m intellectual Tastes. To what purpose has the girl been
placed all these years at school, if, when her privileges terminate, she
has no fondness for study? Why lead her through the pleasant fields of
learning, if, at the close of her walk, she is to possess no relish for
these scenes? She has drank at "the wells of English undefiled," and
shall she now turn aside and imbibe the turbid waters of a corrupt and
corrupting literature? Alas! that she should now prefer fiction and
folly to the healthful writings of wise men. Deplorable is it, that her
past lessons of instruction, so many and so faithful, must now, by her
own indolence or perversion, prove to have fallen on her ear, like
snow-flakes that melt on the ocean.

Another office of education at school is to impart Knowledge. It has
been said that a woman must possess either beauty or knowledge to
commend her to favorable notice in the world. The former is the rare
gift of nature; while the latter may be always acquired. John Wilkes,
who was as famous for his ugly face as for being universally popular in
society, on being asked the secret of his popularity, answered, that "it
took him but five minutes to talk away his face." What a talisman might
every young woman thus bear with her into society, would she early
cultivate and store her mind. How should it be, that she who has spent
years over grammar, cannot now write a letter to a friend without
violating its fundamental principles? I have read of one, who, when at a
loss how to spell a word, put a dash under the doubtful letters, that if
wrong, they might pass for a jest. Miserable subterfuge! What better is
it to pass the most precious period of life in a school room, if such be
the fruits, than to live uneducated and ignorant? Those are indeed the
truly and unpardonably ignorant, who leave their studies with no
accurate knowledge. Better is her lot, who was constrained to give her
whole youth to manual labor, if she have a thirst for knowledge, and
devote her leisure frugally to profitable reading.

The young lady should not finish her school occupations without securing
good Habits of mind. Let her carry through life her present mental
discipline. Let her accustom herself, if she read a book, to review and
give an account to herself of its contents. Is she listening to a
discourse? What a valuable means may it be made of intellectual
improvement. Let her reflect on each topic, and on the order, the
arrangement