ness. OR THE EFFECTS OF INFIDELITY. E'en Infidelity might well turn pale, It has repeatedly and with much propriety been stated, that the most effectual way to oppose error is by preaching truth. Such means have succeeded, and must succeed. The natural consequence of light is the removal of darkWherever, therefore, light is diffused, darkness must recede. There are occasions, however, when a change of method may work similar results; or when, to exhibit vice in its own deformity, or sin in its necessary consequences, will awaken a desire to escape from their degradation and bondage. I know no better way to illustrate the statement whica I have made, than to narrate a painful fact, which has lately been furnished me by a son of the unhappy subject VOL. I. B of it, bearing the title which I have now adopted. This gentleman has been for years a valuable and useful missionary in the western world, and is now not less usefully engaged in pleading the cause of the enslaved of our race. It should not, and in the minds of my young readers I hope will not, detract from the importance of the subject, that I have employed assumed rather than real names; the sole reason of such a course is to prevent those painful reflections which might otherwise, by inconsiderate persons, be cast upon the survivors of the wretched victim of infidelity. With these observations I shall proceed to my tale. Happiness dwelt in the habitation of Charles Bink, and prosperity crowned his lawful endeavours to realize such earthly possessions as might hereafter supply with respectability the wants of a rising family. For some time he had been united to a pious and intelligent woman, to whose devotedness to God and steady attachment to himself he owed all the enjoyment which he knew. The sphere in which he moved was genteel and easy; that is, it was above the lower order, where want often threatens, and necessity not unfrequently tempts to courses which the judgment disapproves; while it was below that kind of independence which makes business unnecessary, and fills the ignorant and purse-proud with notions of importance, which attaches not to themselves, but to the property which they possess. No one could visit the residence of Mr. Bink without being impressed with the truth, that an old saying which was applied to the city in which he lived, namely," the city of order," might with at least equal propriety have been applied to his dwelling as "the house of order." "A place for every thing, and every thing in its place," is an excellent maxim, and here it was acted upon to the very letter; and yet the stiffness of cold precision was no where seen; there was a natural ease in all that was visible, which made one feel, as well as see, the comfort which was displayed. Mrs. Bink's Christianity was carried into all the ordinary or common affairs of life, and was observable even in the most unimportant. Not that she considered any thing actually unimportant: no, she was aware that things so called are frequently of the greatest importance, and that by paying proper attention to little things, greater ones would not be neglected. Old age gives a kind of licence to assume the chair of the dictator, at least those who can adopt that highly descriptive line in the beautiful piece of the "Beggar's Petition," "These hoary locks proclaim my lengthen'd years," as their own, suppose they have a right to advise others, and the right is generally ceded them by courtesy. It is on this ground, perhaps, that I feel disposed to say that Mrs. Bink was such a pattern as I should advise young ladies to copy. She had in early life been much more careful to cultivate her mind than to adorn her body, therefore her attainments, at the time I write of, were rather solid than shining. She had not neglected the ornamental part of education; but she had not sacrificed the useful and the good to the light and tinsel decorations which are merely intended and calculated for display, and which leave the mind equally unimproved and empty, as light and air would leave the body, if substituted for wholesome and substantial food. If she did not talk so much or so fast as some, it was because she thought, that to act like the mother of Lemuel, of whom it is said, "She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness," would be much more to her own credit, and to the advantage of others, than to follow the example of her, concerning whom it is written, "She is loud and stubborn: a foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing." And then in her person she was-I half hesitate to write it, in this day of finery and folly; and yet, why should I? If a blush should be any where, it should be on the cheeks of those simple misses and matrons who load their bodies with gaudiness until they are well nigh smothered beneath the encumbrance; or so distort the beautiful figures with which by nature they are blessed, as to appear like so many moving heaps of deformity. Well then, she was a perfect model of neatness." Of neatness!" I almost imagine I hear some fashionable young miss exclaim: "Oh, save us! What demure creature is the old gentleman about to hold up as a pattern for us? I declare I am tired of his tale already. I have half a mind to say that I will not read any more. I suppose he would have us dress like outlandish people, or as grandmothers did in the days of queen Anne, or- Now exercise your patience, my sweet lady, for two minutes, and I will set you right, My object is just the reverse from what you seem to suppose. I wish my fair countrywomen not to dress as outlandish ladies, and for little misses not to make themselves appear like grandmammas. Have you never once yourselves smiled at the ridiculous figures of some of your acquaintance? or did you never hear the scornful laugh, or the biting sarcasm, which the appearance some fair one has given birth to? Did you never read the following short dissertation on one part of the habit of the present day? "That very preposterous deformity in a lady's dress which has been styled bishops' sleeves, and might have been called pudding bags, is now termed imbecilles. of The term is more appropriate to the wearer than the dress, as appears by the danger as well as the ridiculous effect which attends this absurdity. To say nothing of its agreeable dippings at the dinner and tea table, the risk of life at the toilet in the evening and elsewhere has lately been proved, by a conflagration which terminated the existence of a beautiful young girl. But those old and ugly, if there are such, stand in the same peril, for they follow the same fashion. These, however, we hope will be influenced by the admonition of Ezekiel, chap. xiii. ver. 18, 'Woe to the women that sew pillows to all arm-holes ;' or, according to the marginal note,' elbows.' These pillow-cases (like trowsers among men, to conceal knock knees and bandy legs) were adopted to hide arms skinny, bony, or mis-shapen. Those whom nature has blessed with fair proportions should not submit to be befooled by fashion.” Bless me! how I am wandering from my tale!-but old men and young maidens are given to talk wildly sometimes I hope therefore for your indulgence. Let me see where was I when your sensibility took alarm at the word "neatness," and stopped me in my narrative ? --Oh, I remember, I was on the point of recommending to your notice and imitation the habits and costume of Mrs. Bink. As, however, I have digressed so greatly already, a much longer digression might not be considered exceedingly proper: I shall therefore only observe, her neatness was gentility and comfort combined; and although the ridiculous forms of fashionable attire did neither burthen nor deform her, still she was equally distant in her appearance from disgusting singularity. That such a woman should have possessed the warm affections of her husband has nothing surprising in it if |