THE PROUD "LADYE." 



What a fearful element in the heart of woman is pride ! 

 Like fire in the physical world, which, when allowed to become 

 a ruling principle, can only ravage and destroy, while if con- 

 fined within its natural limits, it serves to refine the gold 

 and mature the gem within the bosom of the mountain ; so 

 pride within the soul may consume or create, according as it 

 is the ruler or the slave of the spirit. 



In one of the disused apartments in an old family mansion, 

 which is allowed to occupy its time-honored position only 

 because " city improvements" have not yet travelled so far, 

 there still hangs an old portrait on which the eye of many a 

 curious visitor has gazed with emotions of pleasure and sur- 

 prise. Though painted before the revolution, the touch of 

 time has mellowed, not defaced the tints of a work which is 

 evidently the effort of no common skill. It is the portrait of 

 a young and exceedingly lovely girl, attired in the stately but 

 picturesque garb of an hundred years since, and bearing upon 

 her fine features the impress of a high and noble nature. The 

 curve of the sweet lips is exquisitely tender, but the flash of her 



