Her Gentleness

Then her gentleness is another part of her qualification for duty. She should have, must have, really has, influence and power of impulsion, if not compulsion. Were she utterly powerless, she could do nothing. Her influence, however, is a kind of passive power; it is the power that draws rather than drives, and commands by obeying.

Her gentleness makes her strong.

How winning are her smiles, how melting her tears, how insinuating her words.
Woman loses her power when she parts from her gentleness.
It is this very yielding, like the bulrush
lifting its head after the rush of water which it has bowed,
that gives her a power to rise superior to the force of circumstances which,
if resistance were offered, would break all before them.

She vanquishes by submission.

How necessary gentleness is to the fulfillment of her mission
in handling the young and tender spirits of her children,
in training the first delicate shoots of their infant dispositions,
and for directing the feelings of that one heart on which she depends for her happiness.

There are many varieties of disposition in women,
which may make them sensitive, petulant, irritable, jealous, quick to feel and to resent;
but not withstanding all this, and under all this,
there is a gentleness of disposition
which indicates this vocation
as destined to influence and constrain by love.







-John Angell James, Female Piety




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