had added a little more of the salt, or the cinnamon,-indications of nausea, accompanied by symptoms of indignation and disgust, immediately manifest themselves among the young ladies, and they really wonder what mamma will be absurd enough to say next. It is in such families as this, that, not only on days of leisure, but on days when extra services are sure to be wanted in the home department, the daughters always find some pressing call upon their attention out of doors. They have their morning calls to make; and there is that mysterious shopping to attend to, that never has an end. Indeed, one would almost think, from the frequency with which they resort to some of the most fashionable shops in town, that each of these young ladies had a peculiar taste for the mode of life prevailing in this particular sphere of exertion, were it not for the indignation she manifests at the remotest hint upon the duty of assisting her father in his. It is astonishing how duties out of doors accumulate upon persons who are glad of any excuse to escape from those at home. No one can deny the necessity they are under of pursuing that course of mental improvement begun at school; and there are lectures on every science to be attended, borrowed books to be returned, and little coteries of studious young people to join in their morning classes. It is also curious to observe that these young ladies who can with difficulty be induced to move about in their own homes, even to spare their mother's weary feet, who esteem it an act of oppression in her to send them to the highest apartment of the house, and of degradation in themselves to descend to the lowest,-it is curious to observe how these regard themselves as under an absolute necessity to walk out every day for their health, and how they choose that precise time for walking when their mothers are most busy, and their domestic peace, by a natural consequence, most likely to be invaded. I would touch, with extreme delicacy, upon another branch of public occupation, because I believe it to be entered upon, in innumerable instances, with feelings which do honor to humanity, and to that religion, under whose influence alone, such avocations can be faithfully carried on. But I must confess, there appears to me some ground to fear, that the amusement of doing public good, the excitement it produces, and especially the exemption it purchases from domestic requirements, has something to do with the zeal evinced by some young females to be. employed as instruments in the dissemination of religious knowledge, and the augmentation of funds appropriated to benevolent uses. Fearing, however, lest what might assume even the faintest coloring of uncharitableness, should fall from my pen on this delicate but most important subject, I will leave it with the individuals thus engaged, as fitter for their consideration, than for my remark. The world takes cognizance of their actions, and it is perhaps occasionally too lavish in its bestowment of their praises. But the world is a false friend, for it can applaud where there is little real merit, and condemn where there ought to be no blame. Let not the really faithful and sincere be hurt by these insinuations. Their cause is beyond the penetration of man, and their real springs of action are known, where alone they can be truly estimated,-where alone they can meet with their just reward. How different from the feelings called forth by habits such as I have just described, are those with which we take up our abode in a family, where we know that the morning sun has risen upon daughters, who meet its early beams with the cheerful determination, that whatever may be the business of the day, their hands, and not their mother's, shall do the actual work! Her experience, and her ever-guiding judgment, may direct their labors; but she who has so often toiled and watched for them, shall at least enjoy another opportunity of seeing how gladly and how richly they can repay the debt. The first thought that occupies their minds, is, how to guard her precious health. They meet her in the morning with affectionate solicitude, and look to see if her cheek has become less pale; whether her smile is languid, or cheerful-her step, weary or light. I must again repeat, that one of the surest tests of true disinterested love is this readiness to detect indisposition. Persons who are in the habit of cherishing antipathies, seldom believe in the minor ailments of those they dislike. These facts render it the more surprising, that daughters should not always see the symptoms of exhausted strength, which too frequently manifest themselves in industrious and care-taking mothers; that they should not watch with the tenderest anxiety the slightest indication of their valuable health being liable to decay. Yet so it is, that the mother of a family, who cares for every ailment in her household, is the last to be cared for herself, except in cases affording those beautiful exemplifications of filial duty to which allusion has just been made. With daughters who are sensible of the strong claims of a mother's love, no care can be too great, no solicitude too tender, to bestow upon that beloved