Nature and Culture

by Harvey Rice

In 1701, she married a Swedish dragoon, and immediately accompanied him to the military post assigned him in the war which had just broken out between Sweden and Russia. In a battle which soon followed, she was taken prisoner by the Russians. Her personal charms soon attracted the attention of Peter the Great. What became of her husband is not known, but may be imagined. At any rate, the emperor succeeded in winning her affections, acknowledged her as his wife, and placed the imperial diadem on her head and the sceptre in her hand. She soon proved herself to be a woman of wonderful tact, shrewdness, and judgment, and obtained an unbounded influence over her husband. In fact, her advice controlled his action; and in following it, he acquired the enviable and lasting title of "Peter the Great." Like her, thousands of women have made their husbands great men, and often out of very indifferent materials.

After Peter's death, Catherine was proclaimed empress and autocrat of all the Russias. Her reign, though short, was brilliant. Her frailties, if she had any, were few, and ought to be attributed to the character of her favorites rather than to herself. She died at the early age of forty-two, after a brief reign of a little less than two years as sole empress. Her native endowments constituted her brightest jewels,—modesty, simplicity, and beauty; it was these angelic gifts which elevated her from the obscurity of rural life to the throne of a great empire.

Here let us turn from the Old World to the New, and look into the parlor, instead of the palace, for specimens of true womanhood. It is in the private walks of life, in the domestic and social circles, that we must look if we would contemplate the character of woman in its purest and proudest development. It is in her daily exhibition of heart, soul, sympathy, generosity, and devotion that woman attains to perfection and crowns herself with a diadem. Everywhere in this great Republic are thousands of women whose excellence of character challenges our admiration. Among those who have passed into the better life, and whose names are recorded on the tablet of every American heart, is Martha Washington.

In her character we have the character of an accomplished American lady. Few, if any, have ever excelled her. When the war of the Revolution commenced, she accompanied her husband, who had just been appointed commander-in-chief of the American armies, to the military lines about Boston, and witnessed the siege and evacuation of that city. She was ever the guardian spirit of the general, and aided him materially in his military career by her wise counsels and timely attentions. While he reasoned logically and deliberately, she came to logical conclusions instantly, without seeming to reason,—a faculty of logic which characterizes almost every woman.

In her figure, Martha was slight; in her manners, easy and graceful; in her temper, mild yet cheerful; in her conversation, calm yet fascinating; in her looks beautiful, especially in her youthful days. So universally admired and respected was she, that everybody spoke of her as "Lady Washington."

She did the honors of the presidential mansion with polished ease, dignity, and grace. Her connubial life with Washington was not less exemplary than it was happy. His regard for her was as profound as her devotion to him was sincere. So solicitous was she for preserving his good name and fame that immediately after his death, she destroyed all the domestic letters which he had addressed to her, for fear they might some day be published, and be found to contain some word or expression of a political nature which might be construed to his prejudice.

Faithful as a wife, as a friend, and as a Christian, she proved herself a model woman. She survived her husband but two years, and died at the age of seventy. In life she occupied a position which queens might envy, and in death bequeathed a memory which will be cherished in a nation's heart, when the proud monuments of kings and queens have crumbled into dust and been forgotten.

If it could be done without making invidious distinctions, it would be no less delightful than instructive to refer specifically to the names and deeds of many other American women who have graced the age in which they lived, and added lustre to the annals of our Republic. But we must content ourselves by alluding to them in general terms; and in doing this, we must admit the fact that the noble deeds and exalted virtues of woman occupy a much less space in the world's history than they ought.

It is sufficiently evident to everybody that women, in all the relations of life, exhibit a keener appreciation of right and wrong than men. Hence they are usually the first to approve what is right, and the last to concur in what is wrong. It was this devotion to principle which induced American women in the days of the Revolution to submit to the severest trials and deprivations, while they encouraged their sons, husbands, and brothers to go forth to the battle-field in defence of their country. In proof of their patriotism, these noble women, with their own hands and with cheerful hearts, spun, wove, knit, and baked for the brave and suffering soldiers, and even made an offering of their jewels on the altar of liberty, and rather than see the enemy enriched by traffic and unjust revenues, complacently approved the policy which cast rich cargoes of their favorite beverage into the depths of the sea.

It was the same spirit, the same patriotism, which inspired the women of our own times on a still broader scale, in the late struggle of the North to crush the rebellion of the South and sustain in all its purity, its honor, and its glory, the dear old flag of the Union. This great work has been done manfully and nobly, and at immense sacrifices of treasure and of blood; but it could not have been done without the aid and encouragement of woman. It was woman who held the key and unlocked the hearts of twenty millions of people, and induced them, by her pleading appeals, to pour out their noble charities, as from floodgates, to supply the urgent needs of the largest and bravest army the world ever beheld. It was woman whose delicate hand nursed the sick, the wounded, and the dying soldier, and whose sympathies and prayers soothed and cheered his departing spirit.