Page:Advice to young ladies on their duties and conduct in life - Arthur - 1849.djvu/15

Rh concern. If there be right modes of thinking, right actions will follow as a natural consequence. To aid in the attainment of this most desirable state, is one of the objects which will be kept in view by the writer, who will seek rather to give principles of action than rules of conduct; although the latter will not be entirely neglected.

False views of life every where prevail. We meet with them in our daily intercourse, in the social circle, and in books. From these flow many and various errors in life, the effects of which are often felt when it is too late to remedy them. And too frequently it happens that the sad experiences of a whole lifetime fail to correct the original error, or give the ability to guard, by right precepts, the young and inexperienced. It is from this reason, that, in giving advice, many persons, who have attained an advanced age, urge the opposite extreme of their own early life as the true mode of conduct.

The foundation of all error, in regard to life, lies in a single misconception—that of imagining self to be the centre, instead of clearly understanding that each individual is only a part of a great whole, a member of a common body. This is a truth so essential to the well-being of society, and to the happiness of each individual,