ating a servant, to neglecting their children,
deceiving their husbands, and slandering their friends. They are sheep
running hither and thither in servile imitation of each other, without
an original thought amongst them; the froth of society, with the
natural tendency of froth to rise to the surface and thence be swept
aside; mere bubbles, that shine a moment and then burst. It is fashion
that unsexes women and unmakes men. To be in the world of fashion and
of it, is to degenerate; but to be in it and not of it, to know it and
remain untainted, despising all it has to give, makes towards solid
advance. There are some ugly stages to be gone through, however,
before the advancement is pronounced.

The six girls at Miss Blackburne's were all daughters of people of
position, all enjoying the same advantages and under the same
influences; but three of them were already shaping themselves into
women of fashion, while the other three were tending as inevitably to
develop into women of fine character and cultivated mind. Beth was
attracted to all such women, and recognised their worth, often long
before they appreciated her at all. She was seventh among the girls,
her place being in the middle, as it were, with three on either side
of her, teaching her all they could, as was inevitable. In association
with the budding women of fashion, she lost the first fine delicacy of
maiden modesty of mind; but the example of the young gentlewomen, on
the other hand, confirmed her taste and settled her convictions. The
ladies who kept the school were high-minded themselves and exemplary
in every possible way, and if they did not make all their pupils
equally so, it was because factors go to the formation of character
with which, for want of knowledge, no one can reckon at present. The
influence of these ladies upon Beth was altogether benign. She was in
a new world with them--a world of ease and refinement, of polished
manners, of kindly consideration, where, instead of being harried by
nagging rules, stultified by every kind of restraint, and lowered in
her own estimation for want of proper respect and encouragement, she
was allowed as much liberty as she would have had in a well-ordered
home, and found herself and her abilities of special interest to each
of her teachers. Instead of being an item, a part of a huge piece of
machinery to be strictly kept in the particular place assigned to her,
whether it were adapted to the needs of her