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22 AMAIiIB SIEVEKING.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
^ Amalie Wilheimine Sieyekin© Was Born I...
principally , I see among girls and women a continually growing feeling of a need to employ their time in a more worthy manner
tlian heretofore , and what specially rejoices me is that this longing is more and more recognised by thinking men as lawful and right .
The exact form which their activity is to take I do not yet precisely see , but I have every confidence that the impulse , once earnestly
awakened , and no longer crushed by the veto of conventionality , will be sure to take the right directionand find a way for itself . "
, In . 1854 , Miss Sieveking published her last book , " Conversations on the Holy Scriptures , " a _cojxy of which she sent to the Queen of
Prussia , who , in passing through Hamburg the previous summer , had with her royal husband visited the " Children ' s Hospital , " and
presented it with a munificent donation . In the letter which accompanied her volume she writes : " One mission I believe to be common to all
women , whether their station be high or low , though according to the difference of their station it may be very differently carried out .
It is the mission of love based on faith , humble , and ready to render any service , and which by its gentle magic softens the opposing
rudeness of a world agitated by wild passions , aye , and draws down heaven to this poor earth , building a paradise in its own heart ,
though it may not always enjoy one in the outer world . " The disappointment which troubled her most was when she could
not succeed in inspiring others so fully as she wished , with her own benevolent sentiments . Writing to her nephew in 1855 she says ,
_" The great aim of my life , at least since my twentieth year , has been to arouse my sex , and particularly unmarried women , to a
practical striving after the kingdom of God ; to a useful even though surbordinate co-operation with men in the work of endeavoring to
elevate the lower classes . I have met with much approval of my ideas , and my efforts have received much , more praise than in the
eyes of the Lord they merited . But of what use is this when the acknowledgment of act and deed is wanting . My c Conversations
on Passages of Holy Writ' have been read with interest by many , and a new edition is just leaving the press ; so far , so good . But
then , while the mother of one of my scholars , a lady of by no means weak understanding , wishes me success to my boo ]? :, and assures me
that it is long since she has read anything that has so much edified her , yet this same lady refuses her daughter permission to go and
read occasionally to a poor blind man . Should I then look on her praise as mere flattery ? I would not charge her with this . It is
only one of the instances which so often occur of inconsistency , of the difference between theory and practice . Yet again : one of my
scholars earnestly longs for some other occupation than manual ¦ work , in which her time is now chiefly employed ; there is a
favorable opportunity for her ; she could remain with , her parents and only come to me four times a week to help me to give lessons ,
which would leave superabundant time for all her little household
duties . The prospect delighted her , her mother would wish no
22 Amaiiib Sieveking.
22 AMAIiIB SIEVEKING .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), March 1, 1860, page 22, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01031860/page/22/
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