eless," says Mrs. Q.;
at the same time counting across the room the people that she shall
invite next week.

Mrs. M. and Mrs. F. diverge into a most edifying strain of moral
reflections on the improvement of time, the necessity of sobriety and
moderation, the evils of conformity to the world, till one is tempted to
feel that the tract society ought to have their remarks for general
circulation, were one not damped by the certain knowledge that before
the winter is out each of these ladies will give exactly such another
party.

And, now, are all these respectable ladies hypocritical or insincere? By
no means--they believe every word they say; but a sort of necessity is
laid upon them--a spell; and before the breath of the multitude their
individual resolution melts away as the frosty tracery melts from the
window panes of a crowded room.

A great many do this habitually, resignedly, as a matter of course. Ask
them what they think to be right and proper, and they will tell you
sensibly, coherently, and quite to the point in one direction; ask them
what they are going to do. Ah! that is quite another matter.

They are going to do what is generally done--what Mrs. A., B., and C.
do. They have long since made over their conscience to the keeping of
the public,--that is to say, of good society,--and are thus rid of a
troublesome burden of responsibility.

Again, there are others who mean in general to have an opinion and will
of their own; but, imperceptibly, as one and another take a course
opposed to their own sense of right and propriety, their resolution
quietly melts, and melts, till every individual outline of it is gone,
and they do as others do.

Yet is this influence of one human being over another--in some sense,
God-appointed--a necessary result of the human constitution. There is
scarcely a human being that is not varied and swerved by it, as the
trembling needle is swerved by the approaching magnet. Oppose conflict
with it, as one may at a distance, yet when it breathes on us through
the breath, and shines on us through the eye of an associate, it
possesses an invisible magnetic power. He who is not at all conscious of
such impressibility can scarce be amiable or human. Nevertheless, one of
the most important habits for the acquisition of a generous and noble
character, is to learn to act _individually_, unswerved by the feelings
and opinions of others. It may help us to do this, to reflect that the
very