Woman's Trials; Or, Tales and Sketches from the Life around Us

sad expression of her countenance too clearly testified. She was dressed in deep mourning. A faint sigh parted her lips as she looked up, on hearing the door of the apartment in which she wa

ay as possible," said the elder of the two ladies, soon after the

lady raised her head from its reclining position,

tedly, as you already know, with scarcely a thousand dollars beyond the furniture of this house, instead of an independence whic

sank into a low moan, and

n earnest tone, after pausing long enough for h

thing that is at all respec

is t

g boar

, evincing great surprise, "how

do so by the forc

a boarding-house! Surely

blended with the look of a

ned the mother. "A great many very respectable ladies have been c

o think of your keeping a boar

ing else that ca

me such a

do? Now, Edith, is the time for us to look at the matter earnestly, and to determine the course we will take. There is no use to look away from it. A good house in a central situation, large enough for the purpose, can

the only remark

n. But it will not do to think for ever; there must be action. Can I see want stealing in upon my children, and sit and fo

oved in the most fashionable circles, and there acquired the habit of estimating people according to their wealth and social standing, rather than by qualities of mind. In her view, it appeared degrading in a woman to enter upon any kind of employment for money; and with the keeper of

the truth of what at first appeared so strange a proposition, and her astonishment that t

nest," was the

t importance; and to do this, we must not suffer distorting suggestions nor the appeals of a false pride to influence our minds in the least. You are my oldest child, Edith; and, as such, I cannot but look upon you as, to some extent, jointly with me, the guardian of your younger brothers and sisters. True, Miriam is of age, and Henry nearly so; but still you are the eldest-your mind is more matured, and

in a more rational tone of voice th

five times the exposure of a boarding-house

we couldn't do that. Think

g that we can do. Our style of living will be the same; our waiter and all our servants will be retained. In fact, to

he saw, had to be done. Opening a store was felt to be out of the question; and

all hands that it was a very genteel business, and that some of the first ladies had been compelled to resort to it, without being any the less respected. Almost every one to whom the matter was referred spoke in favour of the thing, and but a single individual suggested difficulty; but what he