trolling influence of her feelings; and as they were ardent, liberal and romantic, she was encompassed by a false lustre no less delusive to herself than to others; for moral principle alone can produce what is truly excellent, noble and permanent. She was called, and considered herself to be, independent, because she unequivocally exhibited her regard and repugnance on all occasions, even when the latter found its aliment in the highest social position; and the former its attraction in very subordinate ranks. She had occasional opportunities, and delightedly availed herself of them to draw forth both mental intelligence and modest and oppressed merit from obscurity, and to secure to them that favor, which her disinterested patronage could claim. To those individuals and to others, whom she loved and honored, she was truly unpretending and humble, although haughtiness was no indefinite feature of her character. But that haughtiness had not its source in any physical elevation. She loved and respected moral worth wherever she found it; but she was a worshipper of mind, and the brilliancy of extraordinary talents was too dazzling to her fancy to permit a perception of any moral blemish that accompanied them. She was conscious of intellectual superiority to the generality of her associates; and on this supposed elevation was founded a pride, which she in vain sought wholly to extinguish in subsequent life, when she was governed by a far purer and nobler principle. Having never felt the privation, she was ignorant of the value of comforts and of necessaries as well as of luxuries; and the self-complacency induced by wealth, or by any merely outward distinction, was an object of her deep contempt. Her pride was stimulated also by the undoubted friendship and confidence of many gifted beings, whose manifest superiority to herself, instead of creating envy, increased her self-consequence; for their regard was an evidence that however unequal was her mind, they found in her a congeniality of taste and pursuit. She considered

it to be a privilege and honor to revolve as a satellite around those luminous intelligences, and to reflect their light. She was withal animated, enthusiastic, and sincere; and although she had no pretensions to personal beauty, she was followed, flattered, courted; much of which, however, was caused by her social position, and the wide but discrimi nating hospitality of her parents. She was fervently loved, and inveterately hated. As there was neither prudence, nor moderation in her own feelings, she could scarcely be an object of mere indifference to any who knew her.

There needs little sagacity, or worldly knowledge, to perceive that such a female as Miss Lyman would not pass quietly through life or meet with only common calamities. Indeed, her whole character challenged vicissitude, disappointment, and anguish of spirit. But, of the 'uses of adversity,' that was not the least valuable, which separated the chaff from the wheat on the long catalogue of her friends; neither were tried and true hearts the least precious jewels' which she found in its 'ugly and venomous head.'

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She married in her own station of life, and the surrounding influences promised permanent happiness and prosperity. But in the prime of existence, when perhaps human feeling is more vital and vivid than at any other period, Mrs. Stewart became the sole and destitute parent of

a large family of young children. For some time her mind seemed paralyzed. There was no living being from whom she might claim relief, or guidance. The christian faith that she had recently experienced, alone saved her from despair; and that faith was too incipient and too faint, to sustain and direct her, as in her later years. All personal considerations became permanently extinct. She had little consciousness of suffering, or of desire, except for her children. But she had lived in an ideal world. She was as ignorant of human nature, and of the pecuniary concerns of life, as were the objects of her care. She felt as if mother and children had been transported to an interminable desert, whence there was no hope of escape, and where were no means of subsistence.

Mrs. Stewart's first resource was an impressive illustration of her entire ignorance of the practical world. She had great self-confidence; she trusted not only in her maternal love, her mental energy, and her power of endurance, but also in her competency to choose her own way. Therefore, without communicating her purpose to those who might have convinced her of its fallacy, or instructed her regarding the means, she resolved to edit a literary paper. There were then but a very few in the Union, and none in that section of the country. For the commencement, she relied on herself, and a treasure in her possession, composed of friends' manuscripts, and choice selections from various authors; for her necessities admitted no delay; and she hoped that her missile, when sent to those who loved, and were qualified to aid her, might secure their ample and efficient support. But she first dispersed her introductory sheet gratuitously among her neighbors and mere acquaintances; for in her pride of independence, she endeavored to acquire patronage before she sought literary assistance. She made no previous engagement with her printer, his charge absorbed all her available means; and she obtained not a single subscriber! This failure corroborated her incrcasing convictions of the heartlessness and selfishness of the world. It is true that her paper evinced entire ignorance of whatever appertained to the undertaking, except the materials of which it should be composed; and the terms were so low, that only a very extensive circulation could make it the source of any emolument. She had been too proud to solicit, otherwise than by the specimen of her proposed enterprise; and that pride would still less brook to remonstrate or to inquire into the cause of her disappointment. There might have been kindness in forbearing to give encouragement; for judicious persons must have perceived the failure to be inevitable. From the commencement of her pecuniary misfortunes, she had entirely secluded herself from society; and this defeat was not calculated to throw her upon the sympathies of those around her.

