moral invalid to take care of. But, John, if Lillie
had been stricken with blindness, or insanity, or paralysis, you would
not have shrunk from your duty to her; and, because the blindness
and paralysis are moral, you will not shrink from it, will you? You
sacrifice all your property to pay an indorsement for a debt that is
not yours; and why do you do it? Because society rests on every man's
faithfulness to his engagements. John, if you stand by a business
engagement with this faithfulness, how much more should you stand
by that great engagement which concerns all other families and the
stability of all society. Lillie is your wife. You were free to
choose; and you chose her. She is the mother of your child; and, John,
what that daughter is to be depends very much on the steadiness with
which you fulfil your duties to the mother. I know that Lillie is a
most undeveloped and uncongenial person; I know how little you have in
common: but your duties are the same as if she were the best and the
most congenial of wives. It is every man's duty to make the best of
his marriage."

"But, Gracie," said John, "is there any thing to be made of her?"

"You will never make me believe, John, that there are any human beings
absolutely without the capability of good. They may be very dark, and
very slow to learn, and very far from it; but steady patience and love
and well-doing will at last tell upon any one."

"But, Gracie, if you could have heard how utterly without principle
she is: urging me to put my property out of my hands dishonestly, to
keep her in luxury!"

"Well, John, you must have patience with her. Consider that she has
been unfortunate in her associates. Consider that she has been a
petted child all her life, and that you have helped to pet her.
Consider how much your sex always do to weaken the moral sense of
women, by liking and admiring them for being weak and foolish and
inconsequent, so long as it is pretty and does not come in your way.
I do not mean you in particular, John; but I mean that the general
course of society releases pretty women from any sense of obligation
to be constant in duty, or brave in meeting emergencies. You yourself
have encouraged Lillie to live very much like a little humming-bird."

"Well, I thought," said John, "that she would in time develop into
something better."

"Well, there lies your mistake; you expected too much. The work of
years is not to be undone in a moment; and you m