“My child, what ails you?” was eagerly asked by the father, as he, too, rose up hastily.

But there was no reply.  The heart of the child was too full.  She could not utter the truth.  She had been sent back to her parents by her husband, but her tongue could not declare that!  Pride, shame, wounded affections, combined to hold back her words.  Her only reply was to lay her babe in her mother’s arms, and then fling herself upon the bosom of her father.

All was mystery then, but time soon unveiled the cause of their daughter’s strange and sudden appearance, and her deep anguish.  The truth gradually came out that she had been deserted by her husband; or, what seemed to Mrs. Wyman more disgraceful still, had been sent home by him.  Bitterly did she execrate him, but it availed nothing.  Her ardent wish had been gratified.  Anna was engaged at sixteen, and married soon after; but at eighteen, alas! she had come home a deserted wife and mother!  And so she remained.  Her husband never afterward came near her.  And now, at thirty, with a daughter well grown, she remains in her father’s house, a quiet, thoughtful, dreamy woman, who sees little in life that is attractive, and who rarely stirs beyond the threshold of the house that shelters her.  There are those who will recognise this picture.

So much for being engaged at sixteen!

THE DAUGHTER.

IT often happens that a daughter possesses greatly superior advantages to those enjoyed, in early years, by either her father or mother.  She is not compelled to labour as hard as they were obliged to labour when young; and she is blessed with the means of education far beyond what they had.  Her associations, too, are of a different order, all tending to elevate her views of life, to refine her tastes, and to give her admission into a higher grade of society than they were fitted to move in.

Unless very watchful of herself and very thoughtful of her parents, a daughter so situated will be led at times to draw comparisons between her own cultivated intellect and taste and the want of such cultivation in her parents, and to think indifferently of them, as really inferior, because not so well educated and accomplished as she is.  A distrust of their judgment and a disrespect of their opinions will follow, as a natural consequence, if these thoughts and feelings be indulged.  This result often takes place with thoughtless, weak-minded girls; and is followed by what is worse, a disregard to their feelings, wishes, and express commands.