tion to be exemplary in
their general conduct, attentive to the government of their families,
and instrumental to the good order of society!

SHE who is at a loss to find amusements at home, can no longer apologize
for her dissipation abroad, by saying she is deprived of the benefit
and the pleasure of books; and she who regrets being doomed to a state
of dark and gloomy ignorance, by the injustice, or tyranny of the men,
complains of an evil which does not exist.

IT is a question frequently in the mouths of illiterate and dissipated
females--"What good is there in reading? To what end does it conduce?"
It is, however, too obvious to need insisting on, that unless perverted,
as the best things may be, reading answers many excellent purposes
beside the great leading one, and is perhaps the safest remedy for
dissipation. She who dedicates a portion of her leisure to useful
reading, feels her mind in a constant progressive state of
improvement, whilst the mind of a dissipated woman is continually
losing ground. An active spirit rejoiceth, like the sun, to run his
daily course, while indolence, like the dial of Ahaz, goes backwards.
The advantages which the understanding receives from polite literature,
it is not here necessary to enumerate; its effects on the moral
temper is the present object of consideration. The remark may perhaps be
thought too strong, but I believe it is true, that next to religious
influences, an habit of study is the most probable preservative of the
virtue of young persons. Those who cultivate letters have rarely a
strong passion for promiscuous visiting, or dissipated society;
study therefore induces a relish for domestic life, the most desirable
temper in the world for women. Study, as it rescues the mind from an
inordinate fondness for gaming, dress, and public amusements, is an
oeconomical propensity; for a lady may read at much less expence than
she can play at cards; as it requires some application, it gives the
mind an habit of industry; as it is a relief against that mental
disease, which the French emphatically call _ennui_, it cannot fail of
being beneficial to the temper and spirits, I mean in the moderate
degree in which ladies are supposed to use it; as an enemy to indolence,
it becomes a social virtue; as it demands the full exertion of our
talents, it grows a rational duty; and when directed to the knowledge of
the Supreme Being, and his laws, it rises into an act of religion.

T