ed, that untold sorrows, from this cause, should corrode the very
springs of life? Disappointed affection has a melancholy tale to relate,
wherever are gathered the sad subjects of mental derangement. And
blessed are those noble Institutions, which, by the power of
Christianity, soothe the minds, and restore the reason, of those thus
unhappily afflicted.

The trials of Domestic Life impose no light burden upon woman. Those
daily cares incident to the family, are a touch-stone of her patience, a
test of her disposition, and an ordeal to her temper. She has petty
disquietudes, and slight annoyances, singly unimportant, yet in amount
not trivial. How often is her spirit borne down, and her frame
attenuated by the accumulation of these minor troubles. Like the patient
in the restlessness of fever, she needs some composing potion to allay,
and give peace to, her soul.

Again, the character, and deportment of each inmate in her household may
present to her a trial. Self-denial must be practiced by some for the
enjoyment of the remainder. How often does the lot fall upon her. The
reputation of each near relative is another depository of her joys, or
sorrows. Should he, whose position calls him to cherish and care for all
beneath his roof, prove unkind, and selfish, and demand every
arrangement to conform to his ease and appetites, on whom will the
burden of the service required, be imposed? Does he yield to temptation
abroad, forsake the partner of his bosom, and give himself up to sensual
and inebriating habits, there is one heart that must bleed over his
sins. Honor and pride, it may be, forbid her disclosing his errors, and
the fire must consume her spirit in solitude. Needs she no support in
this exigency? What can the world give her, adequate to her fathomless
wants?

But still heavier trials befall this sex in their homes. Sickness visits
the loved. By the midnight lamp, the wife bathes an husband's burning
brow; or the mother administers draughts to the parched lips of a
daughter. To what fears is she then and there subject? Tediously roll
the long hours. Not the body alone sinks, but the spirit at length
faints. For the conviction is forced on her mind that life is
endangered. Suspicion yields to apprehension; that again grows into
argument. The physician shows signs of doubt; friends whisper anxieties.
Swayed for a season between hope and fear, at length, the dread
certainty comes over her. She must part with this