themselves! Unfortunately there are not in this country many employments available for those of your sex who could not accept menial service; and it would be out of place in these pages to discuss this grievance, or to strike out new paths for its amelioration. But I may remind my readers that to accept the office of governess, unless properly qualified for it, is a gross fraud and a most dishonest act. Unless you understand the groundwork and grammar of a language— even your own—how is it possible that you can properly teach it to others? Unless you are yourself efficient in music, or any other accomplishment, how utterly unfit you must be to undertake its instruction! Or again, as regards the duties of a companion; even this apparently easy post cannot be fulfilled unless you have some knowledge of housekeeping and household management; to be able to keep accounts and write letters fluently are also indispensable qualifications. An unhesitating and pleasant manner of reading aloud is likewise desirable; and, above all, an amount of self-control and tact which will not come at your bidding, neither can it be acquired at the eleventh hour when the necessity for it arises.

This suggestion of having to exercise “self

help" in all its cold reality may seem but a gloomy fantasy to some of my youthful readers. God grant that it may remain an unreal thing to each and all of them! But, should the evil day arrive, let them take heed betimes lest it find them unprepared. Even as a soldier dreads not the call to battle if his armour is strong and his accoutrements ready, so you will fear not to fight the battle of life for yourself if your intellectual armour is bright, and your mental powers sharpened for the contest.

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CHAPTER XVI.

BEAUTY.

"Beautiful, yes! but the blush will fade,
The light grow dim which the blue eyes wear;
The gloss will vanish from curl and braid,

And the sunbeam die in the waving hair.
Turn from the mirror, and strive to win
Treasures of loveliness still to last;
Gather earth's glory and bloom within,

That the soul may be bright when youth is past.”

BEAUTY has often been stigmatized as a dangerous gift; and that it sometimes is so, I cannot deny; but this must always, I think, be the fault of the possessor, not of the gift itself. Taken at its true value and its real worth, it is surely one of God's good gifts, and one for which any girl may well be thankful. But then the question is, what

is its true value and its real worth? Beauty will attract friends to you, but it will not retain them. It will give you considerable power over men, so long as it lasts; but not a power of the best kind, or over the highest class of men. It will procure for you popularity, flattery, homage, and adulation; and herein lies the danger of the gift. These things absolutely intoxicate many young girls, and end in their becoming odious women.

Solomon says that "a fair woman without discretion is as a jewel of gold in a swine's snout;" and no language I could use would so forcibly convey to you the utter worthlessness of beauty, unless accompanied by moral excellence.

I have seen features cast in a nearly perfect mould, and faces which nature formed for almost angelic loveliness, so marred by the impress of evil passions within, that "fiend" rather than "angel" involuntarily rose to my lips. Eyes flashing with rage and scorn can never be beautiful, however large and lustrous they may be. Lips curled with pride and haughtiness can never be beautiful, however exquisitely chiselled they may be. But I have seen faces of extreme homeliness, nay, almost plainness, so lighted up, so beaming with inner light and spiritual graces, that all

around

were fascinated, yet scarcely could have told you whence the power of fascination

arose.

Rest assured of this, my young friends, beauty depends more upon the expression of a face than upon the regularity of its features; and what that expression may be, is, in a great measure, under the control of every human being.

When next you see yourself reflected in a mirror, try to realize the fact that your face is itself a mirror, on which your own character and disposition are, day by day and year by year, stamping and impressing their own outward and visible sign. Try to realise this, I say, and then you will understand me, when I tell you that beauty is within the reach of all, ay, within the grasp of all; for patience, meekness, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, hope, and charity, can never fail to bring beauty in their train.

How often may be heard the expression, that "So-and-so is sweetly pretty when she is in a good temper," or that the belle of some public assembly was "looking quite plain and out of sorts the other day!" The interpretation of these things generally is, that beauty had made to herself