lly to lay her mirror wholly aside."

You shall see this same spirit manifested in an excessive care for showy
furniture, in the encouragement of artificial and numberless wants, and
in a willingness to live on resources dishonestly obtained, and on means
belonging rightfully to another, sooner than relinquish one particle of
former splendors. In ambitious entertainments, how often is woman
tempted to lift herself above those, whom it should delight her to meet
in society as her equals. If they can afford only plain walls, hers must
be garnished. Her chamber must exhibit tapestry, and her windows the
silken and fringed curtain, or she will not surpass them. Her table must
groan beneath the productions of all climates. Already it is said, we in
America expend in our dwellings, on a slender income, more than many in
Europe, who have millions at their command.

Now let the young woman be made acquainted with these facts. Although a
fond father or mother would fain make her presentation eclipse the
displays of her richest neighbors, let modesty dissuade her from this
course. She may save a parent from bankruptcy. He, who is a true friend,
will assure her that life is not that rose-colored thing, which some of
her companions describe to her. Let her know that a vortex is before
her, and ere her feet are within its feeblest eddies, let her prudently
escape the peril. A quiet life, inward adorning, should be the jewel
worn nearest her heart. If she cherish a thirst for outward exhibitions,
too late may it be her doom to feel that the sunshine of the world's
favor and applause, has but beamed upon her, to make more fearfully
distinct the caverns and wastes of her ever unsatisfied heart.

The young woman is passing into a state of society in which she will
find much merely nominal Morality. At home she has probably been
nurtured amid sincere hearts, and under the high standard of Christian
action. In the world she will hear indeed the same standard, for the
most part, verbally commended. But let her not anticipate the same
practical conformity to its requirements. She will still be told that
purity of mind, soul, and manners, is the shield of her sex, and yet, in
some circles, practices shall be tolerated, or fashions of dress, or
conversation permitted, which to her all-unsophisticated reason must
seem absolutely indefensible. History tells us, that in the thirteenth
century, when the plague raged in Florence, it spread throug