ughter's society for two years, that
she might have the advantage of instruction in those branches of a
womanly education in which I could give her no aid."

"And having spent two years in the more cultivated East, did Miss
Grahame return willingly to her home in the wilderness?"

This question was addressed to Mary Grahame herself, and she answered
simply, "My father was here."

"You acknowledge, then, that could your father have been with you, you
would have preferred remaining at the East?"

"Oh no! I was fifteen when my father sent me from home, and they who
have enjoyed the free life of the prairies so long, seldom love
cities."

"But the ease, the freedom from labor, which is enjoyed in a more
advanced stage of society, the power to devote yourself to pursuits
agreeable to your taste--did you not regret these?"

"Permit me to put your question into plainer language," interposed Mr.
Grahame. "Mr. Danforth would ask, Mary, whether you would not prefer to
live where you would not be compelled to degrade your mind----"

"No, no, I protest against the degradation," exclaimed Mr. Danforth.

"To degrade your mind," pursued Mr. Grahame, answering the interruption
only by a smile, "by exercising it on such homely things as brewing
coffee and baking cakes, or to soil your fair hands with brooms and
dusters."

"For the soil of the hands we have sparkling rills, and for the
degradation of the mind, I, like Mr. Danforth, protest against it."

"But how can you make your protest good?"

"You have taught me that there is no degradation in labor, pursued for
fair and right ends, and that where the end is noble, the labor becomes
ennobling."

"But what noble ends can be alleged for the drudgery of domestic life? I
am translating your looks into language," said Mr. Grahame, turning
playfully to his guest; "correct me if I do not read them rightly."

"If I say you do, I fear Miss Grahame will think them very impertinent
looks."

"I shall not complain of them while I can reply to them so easily," said
Mary gayly. "He who knows how much a well-ordered household contributes
to the cultivation of domestic virtues and family affections, will not
think a woman degraded who sacrifices somewhat of her tastes and
pleasures to the deeper happiness of procuring such advantages for those
she loves."

"But is not that state of society preferable, in which, without her
personal interference, by the employment of those who have n