the girl in this manner? You will
quite spoil her, Lucy; indeed you will."

"She is the only child we have," said Mrs. Temple, the whole tenderness
of a mother adding animation to her fine countenance; but it was withal
tempered so sweetly with the meek affection and submissive duty of the
wife, that as she paused expecting her husband's answer, he gazed at her
tenderly, and found he was unable to refuse her request.

"She is a good girl," said Temple.

"She is, indeed," replied the fond mother exultingly, "a grateful,
affectionate girl; and I am sure will never lose sight of the duty she
owes her parents."

"If she does," said he, "she must forget the example set her by the best
of mothers."

Mrs. Temple could not reply; but the delightful sensation that dilated
her heart sparkled in her intelligent eyes and heightened the vermillion
on her cheeks.

Of all the pleasures of which the human mind is sensible, there is
none equal to that which warms and expands the bosom, when listening to
commendations bestowed on us by a beloved object, and are conscious of
having deserved them.

Ye giddy flutterers in the fantastic round of dissipation, who eagerly
seek pleasure in the lofty dome, rich treat, and midnight revel--tell
me, ye thoughtless daughters of folly, have ye ever found the phantom
you have so long sought with such unremitted assiduity? Has she not
always eluded your grasp, and when you have reached your hand to take
the cup she extends to her deluded votaries, have you not found the
long-expected draught strongly tinctured with the bitter dregs of
disappointment? I know you have: I see it in the wan cheek, sunk
eye, and air of chagrin, which ever mark the children of dissipation.
Pleasure is a vain illusion; she draws you on to a thousand follies,
errors, and I may say vices, and then leaves you to deplore your
thoughtless credulity.

Look, my dear friends, at yonder lovely Virgin, arrayed in a white robe
devoid of ornament; behold the meekness of her countenance, the
modesty of her gait; her handmaids are Humility, Filial Piety, Conjugal
Affection, Industry, and Benevolence; her name is CONTENT; she holds
in her hand the cup of true felicity, and when once you have formed an
intimate acquaintance with these her attendants, nay you must admit them
as your bosom friends and chief counsellors, then, whatever may be your
situation in life, the meek eyed Virgin wig immediately take up her
abode with you.