UNCLE IN KNGLAND. 123 



I do not mean a want of actual cleanliness, but 

 an untidy, careless way of arranging your clothes. 

 I observe that they are not always put on 

 straight up at one side, down at the other 

 your petticoat, or something, forcing its way 

 above or below the edge of your gown a button 

 off a string broken part of a flower torn or 

 unsewed frills looking flattened and wrinkled, 

 and not having the fresh look that every thing 

 about a young lady should have. Your hair in 

 general looks shining and nice, but I don't per- 

 ceive why it should not always be arranged more 

 carefully, and so as to prevent it from straggling 

 at the sides, as I sometimes see. 



" Ladies are always very anxious to be fash- 

 ionable, but I assure you, Bertha, though your 

 dresses may be of the newest patterns, you will 

 not look well dressed without something more. 

 Fashion changes continually ; the furbelows of 

 to-day give place to-morrow to some other 

 whim and the vulgar and the empty-minded 

 have the never-ending delight of altering their 

 dresses, but fail after all in acquiring the air of 

 gentlewomen. 



" A good carriage, a smooth walk, a feeling of 

 being at ease in company, ready attention to all 

 that is going on, and withdrawing one's thoughts 

 from self, give the stamp of good society more 

 effectually, than all the finery that can be pur- 

 chased. That valuable feeling of being at ease, 



M 2 



