Page:Advice to young ladies on their duties and conduct in life - Arthur - 1849.djvu/208

200 blessing. She can lighten her cares by assuming many of them herself; she can become her sympathizing friend and companion, and warm her heart with the sweet consciousness of being loved by her child with that genuine affection that ever seeks to bless its object. It is a painful sight to see a daughter manifesting indifference towards her mother, and seeming to think of her only when she wants some service. The unselfishness of a mother’s love—its untiring devotion—its anxious care—merit a better reward. If love prompt not a young lady to think of her mother and seek to do her good, let a sense of duty compel her to act with due consideration towards her, and she will soon find that to be a pleasure which at first seemed irksome, and wonder at the selfishness of her heart that could have made her indifferent towards one who has so many claims upon her love and gratitude. Whenever we compel ourselves to do right, we come into new and better states, and are then enabled to persevere in well-doing from the warmth of a genuine affection, rather than from a coercive sense of duty. This truth should be laid up in the memory of every young lady; it will encourage her to well-doing even under the disheartening sense of a want of high and generous motives, which we all sometimes feel.

To her companions every young lady has a