to

tried to soothe me, that Mr. H looked so much like my father, who was dead!' Their wonder was instantly changed to pity, and a sympathetic tear stole from many a bright eye, for the orphan stranger. My progress was rapid; too much so, as I only left school come under the strict surveilance of my spinster aunts. 'I intend she shall be taught every thing that is useful for a woman to know, in the lowliest situation; and rather than permit her to be idle, I will have work picked out and done over again!' was the reply to a query as to how my time was to be disposed of. Of course, in her estimation, reading was time thrown away; and I can well remember the bursting feelings with which I recalled the memory of my mother, when first seated under the eye of my duennas, I commenced stitching wrist-bands, and sewing up long seams. I now seldom saw my cousin, yet we maintained a regular correspondence. How full of soul were those secret letters! To her I could open my whole heart; and to her were expressed my ardent aspirations, and thirst for knowledge; my wishes, my imaginings, my regrets. She was my only confident; and though we were as unlike as possible, she was the only one who understood my feelings, or to whom I could communicate them. Another object of devoted affection at this time was my aged grand-sire. Though a great girl, yet when I could steal into his sitting-room, and, seated on his knee, listen to the untiring stream of anecdote of his early days, I felt that I had nothing to wish for. You were not born in England?' said a companion to me, one day. No; but I have heard my grandfather tell so much about it, that I feel as if I had been there.' To this day, I have a sort of tendresse for old men; and when my grandfather departed, in a good old age, crowned with the respect due to an honest man, my grief was more lasting than the sorrow I had suffered for my parents. My days glided along unmarked by any novel or exciting scenes. Our visitors were staid, middle-aged people, who advanced none but correct views and sound principles; yet I pined for companions of my own age, and for the enjoyments suited to youth. As I had now become very expert with my needle, I was sent into the kitchen; for,' said my aunt, jocularly, though you can make a shirt very neatly, you must be able to turn out a pudding whole, before you will be fit to get married.' I blushed crimson deep at the insinuation, which however is not a bad one, and should be oftener repeated to young ladies, who, with a most superlative contempt for any useful knowledge, take upon themselves duties, of the details of which they are totally ignorant.

I once heard a gentleman, who lost his wife in the second year of his marriage, declare, that were he to become a Colebs, he would not seek for the light accomplishments so unduly valued by many, but he should look for a lady who could make good puddings and pies. If she understands the latter art,' he added, 'I can excuse her ignorance of German; and I am not sure but I could overlook some little faults of temper.' I thought the man a shocking epicure, and wished with all my heart to see him yoked with one of my notable aunts. I learned, however, that though married for so short a time, the inconveniences and mortifications he felt, from the utter ignorance of his young wife in any thing connected with domestic affairs,

were numerous.

I did not particularly dislike my employments; it was only the exclusive confinement to them, and being obliged, one third of my time, to be the companion of a servant, that caused my spirit to revolt. A plan had been marked out, and, with the perseverence of a self-willed woman, no allowance was made for the peculiar bias of mind which soared for higher and nobler things. That females should be instructed in all that is proper for a woman to know in any situation, is very well, as far as it goes; and this plan, exclusively acted upon, would doubtless produce very good commonplace domestic drudges; but there are higher attainments equally useful, and as profitable for an immortal soul. We possessed a wellstored library, yet I read mostly by stealth. This gave rise to a cursory and imperfect perusal of valuable works, and what was still worse, to the dangerous habit of reading in bed. This practice I pursued for a long time unsuspected; but retiring one night earlier than usual, to finish a poem in which I was much interested, I fell asleep with my hand encircling the candle-stick. In passing my room, the light was discovered under the door; and from this night, a servant was regularly sent to carry away the candle as soon as I had retired. I have often indulged in thoughts of what I might have been, had not my mind been cramped, and my thoughts frittered away upon employments that were not rendered necessary by our circumstances. Yet perhaps I am wrong. I imbibed good principles, and am possibly as useful, and quite as happy, as if my attainments were of a higher order.

