WANTON CRUELTY CONDEMNED. 281 



LETTER XXXIII. 



FROM EMILY TO CAROLINE. 



Believe, dear Caroline, that your last letter 

 afforded me much entertainment, and has excited my 

 curiosity to examine for myself into the wonders of 

 the insect world. I have bought a microscope, and 

 am already surprised at the beauty of many of those 

 tiny creatures, that I have so often overlooked as 

 ugly or insignificant. I would begin to make a col- 

 lection of them, but I cannot resolve to put them to 

 death merely for my pleasure. I abhor the idea of 

 inflicting pain, or taking away life from any creature, 

 wantonly; and it often astonishes me to see some 

 people, otherwise humane, stamp upon a spider or a 

 beetle without repugnance. Women are more tender- 

 hearted than men ; which may partly be attributed to 

 a wise provision of nature, to qualify them for the 

 maternal office. But they are also indebted to edu- 

 cation : cruelty is discouraged in girls, as unamiable 

 and discordant with their natural character ; so that 

 an affectation of great sensibility has, of late years, 

 been very fashionable. Boys, on the contrary, froni 



