But some had fail’d, and others gone astray;
Clerks had absconded, wives eloped, girls flown
To Gretna-Green, or sons rebellious grown;
Quarrels and fires arose;—­and it was plain
The times were bad; the Saints had ceased to reign! 
A few yet lived, to languish and to mourn
For good old manners never to return. 
   Jonas had sisters, and of these was one
Who lost a husband and an only son: 
Twelve months her sables she in sorrow wore,
And mourn’d so long that she could mourn no more. 
Distant from Jonas, and from all her race,
She now resided in a lively place;
There, by the sect unseen, at whist she play’d,
Nor was of churchman or their church afraid: 
If much of this the graver brother heard,
He something censured, but he little fear’d;
He knew her rich and frugal; for the rest,
He felt no care, or, if he felt, suppress’d: 
Nor for companion when she ask’d her Niece,
Had he suspicions that disturb’d his peace;
Frugal and rich, these virtues as a charm
Preserved the thoughtful man from all alarm;
An infant yet, she soon would home return,
Nor stay the manners of the world to learn;
Meantime his boys would all his care engross,
And be his comforts if he felt the loss. 
   The sprightly Sybil, pleased and unconfined,
Felt the pure pleasure of the op’ning mind: 
All here was gay and cheerful—­all at home
Unvaried quiet and unruffled gloom: 
There were no changes, and amusements few; —
Here all was varied, wonderful, and new;
There were plain meals, plain dresses, and grave looks —
Here, gay companions and amusing books;
And the young Beauty soon began to taste
The light vocations of the scene she graced. 
A man of business feels it as a crime
On calls domestic to consume his time;
Yet this grave man had not so cold a heart,
But with his daughter he was grieved to part: 
And he demanded that in every year
The Aunt and Niece should at his house appear. 
   “Yes! we must go, my child, and by our dress
A grave conformity of mind express;
Must sing at meeting, and from cards refrain,
The more t’enjoy when we return again.” 
   Thus spake the Aunt, and the discerning child
Was pleased to learn how fathers are beguiled. 
Her artful part the young dissembler took,
And from the matron caught th’ approving look: 
When thrice the friends had met, excuse was sent
For more delay, and Jonas was content;
Till a tall maiden by her sire was seen,
In all the bloom and beauty of sixteen;
He gazed admiring;—­she, with visage prim,
Glanced an arch look of gravity on him;
For she was gay at heart, but wore disguise,
And stood a vestal in her father’s eyes: 
Pure, pensive, simple, sad; the damsel’s heart,
When Jonas praised, reproved her for the part. 
For Sybil, fond of pleasure, gay and light,
Had still a secret bias to the right;