Page:Advice to young ladies on their duties and conduct in life - Arthur - 1849.djvu/33

Rh lay his hand firmly upon his wealth, and be sure of holding it in a firm grasp; but in a few years his gold has all melted away like snow-wreaths in the sunshine. Why this is so, is not the question now to be discussed. The fact, is the thing that demands most serious consideration. No woman can know at what period of her life reverses may overtake those upon whom she is dependent for all her external comforts. Her father may become poor while she yet lingers in the old homestead, or her husband may be reduced from affluence to poverty, at a time when children are springing up around her with their thousand wants, few of which can now be supplied. And worse than all this, death often comes in and strikes down the very prop and stay of life, leaving the widow and mother friendless and penniless.

“Why should I think of these things now?” asks a light-hearted maiden. “If I am to have trouble like this, it will be bad enough when it comes. I will be happy while I can.”

That such trouble, if it should ever come to you, may be lighter and more easily borne, is the reason why it is alluded to now. The sailor, when he puts forth to sea, does not know that he will encounter a storm. But he knows that storms do frequently occur, and that many