378 letter from Isalella t6 Alh'eri. Oct, 24, 



to this deplorable dilemma ; and I hope you will 

 never experience that wearinefs which leads to it } 

 but you ought to observe how difficult it is to avoid 

 it, unlefs it be by the help of that endlefs and innocent 

 amusement, work. We all hope to be married one 

 time or other ; and if so, in the natural course of 

 things, a woman sometimes 7Tiust be confined to the 

 house, and always ought to take pleasure in home ; 

 but if fhe has no resource for amusement, how can 

 that be ? and without taking pleasure in female 

 work, and domestic concerns, how can home be 



pleasing ? A man has generally his businefs to 



attend. Few hufbands can either afford to keep in 

 their family idle persons to furnifh amusement for 

 their wives ; or if they could afford it, would they 

 like to have them there ? — A woman, therefore, 

 finds herself, soon after marriage, in a new situa- 

 tion, in which solitude, to a certain degr^, must be 

 experienced. If Ihe has been in the custom of ta- 

 king ^pleasure in work, Ihe finds abundance of it to 

 employ her ; and fhe has the satisfaction of contri- 

 ving something new for the convenience of her fami- 

 ly, without incurring unnecefsary expence ; and of- 

 ten fhe has the pleasure of obliging her hufband by 

 presenting him with somfe little thing done by her 

 o'iun hand, as a mark of her attention to his conveni- 

 ence or taste. This is, in general, the surest means 

 of procuring reciprocal attachment from him. You 

 cannot, my dear, at your time of life, form an idea 

 of the domestic pleasure that such trifling attentions 

 produce." And here, my Albert, had you seen 

 with what a. gentle suffusion her eyes were filled oa 



