity gain in mental perception and moral force, when we contemplate the recorded progress of those who have gained the lofty heights of scientific investigation, benefited the age, and done honour to womanhood. ”

“ Instruction may stream on and over the mind like water over a mirror, and make no abiding-place in it.
In the times gone by, people were rather to be pitied than blamed if they were ignorant. "Ignorance of what they could not know" was not culpable. But now, with all the facilities which schools and libraries afford, ignorance is a disgrace which every right-minded young person should resolutely avoid. When darkness prevailed, none were to blame for not seeing; but to be voluntarily dark amid the blaze of day, that is indeed culpable. ”

“ Then she had a strong desire to visit the poor in the workhouse. Her wish was granted; and here, too, she had almost immediate evidence that she was in the path of duty. District visitations, Bible classes and readings, home missionary activities, are all more modern plans of usefulness which existed not then; and the sight to the sick and aged poor of a kind young face bending in pity over them, and a gentle voice pleading with them and reading to them, must have been as a revelation of Heaven to many whose hold on earth had been painful and wearisome. ”

“ Thus there was the greatest impediment to Caroline's mental progress which could possibly exist. A child—a daughter especially—is so influenced by a mother's feelings and prejudices, that it is one of the marvels which real life supplies, more strangely than fiction can do, that this little hard-worked household drudge should have ever emerged from the gloom of her early condition. ”

“ Fairfax's abode attracted multitudes of goldfinches and other birds, and a deep love for them sprang up in the child's heart, which remained with her to the end of her long life. Happy the child who early learns to love and protect the animal creation. It is the beginning of good feelings, which soften the heart and elevate the mind. ”

“ No system of instruction can possibly supersede thoughtful effort and diligent attention in the pupil, or compensate for wise application of attainments when girlhood merges into womanhood.
There is a sense, and a very important sense too, in which every one who really is well-informed must be self-taught. Instruction given is one thing, instruction received another. No plans of education can supersede or supply a substitute for the faculty of attention and the practice of diligence. What the young mind desires and resolves to do for itself is of the utmost importance to that mind. ”

“ Naturally, a young lady so much her own mistress and so admired, mingling in the most fashionable circles of a gay and wealthy city, would early receive those attentions which some young girls think the crowning distinction of early womanhood. But with all her warmth of feeling and fancy. Miss Alderson was not one of those young ladies who think it inevitable that, as soon as they are grown up, they should fall in love. ”

“ Brecognised as among the best writers for the young, from the time of its publication and great success, constant literary work was engaged in by both the sisters. It was a beautiful trait that each esteemed the other better than herself. No such feeling as rivalry was at all possible in such lovely natures, so elevated by grace and truth. Somehow, the world was led to ascribe rather the higher attributes to Jane. ”

“ All the children in Norwich—from the noisy urchins who throng the streets, to the little curled darlings who are dressed and taken out to witness the ceremonial of the judges' arrival, or the procession of the municipal authorities who escort the judicial dignitaries to the cathedral—were then, as now, delighted at the ceremonial and the show, the bustle and the life of the scene. Very few, probably, ever think deeply respecting the people to be tried, or feel much curiosity about the solemn proceedings of a court of justice ”

“ In the year 1823, Miss Jane Taylor's health began to fail. She had symptoms of a painful malady; but her patience and hopefulness prevented her family for a long time from thinking her case so serious as it was. Her brother Isaac was to her the same devoted friend that she had, during his illness, been to him. After trial of other places, in search of health, Jane returned to Ongar; and, as her strength declined, it was her beloved brother who carried her up and down stairs, and tried by every means, aided by the solicitude of the tenderest parents, to cheer the sufferer. ”

“ Faith in Christ, consecration of the heart, and devotion to the work He gives His faithful ones to do, is the strong bond of union that links together the lowly and the lofty who are His. Nor are we to suppose, as many young people of the middle ranks are apt to do, that the path of the rich and noble is always comparatively smooth when they are led to think of religion, and to resolve to set out as spiritual pilgrims on the narrow way that leads to life eternal. Often, in proportion to the splendour of station is the amount of Sarah Martin and the Last Duchess of Gordon. ”

“ This wise discipline of early life, when there was no fear of any change of social position, undoubtedly fitted Elizabeth for the altered circumstances that came to her just as womanhood was opening before her. ”

“ Somerville in turn resided, always actively employed in every good work—the anti-slavery question, the freedom and unification of Italy, the abolition of the horrors of vivisection, as practised by foreign surgeons under the specious name of scientific investigation, and, alas! coming into our own Schools of Anatomy. Ever this detestable cruelty found in her a stern opponent. Education for the poor, and especially a more liberal education for women, called all her energies into exercise long after she had reached her eightieth year. ”

“ By early rising, she had time for her reading of the poets, English, German, and Italian, as well as superintending the lessons of the younger children. How much depends on the eldest daughter in a home! How she may become a sweet companion for the leisure hours of her father, a ready helper in household matters to her mother, a tender and wise friend to her younger brothers and sisters, a loving and beloved assistant to all! ”

“ And, my dear young readers, it is a great truth that what we call "Genius," and talk about vaguely as if it was a something that exonerated its possessor from the need of patient, careful plodding, is in reality the power to take great pains; to go over and over again in some hard study, some toilsome work until it ceases to be hard or toilsome. ”

“ Life on hard conditions is their lot; and as no chastening in immediate endurance is otherwise than grievous, these dear invalids have the tenderest claims on our ready help and affection. If they are precluded from all activity of either mind or body, the greater responsibility is laid on those around them who possess the blessing of health to cheer and lighten as much as possible the burden of their affliction. ”

“ From the time that Elizabeth began to study Hebrew, she devoted herself to the examination of, and to translations from, the Holy Scriptures. This indeed was her motive in entering on a course of study not common now, and very uncommon then, among women. She was eminently a Bible student, and the work of her life, which honourably ranks her among contributors to the literature of her time, was her translation of the Book of Job—a very ambitious efgort for a young and self-taught woman. ”

“ Hence arises the boundless encouragement which it presents to others; for the most humble individual may, in any department of the providence of God, build on the promises as firm as eternity. 'Whatever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do,' Yes; for grace will prompt the prayer, and make it in accordance with the Divine mind and will."
We are differently led; and such a work as Sarah Martin did is not appointed to many; but all workers in the Lord's vineyard can emulate her self-sacrifice, her diligence, her faith, her love, and thus live blessing and blessed. ”

“ Besides all these unusual duties, she kept her brother's house, and had a full share of trouble with inefficient and wasteful servants, whose extravagance shocked her thrifty habits and harassed her temper. Yet she never says anything of her own exertions or privations in that arduous time of toil, and only recalled them to her nephew in after-days, "to show" as she said, "with what miserable assistance your father made shift to obtain the means of exploring the heavens." Every one but herself would call it most invaluable assistance, every power of her body and mind being devoted to him. ”

“ In her distress, she sought refuge in her Bible,—that fortress for the weary soul—that asylum for the sin-sick spirit. The Scriptures soon became to her—what they are to every earnest student—a guide through the labyrinth of the world.
One day she was found by gay companions reading the Bible, and they ventured to ridicule her, and spread a report that the Marchioness of Huntly had turned Methodist. The weapon of ridicule, while it alarms the weak, is often a useful goad to arouse the strong. Lady Huntly was not a person to be laughed out of her convictions. ”