parent. They know that if deprived of this friend of their infancy -this guide of their erring feet-the world will be comparatively poor to them: and as the miser guards his hoarded treasure, they guard the life, for which that world would be incapable of supplying a substitute. There are few subjects of contemplation more melancholy, than the waste of human love which the aspect of this world presents -of deep, tender, untiring, disinterested love, bestowed in such a manner as to meet no adequate return and what must be the harvest gathered in, to a mother's faithful bosom, when she finds that she has reared up children who are too refined to share her humble cares, too learned and too clever to waste their talents on a sphere of thought and action like her own, and too much engaged in the pursuit of intellectual attainments, even to think of her! Yet to whom do we look for consolation when the blight of sickness or sorrow falls upon our earthly peace, but to a mother! And who but a mother is invited to partake of our afflictions or our trials? If the stigma of worldly degradation falls upon us, we fly to a mother's love, for that mantle of charity which is denied elsewhere. With more honored and distinguished associates, we may have smiled away the golden hours of life's young prime; but the bitter tears of experience are wept upon a mother's bosom. We keep for our summer friends the amusing story, the brilliant witticism, or the intellectual discourse; but we tell to a mother's ear the tale of our distress, and the history of our wrongs. For all that belongs to the weakness and the wants of humanity, a mother's affection is sorely taxed; why then should not daughters have the noble feeling to say before the world, and to let their actions speak the same language,-" This is my earliest and my best friend?" It is true, the mother may be far behind the daughter in the accomplishments of modern education; she may, perhaps, occasionally betray her ignorance of polite literature, or her want of acquaintance with the customs of polished society. But how can this in any way affect the debt of obligation existing between her daughter and herself? or how can it lessen the validity of her claim to gratitude for services received, and esteem for the faithfulness with which those services have been performed? Let us not believe of the young ladies of the present day that they can for any lengthened period, allow the march of mind to outrun the growth of their kindly feelings. Let us rather hope the time is coming when they will exhibit to the world that beautiful exemplification of true dignity-a high degree of intellectual culture rendered conducive to the happiness of those who claim their deepest gratitude, and their tenderest affection. The next view we propose to take of the domestic habits of the women of this favored country, is that of their behavior in the relation between daughters and fathers. The affection existing between fathers and daughters, is a favorite theme with writers both of romance and reality, and the familiar walks of life, we doubt not, are rich in in stances of this peculiar kind of affection existing in a lovely, and most unquestionable form. Still there are points of view in which this subject, as illustrated by the customs of society in the present day, cannot be contemplated without pain. I have often had occasion to speak of the duties of women towards their fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons, when engaged in the active pursuits of trade; and there is an anomaly presented by society of this class in England, which I am particularly anxious to point out to the rising generation. There are vast numbers of worthy and industrious men, not only of the young and the middle-aged, but of those who are sinking into the vale of years, who spend almost the whole of their waking lives in scenes and occupations, from which almost every thing in the shape of enjoyment must necessarily be shut out. In looking into the shops, the warehouses, the offices, and the counting-houses, of our commercial and manufacturing towns, we are struck with the destitution of comfort which everywhere prevails, and we ask, "Are these the abodes of free-born, independent men ?" and altogether accommodated in an inferior manner. And this we are led to expect, simply because it is difficult to believe of generous-hearted women, that they would be willing to enjoy indulgences purchased at the sacrifice of the comfort of those they love, and by the degradation of those whom they look up to as their superiors. Perhaps we are told that to man it is no sacrifice to spend his life in these dungeonlike apartments, shut in from the pure air, and compelled to deal with the extreme minutiæ of what is neither interesting nor dignified in itself—that he regards not these trifling inconveniences, that he is accustomed to them, and that they are what the world esteems as manly and befitting; yet on being invited to pay our respects to the ladies of the family, we find ourselves transported into a scene so entirely different from that of his daily toil, that we are led to exclaim,-"How opposite must be the tastes of men and women in