Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1845-01-17

and find my Mary and her boy we'll aud happy.n
Mary All so it is. The very Mary whom
we met five years ago. But she is a woman now,
mature in mind and person, and very beautiful:@-
She grows pale, and tremhles in her Anshqnd's
partipg embrace and once more within herchnm-
Der kneels and insokes upou him and herself The
I~blessing of the Almighty, She is calm, as she rocks
the cradle Of her first bOgn, and her eyes rest on
his little form with an expression of holy dove, that
is in itself pure happiness. A servant announces
a visitor. Mrs Brown enters. As we live, this is
our old acquaintance, the fair Leonora. But
how she has improved She looks now like Il
woman, 4 being ofilesh and blood, soul and body.
And her countenance is graced with a hearty good
naturedsmile. The ladies' greet each other pleas
antly, and rs Mrs Brown has come to spend the
day with Mrs Sherwood, we will continue awhile,
and seek edi6cutibn in their confidential chat. All,
now they touch the subject about which we are
curious.
oYou are very happy with Charles Sherwood,
Mary" remarks Mrs Brown, inqulringly.
eyes that lady answers, 'as happy as any ra-
fional woman can hope to be.
"But not as happy as You once imnagined you
could be with Frederick Hemico."
"Ah, that was a good deal your fault, Leonora.
You were older than / and looked up to you as
A pattern and an oracle. We were sworn friends
and ii is well that we never became estranged and
yindictive. What tales we might tell of each 9TH
er. But what ever become Of your Sir Linden
thall ?"
ooh, he proved to be horse theft, like most of
the 'Srs' that make their ephemeral appearance
amongst us. He made the declaration which so
longed to hear and his Timely arrest alone pre-
vented my becoming his victim by an elopement
and clantestine marriage. 1t is astonishing how |
ever got it into my head that | loved him. You
were more excusahle, for Henrico sought your
love earnestly and then you were so young. But
,AooI tho t.nth ,,,,.r ,,p,I1 NnVt oychn0Fo Ghorloc
for Frederick? p
Exchange Charles for Frederick. Oh Leno-
nora, Charles is dearer to me than my lie and
Frederick, we've now a girl, and he emperor of
the world, would be to me an object of aversion.''
"And yet he was your first love, Mary"
"First love /! What dramas of folly and mad
ness are constantly enacting in its name. Much,
very much of the misery that shadows the path of
real life, has its root in this romance of first love.
Young and inexperienced, we look upon the world
as Hedging birds look upon their covert nest in
June, upon the wilderness Of Verdue, bloom and
sunshine, spread gloriously over hill and plain, and
valley. Poor things, how should they know that
storm aud frosty winter will surely come? Or how
shall we, under the present system of female edu-
cation, know aught Of the unavoidable and inevita-
BILE ills OF life, until, with dismay aud horror, we
meet them in the ways ofsage experience ( 1t has
become fashionable to shut the light Of truth from
the eyes Of the young female, lest she should see
that mankind are fraiI and wicked and mortal.---
Lest she should learn that the rich and the poor
the oppressor and the oppressed the naughty md
the down tr6dden, are all brethren. Man would
be Worshiped by the beautiful. How should she
worship if she knew his nature Thus, the world
as it is, is shut from her eyes, ard il fictitious world
of romance spread around her by the popular and
pernicious publications Of the day. If | had be-
come the wife Of Henrico, s. he had proved a tru-
ly worthy man, we should have been a miserable
couple, because, in my utter ignorance OF the hu-
man heart, deemed him perfect, | saw no fault
in him, while | endowed him with all the super
eXcelIencies Of the d%emigods Of romance. Now
in the near intercourse Of domestic life, the newt
able bIemishcs Of humanity must have become APP
parent. The consequences are obvious. But as
you are aware, Frederick Hcnrico was a base de-
ceiver, seeking by marriage to obtain money to
squander on his vices. He had already broken
poor Ellen Murry's heart. Experience has taught
me to believe that first love is Il frail bark fora Wo-
man to venture her treasures in, upon the sea of
of life. 1t is most frequently a tissue of unreason-
able and unreal tancies, and hopes, that have no
foundation in reality. Oh, the disappointment and
misery that grow up in the ruined halls Of our fall
en- air castles! | admit that many who have mar
ried under the influence Of a romantic first love,
have endured the wreck of romance, and become
rational and happy wives; but too many sink with
the wreck; or, turning from the owl, who has lost
his peacocc plunage, seek with restless yearnlngs
for one who will realize the dream of youth"
"The present system Of female education has
much of crime, and more of suffering to answer for.
The great mass of what are termed educated girls,
are cast upon the sea of life, just as unpreparad
for its trials, jas they would be to navigate each her
steam ship aCaoss the atlantic"
"Your remarks are just" observes Mrs. Brown.
eff Providence shall ever intrust me with the edu-
cation of female children, it will be my earnest en-
deavor to keep their young hearts from the conta-
gion of sentimental romance, and first love; to teach
them that woman has higher duties than merely to
love a man; a loftior destiny than to become il
wife; Steiner Il .ials than the hopes and fears, which
are the rose and thorn on the tree of human alec-
ton. If we were educated for Eternity, we should
seldom sink beneath the ruin Of crushed hope or
disappointed first loye.'