Mrs. Stewart had many and kind friends. Her pride had revolted from receiving gifts in money; but she now obtained a loan, and opened a small trimming shop. Her stock was so limited, and her profits so trivial, that she soon perceived her pecuniary responsibility would be increased rather than diminished, by continuing this employment. She could devise no resource except her needle; and this was a forlorn hope; for although her taste as well as her education had made her

neat and thorough in whatever she performed, yet as she was entirely ignorant of the lucrative departments of millinery and dress-making, she could expect but limited relief from her utmost efforts; which must be superadded to the labor of domestic avocations, and the care of her children, which no other claim ever induced her to slight, or to remit. She had a vigorous constitution, uniform health, unblenching purpose, and a perennial fountain of maternal love. These materials enabled her uniformly to pursue her employment through one, and often through two nights in the week. But there are bounds, upon which neither mind nor matter can trespass with impunity; and these bounds are narrow in proportion to previous indulgence. All the physical occupations of Mrs. Stewart were unremitting, unaccustomed and arduous. Her heart and intellect were ardent and elastic, yet the pressure on both was so incessant, the struggle so earnest and continual, the future so encompassed by clouds and darkness,' the present so forlorn, that the corporeal citadel gave symptoms of weakness, and thereby awakened an apprehension more agonizing than any that had been experienced. The barb of every grief pierced the mother, rather than the individual. Therefore, to dieto leave her children orphans on worldly sympathy and compassion – was the consummation of all endurable anguish to her soul. This pungent and overwhelming dread could not be tranquillized by reason; and for years was unsubdued even by religion. From the earliest period of her poverty Mrs. Stewart's friends had urged her to become a teacher. But the employment was repugnant to her judg ment as it was to her inclination. It was hostile to the habits of her whole life. She doubted, moreover, if she had patience that would be at all equivalent to the demand. But if she would exist for her children, and supply their necessities, there was then no other alternative. Mrs. Stewart had long withdrawn from the world. She had relinquished all literary and nearly all social intercourse. Except that her affections survived, and their intensity increased, she and all around her were so changed she might have fancied, that not only her nature had been transformed to what was totally unlike her former self, but that she had become an inhabitant of another planet than the earth. This diversity affected her chiefly as it regarded her children; and all reminiscences of privileges and enjoyments were bitter on theirs, and not on her own account. Her new avocation brought harassing cares, in addition to maternal anxieties. There arose, also, a necessity for almost indiscriminate collision with the beings who surrounded her, which required great self-denial, not only because she had so long secluded herself from social communion, but because the sphere of her intercourse so widened, as to make her acquainted with much, both of manners and of morals, which she had never previously known. Polished life conceals many things that would revolt pure taste and strict principle. It is doubtless a conservator also from some evils, as well as a covering to others. As mere annoyances and vexations, perhaps there are none greater to those whose sentiments and habits, and moral code have been of higher order than the vulgarities of unrefined people, who have a low moral standard. Unless we are conscious of the ennobling and purifying influence of genuine religion, we shall be at a loss to account for

the evidently superior dignity and refinement which we shall always find in real christians, however humble their station, and however limited their understanding and advantages.

Mrs. Stewart was a successful teacher, for she was faithful and unwearied in the discharge of her new duties. But she was not a woman who could ever become popular. She found warm friends and bitter enemies, as in former years. She had always a mortifying consciousness of many defects; but she had learned to perceive that much which she had once valued as sterling excellence, and as evidence of superior endowments, was radically wrong: and although both her natural character and superinduced principles, alike impelled her to unremitting efforts to control and subdue her feelings, enough remained to avert the regard of those whom she neither loved nor respected. She did not, as formerly, treat such persons with coldness or contempt; but through all the courtesy, which she knew it her duty to manifest to them, her feelings, despite of effort were exhibited. Pride was the denunciation that desolated of kind feeling every heart in which the suspicion of such a sin existed against her. What has she to be proud of?' was the scornful remark of all who understood no claim that could not be estimated by dollars and cents.

