f the men; they apparently move in different spheres,
although they repose on the same bed.

It is, therefore, as I have before observed, fortunate that the
marriages in America are more decided by prudence than by affection; for
nothing could be more mortifying to a woman of sense and feeling, than
to awake from her dream of love, and discover that the object upon which
she has bestowed her affection, is indifferent to the sacrifice which
she has made.

If the American women had their due influence, it would be fortunate;
they might save their country, by checking the tide of vice and
immorality, and raising the men to their own standard. Whether they
ever will effect this, or whether they will continue as at present, to
keep up the line of demarcation, or gradually sink down to the level of
the other sex, is a question which remains to be solved.

That the American women have their peculiarities, and in some respects
they might be improved, is certain. Their principal fault in society
is, that they do not sufficiently modulate their voices. Those faults
arising from association, and to which both sexes are equally prone, are
a total indifference to, or rather a love of change, "shifting right
away," without the least regret, from one portion of the Union to
another; a remarkable apathy as to the sufferings of others, an
indifference to loss of life, a fondness for politics, all of which are
unfeminine; and lastly, a passion for dress carried to too great an
extent; but this latter is easily accounted for, and is inseparable from
a society where all would be equal. But, on the other hand, the
American women have a virtue which the men have not, which is moral
courage, and one also which is not common with the sex, physical
courage. The independence and spirit of an American woman, if left a
widow without resources, is immediately shewn; she does not sit and
lament, but applies herself to some employment, so that she may maintain
herself and her children, and seldom fails in so doing. Here are faults
and virtues, both proceeding from the same origin.

I have already in my Diary referred to another great error in a portion
of the American women. Lady Blessington, in one of her delightful
works, very truly observes, "I turn with disgust from that affected
prudery, arising, if not from a participation, at least from a knowledge
of evil, which induces certain ladies to cast down their eyes, look
grave, and shew t