The Wilmingtonian, and Delaware advertiser., 1827-04-05

She married, at the early and lnexperlehc-
ed age OF fifteen, gentleman of fne per-
son and much good nature, but for whom she
never felt that deep rooted esteem absolute
" essential to happiness in the marriage
state. After she commenced us-keeplng,
and found that something more must De
done, than merely to recline on BEDS OF now
ers, wander by charming rivulets, or waste
the day in reciprocations OF fondness, she De-
came petulent; her mouth was no longer
decked with perpetual dimples; she fretted'
wept and upbraided. Domestic discord soon
produced serious and lasting distress. Her
husband, weak in principle as herself, sought
abroad the pleasure he no longer iounu at
home. Dissipation impaired MS cohstNu"
tion. and wasted his fortune; bankruptcy en-
sued; and the wife, who ought to nave sooth-
ed his sorrow, and by industry and economy
assisted in retrieving his fortune, upbraided
him for reducing one, whose education was
so refined, to a mere household drudge.-
Such united perplexities were too mighty
for his enfeebled constitution, and Pastoret-
ia was left widow at the age OF thirty
She had two fine children, but was destitute
of any means of subsistence. Some able
friend offered her liberal assistance that she
might establish herself in some eligible line
of business, but Pastoretta hao read IN her
favorite authors of men and women who no
bin died rather than receive pecuniary as
sistance, and believing that her exquisite
sensibiity never could support state OF de-
pendence, she obstnately refused all relief,
and suffered her creditors to throw her into
prison, determining there to finish what she
imagined a life of misery, by poison. She
effected her horrid purpose the second day
of her imprisonment, rushing unbdden into
the presence OF her eternal Judge, leaving
her children unprovided for, uneducated,
and to the mercy of'strangers.
Pastoretta is no imaginary character; the
author personally knew her, knew her to be
possessed of fine talents. a lovely person,
and most engaging manners; and had she
been hroheriy educated, she would have
been an ornament to science, and blessing
| to the world.
| 1t will not do to raise the superstructure
of All ediHce before the foundation IS well Sc
cured. A girl who studies little and reads
much, is more exposed to the storms OF rate,
more liable to be raised too high or sunk too
low, than even one who never reads any
thing.
Had Pastorctta's mind been properly reg
ulated and methodizcd by study, had she
been made acquainted with life and manners
as tney really are, IroU buoho WHiSh oiSot"S
the language of truth, however dissonant to
the pride of the human heart; had she been
guided by that wisdom,
"Before whose dear, discerning eye,
The visionary shadows fly,
Offolly's painted show;
Who sees through every fair disguise,
That all, but virtues solid joys,
Is vanity and woe;''
had she been taught that we must live like
christians not sentimentaize with the nov
elist. or expect to be any thing more thar
dependents on heaven and on each other
her fate would have been found supportable
her babes would not have been forsaken, TIN
poison never would have touched her lips.
To prevent girls from reading every nov
, ell extant, is now nearly impossible. But
should be the business of those who instruc
to fortify their minds against the attack
: they invariably make upon virtue by point
: ing out their defects, and by impressing thi
ftruth upon the mind, that they are the OIL
spring Of Inauguration, and afford no picture
of real life, no rules that can guide ther
= through rough and hard-judgng world.