this sphere of life, in England!" A little more acquaintance with their domestic habits, however, enables us to discover that their tastes are not so different as their circumstances, and that the cares, the anxieties, and the actual labor, which the man is undergoing every day, are placing him on a very different footing, with regard to personal comfort, from the females of his household. And how do the women strive to soothe these cares, to relieve these anxieties, and to lighten these labors? Do they not often make their own personal expenses extend to the extreme limit that his means will afford? Do I should be sorry to be weak enough to suppose that an honest and industrious man may not be just as happy when he treads on boards, as when he treads on Turkey carpets; yet again, when we begin the early day with such individuals, and see what their occupations actually are, from nine in the morning, often until late in the afternoon or evening, for weeks, and months, and years, withthey not dress, and visit, receive visitors, and scarcely any respite or relaxation, we natu- practise all those elegant accomplishments, rally ask how are the wives and daughters of which their father's exertions have been taxthese men employed? For surely if there be ed to pay for. a necessity for the father of the family to be situated thus, the kinder and more disinterested members of his household must be dwelling in abodes even more uncongenial and revolting than these. It is but reasonable to expect that we should find them in apartments less luxurious in their furniture, with windows less pervious to the light of day, their persons perched upon harder stools, I know that the blame does not always rest with the female members of the family, but that men, especially when they first marry, are often pleased to behold their wives arrayed in the most costly habiliments which their means can procure: in addition to this, they believe that their interest in the world is advanced by keeping up a certain degree of costly display, both in dress and furniture. As time advances, however, and their spirits grow less buoyant under the pressure of accumulated cares, especially if these cares have been unproductive of so golden a harvest as they had anticipated, and when daughters are growing up to double-nay, to treble their mother's expenditure, by adding all the imagined essentials of modern refinement; the father then perceives, perhaps too late to retrieve his ruined circumstances, the error into which he has been led; and fain would he then, in the midst of his bitter regrets, persuade his daughters to begin to think and act upon different principles from those which he has himself so thoughtlessly instilled. Perhaps the father is sinking into the vale of years, his spirit broken, and some of the growing infirmities of age stealing insidiously upon him. His manly figure begins to stoop, his eye grows dim, and he comes home weary from his daily labor. What a melancholy picture is presented by the image of such a man going forth in public, with his gaily and expensively dressed daughters fluttering by his side! Nor is this all. Let us follow them home. He rises early, wearied and worn as he is, and, snatching a hasty breakfast before his daughters have come down, goes forth to his daily avocations, leaving them to their morning calls, light reading, and fancy-work, until his return. At the close of the day, his step is again heard on the threshold. He has begun to feel that the walk is too much for him. Conveyances, in countless numbers, have passed him on his way, but these are not times for him to afford the luxury of riding, for a rival tradesman has just opened a tempting establishment in the neighborhood of his own, and the evils of competition are destroying half his gains. With a jaded look and feeble step, then, he enters his home. He wipes the gathering dew from his wrinkled forehead, sits down with a sigh almost amounting to a groan of despondency, and then looks round upon the well-furnished parlor, where the ladies of his family spend their idle hours. We will not libel the daughters so far as to say, they are guilty of neglect in not inviting him to partake of his evening meal. They may even press their kisses on his cheek, and express their welcome in the warmest terms. Supposing they have done all this, and that he is beginning to feel invigorated and refreshed, perhaps revived a little in his spirit by this evidence of their affection, at length he smiles; and that smile has been eagerly watched for, as the indication that his heart is warming into generosity. Now is the auspicious time: "Papa, dear, have you ever thought again of the silk cloaks you promised us, as soon as Mr. Moody's bill was paid? And Emma wants a velvet bonnet this winter. And papa, dear, where did you say we could get the best satin shoes?" "My love," says the wife, in a graver, and more important tone, "These poor girls are sadly in want of drawing-paper-indeed, of pencils, and of every thing belonging to their drawing; for you know it is of no use having a master to teach them, unless we provide them with the necessary materials. And Isabella's music-I was positively