g to the
desire of fortune and the glory that follows in her train, and with
love, the supreme power of which absorbs and concentres all our
faculties upon one sole object! that age of innocent pleasures, and
of confident credulity, when the heart, as yet a novice, follows the
impulse of youthful sensibility, and bestows itself unreservedly
upon the object of disinterested affection! Then, surely, friendship
is not a vain name!]

Albert, during his abode in the city, had associated with ladies of
rank, beauty and accomplishments. He was a general favourite among them;
he had been flattered, courted and caressed, but none had the power to
fix his attention. Since his return to the country, he had been
frequently invited to assemble among the artless villagers, decorated in
their own native beauty, assisted sometimes for ornament with the spoils
of Flora. Health, pleasure and naivette, was in the air of these
charmers, and all that was pleasing to win his regard and esteem. These
scenes of rural pleasure, these social parties, were adapted to his
taste. In comparison of which the gay assemblages of the city had been
formerly uninteresting; and he had been heard to say, that whenever his
mind should become fixed, his choice would be some lady who resided in
the country.

[_NY Weekly_: A Rural Picture:

.... led up their artless charmers, in straw hats adorned with the
spoils of Flora....]

Although Albert experienced a degree of happiness and contentment
unknown to many, in his present situation, yet he sometimes felt himself
very lonely.

Alida was anxious that her brother should look out for a suitable
companion; if he could be fortunate enough to find one that was amiable
and sensible, and whose actions should be under the influence of genuine
piety; one who would be ambitious to preserve domestic sunshine, by the
goodness and equanimity of her disposition; who would have a tear for
distress, a heart for friendship and love, exerted in benevolence and
charity, and in the mean time have a care to the good order and
arrangement of domestic duties and economy.

Albert often descanted in conversation with his friends, on the general
neglect of female education, which consisted of a few trifling
embellishments, while those of the more substantial order were left out
of the question. He thought that young ladies generally were not
sufficiently learned in the solid branches, to exercise their ment