Page:Advice to young ladies on their duties and conduct in life - Arthur - 1849.djvu/146

138 not treat him with rudeness,—no lady will do that,—but with a degree of coldness that will sooner or later cause him to feel that his acquaintance is not agreeable.

Reserve like this is absolutely necessary to the protection of a pure-hearted maiden, in a society constituted as ours at present is. The semblances of all that is honorable and noble-minded are so perfect, that even age, with all its penetration, cannot sometimes see through the veil that hides corruption and moral deformity, much less the eyes of a young and inexperienced girl.

Treated by the other sex as a woman, a maiden of seventeen, eighteen, or even twenty, is apt to forget that she knows little or nothing of the world, and that her knowledge of character is very limited. All around her, it seems as if a book were laid open, and she has but to read and obtain the fullest information on whatever appertains to life. But she has yet to learn that she sees only the appearances of things, and that realities are hidden beneath them, and cannot be seen by her except through the eyes of those who are older and more experienced. If she will believe this, it will make her modest and reserved; modesty and reserve will make her thoughtful; thinking is the mind’s seeing