Page:Advice to young ladies on their duties and conduct in life - Arthur - 1849.djvu/145

Rh respectability and virtue. As society is now constituted, the worst class of young men, as well as the best, are equally free to mingle in fashionable circles: all that is needed to give them access are family, education, and good manners. The most depraved, alike with the most virtuous, may possess these external advantages. How often is it the case that we see a young man, whose habits are as bad as a depraved heart can make them, in close and friendly conversation, and, it may be, impiously venturing to touch the hand of a pure-minded, innocent girl, who, if the quality of his mind could be made apparent to her, would shrink from him with horror! It is, we regret to say, an almost every-day occurrence. To prevent this as far as possible, a young lady should decline all proposed introductions, unless made by her nearest and best friends—those whom she knows to be discriminating, and who have deeply at heart her welfare. If introductions are forced upon her without her consent, she can do no less than treat the person so introduced with politeness; but she should limit the acquaintance to the particular occasion. Afterwards she should be careful to treat the individual as a stranger. If he, however, taking advantage of his introduction, should force himself upon her, she should