ashamed to hear her play those old pieces again at Mrs. Melburn's last night." We have seen pictures of birds of prey hovering about their dying victim; but I doubt whether a still more repulsive and melancholy picture might not be made, of a man of business in the decline of life, when he naturally asks for repose, spurred and goaded into fresh exertions, by the artificial wants and insatiable demands of his wife and daughters. The root of the evil, I grant to be, not so much in the hard hearts of the individuals here described, as in the system of false refinement which prevails in this country. But whatever the cause or the remedy may be, those will be happy days for England, when her noble-minded women, despite the prejudices of early education, shall stand forth before the world, and show that they dare be dutiful daughters rather than ladies of fashion; and that the principles of integrity, generosity, and natural feeling, have taught them never to wish for enjoyment purchased by the sacrifice of a father's health, or a hus- to think and act for themselves. Habit, we band's peace. know, is proverbially accounted second na ture; but we know also, that even our first nature is capable of being changed. He who has become subject to a painful and dangerous disease, through the neglect or mismanagement of those who had the care of him in early life, does not content himself with saying it was the maltreatment of his nurse that brought upon him this calamity. If the disease admits of remedyif it even admits of alleviation-he is as earnest in seeking out and applying the proper means of relief, as if he had been the sole cause of his own affliction. And shall we confine our powers of reasoning rightly, and acting promptly, to the promotion of the benefit of the body, and leave the immortal mind to suffer for eternity, without applying such remedies as are provided for its use? I know not whether it often occurs to the young, or only to those whose experience has been of longer duration, to make this observation upon human nature-that it is not intentional offence, or intentional injury, which always inflicts the severest pain. A mother who, by her ill-judged indulgence, fosters in her child a selfish and domineering temper, and thus renders such evil dispositions identified with the very nature of that child, so that it is a stranger to any other principles of action, is as much hurt when, in after life, her child is selfish and domineering towards herself, as if he actually departed from his accustomed line of conduct, for the purpose of being pointedly unkind to her. In the same way, the father who has brought up his family in habits of extravagance, when he feels the tide of prosperity turning against him, forgets that those habits are necessarily stronger than his reasoning, and is wounded to the soul to think that his daughters are not more considerate. Upon the same principle of groundless expectation, we often see wellmeaning but injudicious parents taking extreme pains to guard their children against one particular error in conduct, or one species of vice, yet neglecting to lay that only sure foundation of moral conduct which is to be found in religious principle; and these, again, are shocked to find, as their children advance in life, that all their endeavors have been unproductive of the desired result. Nor must I, while pointing out errors in the behavior of children towards their parents, omit to observe, that if parents would be more solicitous to instil into their minds the importance of relative and social duties faithfully performed, instead of captiously reproving them for every deviation from the strict line of these duties, they would find themselves more hap-finished education, are but so many additionpy in their families, more tenderly watched over in sickness and sorrow-more cherished and revered in the decline of life. Still, though the fault may, in some cases, have been originally with the parents, there is little excuse for daughters, who are of age Whether the evil be in the original taint of our nature, or in the same nature inherent in another form, and operating upon us through the medium of injudicious treatment, we stand in precisely the same position with regard to moral responsibility, and accountability to the Searcher of all human hearts. It is right the tender sympathy of our friends should be excited, when we tell them that the faults for which they blame us were fostered and encouraged by the mistaken judgment of our parents in early life; but there is a tribunal at which this plea will be of little avail, if, while the means of reformation are yet within our reach, we suffer such habits to strengthen and establish themselves as part of our character; and I would earnestly recommend to the young women of England, that they should rouse themselves, and act upon the first conviction, that the advantages resulting from what is called a al talents lent them, for employment in the service of that gracious Father, who has charged his children with the keeping of each other's happiness, and who, when he instituted the parental bond, and filled the mother's heart with love, and touched with |