After a round of gayety, my cousin entered upon the duties of a wife, with a heart as light, and a head as giddy as a school-girl's. To dress, and to dance, and to enjoy herself, these had been her pursuits, from the time she left school till, at the age of seventeen, she gave her hand to Walter Dudley, who was enough older than herself to be in no danger of partaking of her giddiness. Yet he loved to see his wife admired, and her follies were all gratified without regard to expense. Her parties were frequent; and as she added to her social feelings a love for display, her furniture and dresses were of the most expensive kind. Yet, with all this profusion, there was little order or real comfort; and so lamentably deficient was she in any culinary knowledge, that when requested by her cook to say how much flour she should make into bread, at their first baking, she answered: Why really I don't know; I suppose (and not wishing to be thought a stinting mistress,) I suppose about a quarter of a hundred!' She was sufficiently mortified for her ignorance, by the woman laughing in her face.

Those who enter the arena of fashionable life, in a city like NewYork, find but little time for reflection, and none at all for domestic avocations. What wonder, then, that the head of my poor cousin was turned; and when her husband, tired of the dissipations of two winters, hinted at retrenchment and domestic quiet, she protested that the thing was impossible. 'Our acquaintances are so very select, and so respectable,' she said; and beside, were I to give up parties, it would be thought that you had failed, and this very suspicion, you know, might bring on the reality. I am sure, Walter,

you cannot think me dissipated; I never moped at home before we were married; and it is very hard to be obliged to give up all my friends and acquaintances now.'

'I do not ask this,' replied her easy husband; but why not have smaller parties, and prepare the refreshments yourself? Mr. Ellis tells me that his wife prepares every thing that is served at his house; and their entertainments, we know, are always elegant. This would save more than one half of what I now pay to a professed artiste.' 'Oh, I should spoil more than would be saved by that plan,' was the reply.

This was true; for in attempting to prepare some crullers, she made the paste so very rich, that she could neither roll it out, or boil it afterward; and in her vexation, she threw the whole compound

away.

'Wilful waste makes woful want,' is an adage as just as it is homely. Those who do not study economy from principle, will be compelled to practice it of necessity; and this my cousin found to her confusion, in the third year of her marriage. A needle had ever been her aversion; but she did attempt some things for her boy, and the poor child looked as if his clothes had dropped on to him from a whirlwind. But reform had come too late. An assignment was inevitable. It is all my fault,' said she to me, on taking leave, as they were starting for Missouri, 'it is all my fault, and Walter knows it. I see that he feels contempt for me; and how I despise myself, in reflecting that my selfish extravagance has brought ruin on so kind a husband! I trembled for their happiness; and in considering the causes of her disaster, felt more reconciled to my own pursuits, quiet and humble as they were. There is no situation in life which exempts a female from certain duties; and though many have a mother or other relative to take the burden off their hands, they are inseparable from her situation as a wife and mother. Yet how seldom are girls properly disciplined and prepared for this responsible situation! Happily, Mr. Dudley possessed perseverance as well as enterprise. With a borrowed sum, he purposed not only a living,' but an ample support; and it remained now to see if his wife was to prove a blessing or a clog to his virtuous endeavors. I recollected

her habits, and sighed; yet she had a generous heart, and a love for the truly beautiful and good, and I took courage. "What though,' thought I, in the remembered language of PAULDING'S 'Backwoodsman,'

'What though long, tedious miles may intervene,
And dangers lurk their hopes and them between ;
What if they bid a long, nay last adieu,

To scenes their earliest feelings fondly knew?
Bright INDEPENDENCE will the loss repay,
And make thein rich amends some other day.'

'WHICH Will you have for dinner, John, 'taters or stir-pudding?' asked the Wolverhampton cobbler's wife of her husband. Surely, unless this man was unreasonable, (and husbands are sometimes unreasonable,) he ought to have been happier than many a proud peer of

the realm.

Let us divide our labors,' was the happy suggestion of

our first mother, in her days of innocence and love:

'Let us divide our labors, thou where choice

Leads thee, or where most needs, whether to wind

The woodbine round this arbor, or direct

The clasping ivy where to climb, while I,

In yonder spring of roses intermix'd

With myrtle, find what to re-dress till noon.'

'Crooked Branch, Missouri, July, 18 — .'

