of things, Mrs. C thinks, can only be maintained by her taking a very active share in the management of every thing; and on this account it was, that, after several disappointments in governesses, she sent her girls to school.

They returned home a few months previous to my last visit; Jane being now nearly eighteen, and Caroline rather more than a year younger; their mother had often looked forward with pleasure to the time when they should be permanently with her, hoping to receive much assistance from them in her numerous occupations; and I felt some curiosity to know how far her pleasing anticipations had been realized.

I arrived at the rectory just in time to dress for dinner; and on entering the dining-room, was introduced to Jane, who interested me at first sight, from her striking personal resemblance to her worthy father. Caroline did not make her appearance till we were about to take our seats at the dinner-table; for which she was slightly reproved, in a way that shewed this was no very uncommon Occurrence. During dinner I was chiefly occupied in talking of old friends, with Mr. and Mrs. C ; so I could do little more than look at the young ladies; and the result of this examination was not altogether favourable. Jane's face wore an expression of discontent; and in the appearance of Caroline, who was very pretty, there was that studied and minute attention to dress displayed, which always bespeaks a frivolous mind.

As soon as we returned to the drawing-room, Mrs. C. got her large work-basket, filled with a variety of unmade garments for old and young.

6

Caroline, my dear,' said she 'you had better finish

this petticoat, and it will be ready to go with the other things tomorrow.'

'I can't to-night, mamma, I must make up a bonnetcap for the district visitor's meeting to-morrow.'

6

Why, my dear child, you surely need not be very particular in your apparel on that occasion: Do you wish to vie with Mrs. Clack of the new mill?'

'I cannot go any where with a soiled cap, mamma;' said Caroline, opening a box filled with blonde and satin ribbons.

I presume, Jane,' said Mrs. C. turning to her elder daughter, 'you do not mean to favour us with your company at the meeting to-morrow?'

'No, mamma,' said Jane,' you can calculate how many gallons of water-gruel will be necessary, without any assistance from me.'

'Well, then, as you refuse us the benefit of your head, give us that of your hands, by finishing this petticoat.'

'You know well, mamma, I never sew by candlelight; it hurts my eyes.'

Then, pray Jane, what is your sewing-time in winter? It was only to-day you told me that you considered it a waste of time to devote the morning hours to needlework, when the mind is most fresh and vigorous.'

'I am not very fond of needlework at any time, mamma; I wonder you do not make the schoolchildren do all that sort of work.'

They do a great deal of work; but at this peculiarly busy season, when there are so many things needed for the sick and aged, we require much extra help.'

I offered my services to finish the rejected petti

coat.

Caroline's whole energies seemed absorbed in the manufacture of her cap; and Jane, seating herself at a small table close to the fire, amused herself with the Quarterly Review.

Such was the first specimen I received of the behaviour of the daughters of my friend; and it was a tolerable average of their general conduct. They did not on all occasions absolutely refuse to assist their mother in her daily avocations; but they always did so grudgingly, and with evident reluctance to quit occupations they greatly preferred. This was particularly the case with Jane, who was fond of reading and study; and looked with some contempt on ordinary female occupations. Yet as she was in all respects a much superior character to Caroline, I found her more companionable; and in a short time seemed to obtain her confidence and regard. I then spoke to her with much freedom, and expressed my regret that she and her sister seemed so little disposed to fulfil their duties as the daughters of a country clergyman.

'If the schools or the poor were neglected, and really needed any care from me,' said Jane, 'I should then think it my duty to look after them; but in present circumstances, when the village is full of vulgar women, who like nothing better than to put on their best gown and bonnet and meet together to talk over all the gossip of the neighbourhood, I see no necessity that I should join them.'

I said something about the duties we owe to society. Society! Miss Markwell, you surely do not dignify the vulgar coterie who were here the other evening at the working-party, with the name of society?'

They were certainly not all persons of highly. polished manners; but several of them appeared truly pious, and one or two of them seemed well-informed and clever. And as to their being all vulgar, some of the party, you are aware, belong to the oldest and most respectable families in the neighbourhood."

"O yes, to be sure, the fat dowagers and starched old maids, who, as they cast an envious glance at the smart bonnets and splendid shawls of the dissenters, oracularly declare that "the church is in danger."

My dear Jane, you must excuse me for saying, that you will neither be useful nor happy, until a due sense of your own demerits has taught you to look more charitably on others. We are not sent into this world to lounge away our time in discussing the literature of the day with a few select friends. Our heavenly Father appoints our lot in the situation he sees most favourable for self-discipline and usefulness to others. To be discontented and unsocial because the society in which we are placed does not happen to suit our taste, is as direct rebellion against the will of God, as to murmur that we are not of noble birth or affluent fortune.'

'What you say may be all very true, Miss Markwell; but I cannot force myself to like disagreeable people.'

'I confess, Jane, I am disposed to think much less favourably of Miss D. and her school, than I did before I saw you and Caroline.'

'O do not blame poor Miss D.; she did all she could for our improvement; but how could she know the individual characters of above fifty girls?'

'I thought she had been particularly careful to acquaint herself with the characters of her pupils.'

'I suppose she did all she could to attain this end; there were two evenings in every week, on which six or eight of the girls took tea with her; so she made the round of the school about once a month. But on these occasions she talked to us chiefly on the subject of religion; and as the questions she asked seldom required any answer beyond Yes, or No, she could not gain much insight into the disposition of her pupils.'

'But did she not perceive Caroline's frivolity and love of dress?'

‘O yes, she did, and frequently reproved her for it; but I am sorry to say the influence of foolish companions was greater than that of Miss D. There were two girls came to school two years before we left it, who had been very badly brought up; they were fifteen and sixteen years old when they came, and had previously been allowed to read novels and attend balls; and were at length sent to school to be out of the way, when their father made a second marriage. They collected all the vain and silly girls of the school around them, and spent the hours of recreation in telling all the nonsense they had read and heard. They were very fond of Caroline, who made one of their coterie; praising her beauty, and puffing her up with conceit.'

Such were the daughters of my worthy friend, Mr. C., who, I have no doubt, now deeply regrets that he allowed them to be so many years absent from the paternal roof. When girls have been, for the first fifteen or sixteen years of their life, brought up under the superintendence of religious parents, they may, in many cases with safety, and in some with decided advantage, be allowed to continue one or two years