s be said what Steele said of Lady Elizabeth
Hastings, 'that unaffected freedom and conscious innocence gave her the
attendance of the graces in all her actions.' At its highest, ladyhood
implies a spirituality made manifest in poetic grace. From the lady
there exhales a subtle magnetism. Unconsciously she encircles herself
with an atmosphere of unruffled strength, which, to those who come into
it, gives confidence and repose. Within her influence the diffident grow
self-possessed, the impudent are checked, the inconsiderate are
admonished; even the rude are constrained to be mannerly, and the
refined are perfected; all spelled, unawares, by the flexible dignity,
the commanding gentleness, the thorough womanliness of her look, speech
and demeanor. A sway is this, purely spiritual. Every sway, every
legitimate, every enduring sway is spiritual; a regnancy of light over
obscurity, of right over brutality. The only real gains ever made are
spiritual gains--a further subjection of the gross to the incorporeal,
of body to soul, of the animal to the human. The finest and most
characteristic acts of a lady involve a spiritual ascension, a growing
out of herself. In her being and bearing, patience, generosity,
benignity are the graces that give shape to the virtues of
truthfulness."

Here is the test of true ladyhood. Whenever the young find themselves in
the company of those who do not make them feel at ease, they should know
that they are not in the society of true ladies and true gentlemen, but
of pretenders; that well-bred men and women can only feel at home in the
society of the well-bred.

THE IMPORTANCE OF TRIFLES.

Some people are wont to depreciate these kind and tender qualities as
trifles; but trifles, it must be remembered, make up the aggregate of
human life. The petty incivilities, slight rudenesses and neglects of
which men are guilty, without thought, or from lack of foresight or
sympathy, are often remembered, while the great acts performed by the
same persons are often forgotten. There is no society where smiles,
pleasant looks and animal spirits are not welcomed and deemed of more
importance than sallies of wit, or refinements of understanding. The
little civilities, which form the small change of life may appear
separately of little moment, but, like the spare pennies which amount to
such large fortunes in a lifetime, they owe their importance to
repetition and accumulation.

VALUE OF PLEASING MANNE