The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-08-25
Whene'erI take my walks abroad,
How many Door ! see.

10 De put OIL with verses known alike to all O
| Inem, and dared him TO make another tria
Oh one not so familiar; whereupon, to nv grea
Joy, DICK with great emphasis and sobriety O.
face repeated the hymn
Whatever brawls disturb the streer
| There should be peace at home;
| "nefe sisters dwell, and cousins meet,
| etuarrels should never come" &c
| Now. II my dear cousin had gone through with
the whole body of English lyrics, he could not
have made better hit /; for my guess is. that
when three girls roam together at a watering
place, living out of the same trunks. there S
need for daily recitation of this Divine song.
thus we sailed happily occupied upon the
| surface of this beautiful lake, surrounded by
| hills' under glorious canopy of clouds. / was
dreaming OF something, when Amelia turned
to me, and with suddenness exclaimed, Net
to, nope goa are not pious!n was embar-
raised tor the instant. If she had asked me if
l was member Of the Dutch Reformed. /
would have said, "Yes am y but when she
asked me if l was pious, l was at loss what
| reply to make, and Dick, like stanch, honest
knickerbocker as he is, asked, =" Miss Amelia.
and why not pious ?" Pardon me, Meta, for
being so brusque but it that moment came
into my mind that you, who are so familiar with
your hymns, might be pious and / really do
not like pious girls. We have one in Miss F.,
on our floor, who won't go down to breakfast
even, until her hair is dressed by her fiSeur
Now, make up my hair very nicely for break.
fast, but when dressing for dinner / am com
pelleo to wait full half hour, because my turn
comes after Miss F.'s, and she keeps him at
work upon her beautiful head of hair, while
mine, which is very intractable, and needs so
much labor, has to do with as little as may be :;
for, do you know | think she brides him very
high, or else he is in love with her hair, and
delights to be at work upon it. Be that as it
may, do not see what piOus girl has to do
with hairdresser, for it is contrary to the
Scriptures for her to do So"
CONTRARY to the Scriptures for Miss F. to
have her hair done up by her t5iseuy rather
than by herselfl Where is the text?" asked
Mr.. a., in "a tone of greatest surprise
" Text! l do not know where the text is.
but am correct; and, as have high respect
for the integrity of my friend Meta, | ask her
what Is SAID III the Bible against dressing hair
OF pous ladies in fashionable manner-for |
take 1t that what was spoken by the Prophets
and Apostles was said, not for day. but for all
time"
Being thus appealed to, repeated the verse
in the Epistle Of Peter, commencing wives
whose adjoining was not the plating of the hair,
and of wearing gold, and the putting on of APP
parel.
But what does Paul say ?" asked Amelia.
Neither Dick nor | could recall any words of
Paul on the matter of dress and Dick asked.
why she had referred to Paul with such EN-
phasls," when she replied, Oh, he is such a
woman Halter" turning up her pretty lip in a
way that quite fascinated Dick. Then she
turned to me once more, and said, g Now, Meta,
YOU believe Peter to be an Apostle, if not the
chiefest of all the Apostles, as they do in
Rome; and if Miss f. is pious she does 50 too
and now L want you to tell me, what right has
Miss L. and all her set te wear costly ornaments,
and Keeping the ir-dresser a whole hour while
VIII not the least bit pous, wait for hing
Dick, greatly amused with has n
ness. asked, (which of the ten r "a F1' s.s.
swered A." The very first one; for she sits down
before mirror whilst Beaumont does up her
hair, and don't believe she takes half the time
to say her prayers
Dick defended Miss F. very cleverly saying
the text was expressly confined to wives, and
did not reach young ladies' Wives whose mar
kets were made were not to show any desire
for dress, but girls whose fortunes were as
yet doubtful were at liberty to dress as they
pleased, so as best to please those they hoped
to win. He made an ingenious, lawyer-lIke
argument about it and though it coniounded
Miss A., it failed to convince her, rs it did me;
for could | be in doubt as to matter OF duty,
would submit the text to one of my Sunday
school scholars, and implicitly abide by her
decision.
We reached the place of landing leaving this
matter unsettled and it was at ence super
seeded in our zeal to roll ninepins but, as the
boards were all engaged, we went into the pistol
gallery, and, would you believe it, at my first
IOup INV pnon 90 6upllISfS
say. Not one of the young ladies was success
fui, though they fired ten times apiece. When
these performances were over, the sun having
gone down in q sea of gold, we began to ascend
the hill. and Mr.. H., who had been very assid-
uous in his attentions, offered me his arm, but
| preferred to hold up my dress with both hands,
while Amelia accepted Dicks aid, and went up
treading on her dress for the sake of gratifying
Dicks gallantry, or her own love Of mischief.
Dear me she has gained an ascendency over
him already, and l see her little arts of making
him useful to her, with some surprise at her
success. She is one of those women of whom
Pope tells us, in his Satires, " who never drank
a cup of tea without a stratagem."
The crowd at the Lake House had already
dispersed, and we FASTENED to take our seats
| for direct drive homewards. When we were
| seated Miss Amelia, to my great annoyance,
| began to talk to Dick about Longtellow, and IN
| order to enlist me- she asked me if had read
Hiawatha; and / told her the truth when | re-
piled that / had attempted to do so. "You
have read Evangeline?" ! shook my head
ais it possible?" she exclaimed. al think
him the first poet of the age" Whereupon
remarked, in a timid tone, that ~ had heard il
said that Mr. Longfellow lacked the first requi
site of a poet for though a man of acknowl
edged labor and taste, he had exhibited nc
mower of invention THE very words had heard
| Dick say Thereupon there arose quite blaze
| of Indignation against such an illiberal crit
tcism. | famed the flame by telling all had
heard from Dick, who gave Longfellow great
credit for versifcation, but denied that he was
worthy of the high title Of a poet. In this dis
cussion the young ladies and gentlemen were
all enlisted, every one echoing to the praise Of
the Boston poet. Dick never so much as haz
arded remark, while he sat laughing out o
| his eyes, hearing me using his criticism as
made by very distinguished gentleman, whose
word was law with me in all such matters. And
I when / was pushed for proof of what L hac
said, flor they insisted was not so very igno
I rant as | claimed to be- l told them what
I had read of the Golden Legend" that it wa,
/ the old German ballad of "Poor Henry,
patched out with stories from " The Infancy o
| Jesus" known to all readers of the Apocrypha
i New Testament. To my surprise, they had NJ
reply to these charges of piracy, and so Miss A
changed the topic by calling our attention t.
the new moon, which now showed its Gasp ii
the evening sky.
i On reaching the States, we separated to g
to our several rooms, and, on my entering
there sat Mrs. II. and her daughter Sophia, anC
Aunt Jane, all of them in tears. What ha
happened ?" l exclaimed. Then it was
learned with deep sorrow that DIR. Alexande
, had died at the Virginia Springs. 1t was
!, great grief to Mrs. II. and Sophy, as it is to al
the members of that large society, and indee