CHAPTER VI.

FRIENDLY SUGGESTIONS.

SOON after Mrs. Whately returned home she wrote Beulah the following letter.

you since we

"I have thought very often of parted. I had a pleasant journey home. Yet I think that my home seems more solitary than ever since my return.

"I remember you asked me the day before I left you, if I disliked the name lady; saying that your young friend disliked it very much. I did not answer you then; I will do so now.

"I do not dislike it, Beulah, yet I should not wish to be called a fine lady; a fine woman would be a much more complimentary term. Yet every one would desire to be called lady-like; that

would be understood to mean something refined and dignified. It is a high compliment, too, to say of a woman that she is a perfect lady, though the term has been often misused. A perfect lady has delicacy of sentiment and delicacy of taste. She would do nothing mean, nor disgusting, nor undignified; nothing, in short, that would produce selfcontempt. She wishes not only to appear to others delicate and refined, but to be so, for her own sake. She would pay great attention to the feelings of others, that she might not wound them in any way. This, and much more, springs from delicacy of sentiment. In her dress, manners, and every thing belonging to her condition as a woman, she would manifest a certain propriety, that we call delicacy of taste.

"We should perform our duty to God, my dear Beulah, not that we may be called good or pious, but simply because it is our duty, and because we love Him who has a right to our obedi

ence.

"In the same manner, we should perform our whole duty to ourselves, because it exalts us as rational beings, and makes us more happy. We should be kind and polite to others, not to gain the name of a lady, but because we love our fellow-beings, and wish to do them good.

"All these things I hope you will understand in time. Confide to me any difficulties you may encounter, and I will try to solve them. There is nothing so lovely in a woman as an amiable disposition. A very distinguished author said, 'Of all external objects a graceful person is the most agreeable; in vain will a person attempt to be graceful who is deficient in amiable qualities.' I am afraid your young friend Zephina, from her dislike of fine ladies, has fallen into an opposite extreme, and is in danger of being rude and hoydenish. This her good sense will, I trust, in time, correct; for Pope says, 'Good manners are the blossoms of good sense.'

"I send you, dear Beulah, a dressing-case. It is for every-day use. Combs, hair-brush, toothbrush, and nail-brush;

may they do you excellent service. Exquisite neatness will make even a plain girl look charmingly in my eyes.

"There are some trifles, too, marked with the names of the friends for whom they are designed, which I beg you, dear, to present in the name of your sincere friend, LAURA WHATELY.”

"Why can't I be a lady?" thought Beulah Morris.

CHAPTER VII.

FREE AND EASY.

BEULAH was gathering strawberries, — “red, ripe strawberries." Zephina and Harriet Ann were taking a morning walk. Beulah was stooping down, and so busily occupied that she did not observe the girls approach.

Harriet Ann stepped up to her and said, “Little girl, give me some of your strawberries, will you?"

Beulah handed her the basket, which was half full, and she commenced eating them voraciously.

Zephina stood off at a little distance to enjoy the interview. Beulah seated herself upon a large stone, while Harriet Ann continued to devour the berries.

"What horribly thick shoes you wear, girl!

Have n't you got any better ones?" inquired Harriet Ann.

"They answer my purpose very well," replied Beulah.

66

Certingly, they are just right for one who has to go about picking berries among all these nasty stones and briers, but how queer they would look in Broadway. And what a strange dress you have on; I mean how queer it is made. You do n't have the costumes here very often I pose. Who is

your dress-maker?

"My mother," replied Beulah.

sup

"Is she a dress-maker by trade? I never heard there was such a thing in this vulgar place. Does she go out by the day, or take in work?"

"She has no reason for going out, since she makes only her own dresses and mine," replied Beulah.

"That is so queer, now; I suppose she is too poor to hire a dress-maker. Was you ever in any place but this horrid Baxter ?

"This place is very pleasant to me, since I have seen no other excepting the neighbouring town of Perkinsville," answered Beulah, with perfect coolness.

The strawberries were nearly all eaten.