off their feathers, the silkworm their dresses, the kid their
gloves, and the marten demand his furs, what would be their state in the
sight of man? Bare unto nakedness! This unlawful love for lawful things
is one of the besetting snares of the great enemy of souls."

If I had ever been addicted to repining, or had had no lessons to teach
me how wrong the habit was, here was a new one to induce contentment.
But I had been preserved from all such temptations. The strong good
sense displayed by Miss Logan in our frequent conversations not only
informed my understanding on a variety of subjects, but gave my thoughts
a new turn, and powerfully encouraged me to perseverance. She infused
into me new life and cheerfulness. Such women are the jewels of society.
Their strong minds, regulated by a judicious education at the hands of
sensible parents, become brilliant as well as trustworthy guides to all
who may be fortunate enough to come within the circle which they
illuminate. It is such women that have been, and must continue to be,
the mothers of great men. Mind must be transmissible by inheritance, and
chiefly from the mother; else the histories of statesmen, heroes, and
distinguished men in the various walks of life, would not so uniformly
record the virtues of the women from whose maternal teachings their
eminence was to be traced.

The company of sewing-girls collected together in this school-room was
of course a very miscellaneous one. The faces were changing almost
daily, some by expiration of their apprenticeship, and some by being
sent away as troublesome, incompetent, or vicious. All who left us had
their places immediately filled from a list of candidates which the
teacher had in a book, so that, while one throng of learners was
departing, another was entering. If one could have gone into the
domestic history of all the girls who came and went even during my short
stay, he would have found some experiences to surpass anything that has
ever occurred to me. I do not know how it happened, but most of these
girls were quite desirous of making my acquaintance, and of their own
motion became extremely sociable. I was sociable in return, from an
instinct of my nature. I never lost anything by thus meeting them
halfway in the endeavor to be polite and affable, but on the contrary
learned much, gained much, and secured invaluable friends. Nor did I
ever repel the amicable approaches even of the most humble, as I very
early