298 THE HOME, FA1LM AND lU'SIXKSS CYCLOPAEDIA. 



is ever ready to honour its virtues and defend its weakness ; she may 

 continue to incline towards him a willing ear. His habits and his con- 

 duct must awaken her vigilant attention before it be too late. Should 

 he come to visit her at irregular hours ; should he exhibit a vague or 

 wandering attention give proofs of a want of punctuality show disre- 

 spect for age sneer at things sacred, or absent himself from regular at- 

 tendance at divine service or evince an inclination to expensive pleas- 

 ures beyond his means, or to low and vulgar amusements ; should he be 

 foppish, eccentric, or very slovenly in his dress ; or display a frivolity of 

 mind, and an absence of well-directed energy in his worldly pursuits ; let 

 the young lady, we say, while there is yet time, eschew that gentleman's 

 acquaintance, and allow it gently to drop. The effort, at whatever cost 

 to her feelings, must be made, if she have any regard for her future hap- 

 piness and self-respect. The proper course then to take is to intimate her 

 distaste, and the causes that have given rise to it, to her parents or guar- 

 dian, who will be pretty sure to sympathize with her, and to take* mea- 

 sures for facilitating the retirement of the gentleman from his pretensions. 



What the Gentleman should observe during Courtship. 



It would be well also for the suitor, on his part, during the first few 

 weeks of courtship, carefully to observe the conduct of the young lady 

 in her own family, and the degree of estimation in which she is held by 

 them, as well as among her intimate friends. If she be attentive to her 

 duties ; respectful and affectionate to her parents ; kind and forbearing 

 to her brothers and sisters ; not easily ruffled in temper ; if her mind be 

 prone to cheerfulness and to hopeful aspiration, instead of to the display 

 of a morbid anxiety and dread of coming evil ; if her pleasures and en- 

 joyments be those which chiefly centre in home ; if her words be charac- 

 terized by benevolence, goodwill, and charity : then we say, let him not 

 hesitate, but hasten to enshrine so precious a gem in the casket of his 

 -affections. But if, on the other hand, he should find that he has been 

 attracted by the tricksome affectation and heartless allurements of a flirt, 

 ready to bestow smiles on all, but with a heart for none ; if she who has 

 succeeded for a time in fascinating him be of uneven temper, easily pro- 

 voked, and slow to be appeased ; fond of showy dress, and eager for ad- 

 miration ; ecstatic about trifles, frivolous in her tastes, and weak and 

 wavering in performing her duties ; if her religious observances are mere- 

 ly the formality of lip-service ; if she be petulant to her friends, pert and 

 disrespectful to her parents, overbearing to her inferiors ; if pride, vanity, 