But a different and far deeper affliction shadowed Mrs. Stewart's whole subsequent life. She never desired popular favor. Her character was always superior to such an object. She was entirely disqualified to cater for a taste so vulgar, so undiscriminating and so capricious as that of the people. The approbation and love of her friends were perhaps too dear. But if assured that she was in the path of strict and holy duty, she was neither alarmed nor much disturbed by menace or obloquy, or ridicule. Yet, unwittingly and foolishly, she had incurred her own keen self-reproach, and contumelious treatment from others. As the character and incidents now presented are those of real life, the most impressive moral that may be derived from them, may be found in the circumstances connected with the wasting regret to which I have alluded.

In this country at least, no amount of wealth can exonerate parents from the duty to instruct their daughters, not only in the management but also in the details of domestic affairs. A defect in this respect may be, and probably often is, fatal both to property and happiness. No toil, no self-denial, can subsequently supply altogether this deficiency in the female head of a family, especially if she be a mother; for filial claims are even more engrossing and imperative. Mrs. Stewart was eminently diligent and active by temperament and habit. She had sold her wardrobe and every ornament; and her dress was always singular for its plainness. But although self-denying in an uncommon degree, she knew not how to economise; or more properly, she had no measure of the art to make something out of nothing; nor to make an appearance without adequate means. She could not cover poverty with the semblance of plenty. She learned that almost every thing which the habits of her whole life had made seemingly necessary might be relinquished. But this knowledge was slowly acquired, through many years. She was injudicious in her plans, calculating neither upon contingencies

She was also subjected to numerous frauds in her

nor disappointments. pecuniary concerns. All these difficulties the of defecconsequence tive instruction added to the claims of her large family, involved her in obligations that she was unable to meet, although she received liberal patronage.

And here I feel it incumbent upon me to remark, that the emoluments of female teachers are discreditable to the humanity, to the intelligence, and to the liberality of the country. Those teachers often are ladies of education and refinement, who have been accustomed to wealth and indulgence, and yet who cheerfully submit to a wasting, arduous employment, for a remuneration that requires strict economy in a single woman, if she would secure resources for age and sickness; and for a mother, it excludes all such ability; and independently of personal considerations, adds the deep and incessant solicitude of maternal love. Parents in boasted New-England even, with a moderate income, purchase ornaments for their children at a price which would excite indignation if demanded by a faithful teacher for daily toil. Those fathers who sanction this ungenerous and unjust procedure by their example and influence, should consider the possibility that their own daughters, nursed in the lap of luxury and indulgence, may yet be dependent on such parsimonious support.

Debt is an evil of great magnitude to every person of moral integrity. This evil is often much enhanced by circumstances and character. And where there is a consciousness that it might have been avoided, at whatever cost, the affliction, the regret, the sense of degradation in some minds become keen and overwhelming. This combination of feelings seemed less endurable to Mrs. Stewart than all the griefs of her past life. To them, as divine dispensations, it was her duty to submit ; but it was no less incumbent upon her to cherish a piercing and constant remembrance of her pecuniary obligations, to stimulate invention as well as effort; and the possibility to remove this fearful incubus, added suspense to its other evils. To exonerate herself from this burthen, Mrs. Stewart adopted several plans beside instruction; some of which partially succeeded, and others were not only entire failures, but increased the embarrassments they were designed to remedy. One of the latter was a volume which she published upon a special pecuniary emergence. It was a signal supremacy of principle over pride. Mrs. Stewart would not voluntarily have assumed a literary enterprise in which she might not expect to secure honor as well as profit. She knew her incapacity to write an admirable or permanent work. But she imagined herself competent to accomplish an ephemeral production for harmless amusement, if it might not aspire to a more elevated object. Had circumstances allowed sufficient time, her humble aim would probably have been successful. Even the very brief period she could command, might have claimed the pecuniary recompense she required, had not the typographical department, though done by experienced publishers, been so wretched as to crowd the book with errors, some of which were ridiculous, as well as violations of style and grammar.

It is probable none will doubt, that the afflictions which have been related, and others, and perhaps greater, that may be imagined, made

VOL. XXV.

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