'MY DEAREST COUSIN : My last letter to you was dated at Buffalo, a year ago last month; and, as I well remember, was filled with regrets and gloomy anticipations. Yet, with all this depression of spirits, I was not insensible to the beauty of the country through which we passed. New worlds seemed to burst upon the view, at every step of our journey; and I could scarcely believe, that we were on our way to the far west,' of which I had previously entertained so great a horror. Here was a busy city; there a town just sprung into existence, which already numbered its thousand inhabitants; a little farther on, was another still larger, and all looking so fresh and young, as to show that they were not yet in their teens. We passed green fields, too, and fertile valleys, with far-spread prairies, and creeks that swelled into lakes, and rivers that were almost oceans. It was a beautiful sight; yet every step carried us farther from home, and, as I thought, happiness. When we arrived here, a spot suffi ciently distant from duns and creditors, I could not help thinking, Walter proposed that we should tarry to look around us. We were

in the heart of a most luxuriant state, with an abundance of wild land, which seemed to say, 'Come and plant me, and your labor will be rewarded an hundred fold.' Here we met with a settler, who was anxious to dispose of a large and valuable tract, to go (only think!) to go farther west!' This, then, shall be our abiding place,' said my husband, when he returned from concluding the bargain; and I think myself extremely fortunate in meeting with such an offer. He asks but a small advance, for two years' labor, and we shall have a house ready to go in.' My eyes were so blinded with tears, when, a few days afterward, Walter carried me to my new home, that I saw nothing. When I did venture to look around, I was struck with its desolate appearance. We could see the sunshine through crevices in the logs, and there was but a single room, with a 'milk-room,' as it was called, and a loft over head. My heart sank within me. Only think, cousin, what a prospect! You, I recollect, used often to expatiate upon cottages, and retirement; but I thought a comfortable house and pleasant society good enough for me. Well, for some time I did nothing but cry, and coax little Willie, who begged to be taken away from here. Poor Walter! How resolutely he walked about his lots, and planned and thought for this was all new business to him and then came in, without a reproachful word or look, and began cooking his own meals. I could not endure this; and drying my eyes, I determined to bear my part of the burden. I will not weary you with a repetition of the hardships we endured, or of my unfitness for labor, in kid slippers and gossamer dresses; nor how,

VOL. XI.

3

after we bought a cow, and Walter had assisted me in churning, I added salt to the butter with a salt-spoon, wondering why it did not have the proper taste!

'The fall was a busy season. Our crops yielded abundantly, and we were blessed with health. As the winter began to close around us, we contrived to render our abode tolerably comfortable, with the use of bark, and straw, and by making an embankment around the foundation. One night in November, after a hard day's work of drawing wood, Walter retired to bed, early in the evening. I fol lowed in a short time, wearied with a large ironing, and soon slept profoundly. I was startled about midnight by the screams of the child. I awoke in terror; but what was my consternation, on beholding the room in a light blaze, and the flames already approaching the corner in which our bed stood. I called to Walter, and vainly endeavored to waken him. The flames came nearer; the smoke was hot and suffocating. Distractedly I called his name, shook him, and with infinite difficulty succeeded at length in awakening'him, just as the blaze had caught a corner of the counterpane. We escaped uninjured to the barn, which fortunately was at a safe distance; and clasping each other, thanked God for our miraculous deliverance! We saw the roof fall in, and leaving it a smouldering heap of ruins, drove to our nearest neighbors, with only the addition of a horseblanket to our night garments. We had not saved an article; and how can I express to you the kindness with which we were received, and made comfortable. Active exertions were immediately taken to renew our building. The men all joined on this occasion: some lent the use of their team for drawing logs, and gave a day's labor of their hired men; others cane with their sons to assist, from a distance of many miles; and in a short time we had a dwelling larger and more convenient, with scarcely any expense. Nor were the women idle. From perfect strangers we received articles of clothing and bedding, for which they neither expected or would receive any remuneration. I was affected even to tears, when, after several days' illness, occasioned by fright and exposure to cold, I assembled with the kind family who afforded us a shelter, and saw the many testimonies of benevolence sent by our most distant neighbors. A fine ham from one, a pot of honey from another, with a small firkin of butter from a third; every thing, in fact, was remembered, that our necessities could require; and you may well imagine the depth of our gratitude.

"The devouring element robbed me of many a valued keepsake from friends at home, but nothing grived me so much as the loss of your letters. Other things could be restored or dispensed with; but how regain those faithful transcripts of a soul sincere and elevated? I was less reconciled, too, when I recollected that it was occasioned by my own carelessness. The day of the fire, I consumed a quantity of wood in ironing, and took up the ashes in an old paper band-box, which I placed near the house, under a shed. This undoubtedly took fire, and communicating to the straw between the logs, caused the disaster, from which we only escaped with our lives. A neighbor's daughter staid with me this winter, for my health was delicate, and her presence greatly assisted in promoting cheerfulness in our