At the close of this speech, I felt quite determined that I would not be such a woman.

Mrs. A. rejoined, “You have left my genius in a doleful condition, though I question whether you will persuade her to come down.  I will admit, however, for I am afraid I must, that the woman of talent is less likely to find reciprocation, or to receive enjoyment from ordinary people and ordinary circumstances; but then she is like the camel that traverses the desert safely where others perish, because it carries its sustenance in its own bosom.  I never remember to have heard a really sensible and cultivated woman complain of ennui, under any circumstances—­no small balance on the side of enjoyment positive, is misery escaped.  But, to leave jesting, admitting that the woman of more elevated mind derives less pleasure from the adventitious circumstances that surround her, from what money can purchase, and a tranquil mind enjoy, and activity gather, of the passing flowers of life—­she has enjoyments, independent of them, in the treasures of her own intellect.  Where she finds reciprocation, it is a delight of which the measure compensates the rareness; and where she finds nothing else to enjoy, she can herself.  And when the peopled walks of life become a wilderness; and the assiduities of friendship rest unclaimed; and sensible gratifications are withered before the blight of poverty; and the foot is too weary, and the eye is too dim, to go after what no one remembers to bring; still are her resources untouched.  Poverty cannot diminish her revenue, or friendlessness leave her unaccompanied, or privation of every external incitement consign her to the void of unoccupied powers.  She will traverse the desert, for her store is with her; and if, as you have suggested, she be doomed to supply others what no one pays her back, there is One who has said, ’It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

At this point of the discussion, I made up my mind to be a very sensible woman.

Mrs. W. resumed:  “You will allow, of course, that selfish enjoyment is not the object of existence; and I think, on the score of usefulness, I shall carry my poor, dependent house-wife, far above yours.  And for this very reason:  The duties which Providence has assigned to woman, do not require extraordinary intellect.  She can manage her husband’s household, and economize his substance; and if she cannot entertain his friends with her talents, she can at least give them a welcome; and be his nurse in sickness, and his watchful companion in health, if not capable of sharing his more intellectual occupations.  She can be the support and comfort of her parents in the decline of life, or of her children in their helplessness, according as her situation may be.  And out of her house she may be the benefactress and example of a whole neighborhood; she may comfort the afflicted, and clothe and feed the poor, and visit the sick, and advise the ignorant; while, by the domestic