Page:The future of Africa.djvu/50

44 cannot be perpetuated with safety. What with the present state of the census,—more than half of the population being females; and the colonization ships, from the necessities of the case, sending us every six months two women to one man; we shall, by and by, reach a state of moral shipwreck; and the sad examples of the heathen, will, ere long, begin to act injuriously upon our social and domestic state, if we are not careful and foresighted. This will surely be the ease, especially in the humblest walks of life, if we do not strive to raise our daughters and our sisters to become the true and equal companions of men, and not their victims. He who keeps wide open the eyes God has given him, cannot be blind to some sad tendencies which already show themselves in our social state. And reform, in this particular, cannot commence too soon. Two or three things can be done immediately. (1) Let every respectable householder make the effort to put in his wife's hand some thoughtful Literary Journal, such as "Littell's Living Age," or "Chambers' Journal;" by which both taste and thought may be cultivated, and the mind be started on the track of reflection. (2) Let some influential persons attempt to gather, in clubs or a society, the aspiring matrons and young women, in our communities, for reading, composition and conversation upon improving topics. Let the scheme projected be humble and simple; let it be elementary, even in its nature; and by gradual steps, rise to something more