papa," said Marianne, "in the matter of dress, now,--how much
ought one to spend just to look as others do?"

"I will tell you what I saw the other night, girls, in the parlor of
one of our hotels. Two middle-aged Quaker ladies came gliding in, with
calm, cheerful faces, and lustrous dove-colored silks. By their
conversation I found that they belonged to that class of women among
the Friends who devote themselves to traveling on missions of
benevolence. They had just completed a tour of all the hospitals for
wounded soldiers in the country, where they had been carrying
comforts, arranging, advising, and soothing by their cheerful, gentle
presence. They were now engaged on another mission, to the lost and
erring of their own sex; night after night, guarded by a policeman,
they had ventured after midnight into the dance-houses where girls are
being led to ruin, and with gentle words of tender, motherly counsel
sought to win them from their fatal ways,--telling them where they
might go the next day to find friends who would open to them an asylum
and aid them to seek a better life.

"As I looked upon these women, dressed with such modest purity, I
began secretly to think that the Apostle was not wrong when he spoke
of women adorning themselves with the _ornament_ of a meek and quiet
spirit; for the habitual gentleness of their expression, the calmness
and purity of the lines in their faces, the delicacy and simplicity of
their apparel, seemed of themselves a rare and peculiar beauty. I
could not help thinking that fashionable bonnets, flowing lace
sleeves, and dresses elaborately trimmed could not have improved even
their outward appearance. Doubtless their simple wardrobe needed but a
small trunk in traveling from place to place, and hindered but little
their prayers and ministrations.

"Now, it is true, all women are not called to such a life as this;
but might not all women take a leaf at least from their book? I submit
the inquiry humbly. It seems to me that there are many who go monthly
to the sacrament, and receive it with sincere devotion, and who give
thanks each time sincerely that they are thus made 'members
incorporate in the mystical body of Christ,' who have never thought of
this membership as meaning that they should share Christ's sacrifices
for lost souls, or abridge themselves of one ornament or encounter one
inconvenience for the sake of those wandering sheep for whom he died.
Certainly there is a high