efficient assistant of her father's literary labours, the active
aid in all the household cares of her mother, the tender nurse of
a delicate infant sister, the skilful artificer of her own always
elegant wardrobe, ever at leisure, and ever prepared to receive
with the sweetest cheerfulness her numerous acquaintance, the
most animated in conversation, the most indefatigable in
occupation, it was impossible to know her, and study her
character without feeling that such women were "the glory of all
lands," and, could the race be multiplied, would speedily become
the reformers of all the grossness and ignorance that now degrade
her own. Is it to be imagined, that if fifty modifications of
this charming young woman were to be met at a party, the men
would dare to enter it reeking with whiskey, their lips blackened
with tobacco, and convinced, to the very centre of their hearts
and souls, that women were made for no other purpose than to
fabricate sweetmeats and gingerbread, construct shirts, darn
stockings, and become mothers of possible presidents? Assuredly
not. Should the women of America ever discover what their power
might be, and compare it with what it is, much improvement might
be hoped for. While, at Philadelphia, among the handsomest, the
wealthiest, and the most distinguished of the land, their
comparative influence in society, with that possessed in Europe
by females holding the same station, occurred forcibly to my
mind.

Let me be permitted to describe the day of a Philadelphian lady
of the first class, and the inference I would draw from it will
be better understood.

It may be said that the most important feature in a woman's
history is her maternity. It is so; but the object of the
present observation is the social, and not the domestic influence
of woman.

This lady shall be the wife of a senator and a lawyer in the
highest repute and practice. She has a very handsome house, with
white marble steps and door-posts, and a delicate silver knocker
and door-handle; she has very handsome drawing-rooms, very
handsomely furnished, (there is a sideboard in one of them, but
it is very handsome, and has very handsome decanters and cut
glass water-jugs upon it); she has a very handsome carriage, and
a very handsome free black coachman; she is always very
handsomely dressed; and, moreover, she is very handsome herself.

She rises, and her first hour is spent in the scrupulously nice
arrangement of her dr