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not by words-but passively. Let her keep her smiles to herself, when she knows they are working mischief!-let her keep her pleasant words to herself, if she knows they are giving encouragement and growth to a passion, which she intends fully to blight in its blossom. ing. A man will respect her the more for it. He will know what it means fast enough-he will know that she intends to spare him future pain, and if he is not a fool he will not misconstrue her. A lady, in my opinion, is committed, if she accepts lover-like attentions. She has no right to do so, if she does not intend to return the attachment. I do not say she is committed to the world; for custom has reserved to her the right to refuse-but to her own mind, and in the eyes of her lover, she must stand convicted of heartless coquetry.

But while I say this, I do not judge alone with severity, the coquetry of women. If they are rightly condemned for exercising their prerogative unworthily, what does not a man deserve, who to gratify his own vanity, can trifle with the heart of a woman.

For the Microcosm.

LINES

SUGGESTED BY READING THE INSCRIPTION ON THE MONUMENT ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF MARTHA DAY.

You would not wish that those you love

Should wander here at close of day,
And think of thee o'er whom they rove,

As dwelling only with decay :

Then gazing on this marble pure,
Emblem so perfect of thy mind,

Wilt thou to Heav'n our hearts allure,

Our Savior and our God to find.
"Twill then be sweet to linger here,

At early dawn, or close of day;
And think without, a sigh, or tear,
Of her, whose spirit far away,

Still hovers round her much lov'd home
Where she but lately shone so bright;
Rejoicing now with saints to roam,
In realms of Beatific light.
We'll think not of her vacant place
At home, or mid the youthful band;
But call to mind her much lov'd face,
Beaming with joy in Spirit Land.
A guardian spirit watching o'er
The friends she lov'd on earth so well,
A ransom'd soul, who would no more
Consent beneath the sky to dwell.
Whose seraph voice if we might hear,
Would tell us of a Savior's love;
And bid each youthful friend prepare
To join her in that world above.

For the Microcosm.

SONNET

TO THE SUMMER NIGHT WIND.

COME to my chamber night wind! I have long
Waited thy coming, worn and wearied much
With the day's irksome heat and irksome throng,
And longing for thy cool and balmy touch,
As thirsty traveler for running streams;

Wave o'er my feverish cheek thy fanning wings!
The silent stars are up to light men's dreams--
Earth's scenery is dim, and living things
Annoy me not; it is a winning time

For childlike slumber, if thou wilt but hover
About me, as the bee about the thyme,

Or maiden round her wounded warrior-lover,
Ruffle my curtains--wanton with my hair-

Then to the sky! in dreams I'll feel thee there.

L M. N

For the Microcosm.

IMPORTANCE OF CULTIVATING COURAGE IN FEMALE ED

UCATION.

"Do ask the driver to stop and let me get out! I cannot ride down this hill! We shall upset! Oh dear!" and my wife looked as if she was suffering all human nature could endure. I could not have her appear so silly, as she must, to all our fellow passengers, had I complied with her request, so I tried to quiet her. She whispered, "You don't care, but you don't know how I am suffering-I am afraid"—and closing her eyes with a pitiful expression, seemed to say-how cruel! No one else was alarmed; why should this lady be? I felt hurt--hurt that my wife should possess so little self-control-that she should torment herself, and mortify me; and hurt still more that she should accuse me of cruelty in not regarding her unreasonable fears. If ever man devotedly loved his wife, and sought her comfort, 1 profess to be the one. I have done it, and I delight still to do it. But I cannot bear to see her fluttered and thrown into a tremor at the least appearance of danger; and feeling that this is a prevailing error in education, I desire all who read the "Microcosm," to educate their daughters to bear common events with composure. Then may they hope to see them endure great trials with fortitude. Why should a lady run from a spider, start at a cat, if it enters the room where she is, or be in an agony if going down hill in a stage, when there is no unusual danger? In the instance referred to above, we were safely carried through all the dangers incident to descending “Bolton Hills." Johnson refers this weakness to education, and I quote him that all

American Enterprise.

173

mothers may begin with their daughters when young, learning first to control their own fears, then to prevent the forming such habits in them.

"Will not that Power that formed the heart of woman,

And wove the feeble texture of her nerves

Forgive these fears that shake the tender frame?
The weakness we lament, ourselves create ;
Instructed from our infant years to court
With counterfeited fears, the aid of man,
We learn to shudder at the rustling breeze,
Start at the light, and tremble at the dark,
Till affectation, ripening to belief,
And Folly, frighted at her own chimeras,
Habitual cowardice usurps the soul."

NEMO.

For the Microcosm.

AMERICAN ENTERPRISE.

WHILE the Microcosm contemplates the means of brightening the fireside of life by scattering rays of reason and truth around it, the limits of its pages, while they are open to every kindred topic, seem to forbid elaborate discussions: and this is an advantage, so far as the reader may escape fatigue, and even so far as courtesy exempts contributors from assuming the task and the formality of a treatise. Still it must not be forgotten that this Miscellany is perused by ladies who do not look for mere entertainment, who justly exert an influence on society, and have their opinions on all that is passing, of general concernment to their country, wherefore it was deemed not out of place to mention in a preceding number, another of the few practicable plans of that vast benevolence which the moral enterprise of America is proposing in the abolition of slavery.

It was therein remarked, that the African race were capable of becoming good tenantry in a southern climate. Their emancipation must depend on public opinion at the south; and many planters entertain the belief that the free should not remain among the enslaved. Laws to this effect have been made. Admitting that this state of things must exist for a number of years; and that however useful, to some extent, the colonies on the coast of Africa, they evidently are too distant to afford that provision which a much nearer district of country might. As therefore, the lands of the Texas are thrown open to purchasers, it was thought that there more immediate settlements might be formed. It is proposed now to complete the outline of this middle plan, without meaning to express opposition to the others.

Our argument is founded on the established fact, that free negro labor is more profitable to the planter than slave labor; and that this is more especially true of those who live in northern latitudes. That it would be good economy for their owners to free the blacks at once were this the only point. But they have not yet been educated for freedom, and the safety of families forbids the relaxation of control. The southern people, whatever their sen

timents as philanthropists, must take care of home. They would else be worse than infidels. They cannot be expected to compromet the safety of society. Even the National Government is bound to preserve the peace of the country. Besides, it seems necessary to the common welfare of the slaves themselves that they should not feel their bondage more from disadvantageous comparison. The most earnest friends of emancipation must necessarily consider what is practicable under existing circumstances as well as what is desirable.

If it be true, as experience seems to show, that the negro cannot in a cold climate become a prosperous farmer, it follows that on being freed he wants a southern country adapted to his physical nature, where he may be even superior to the white man as an agriculturalist. But there is no such district within the United States; unless it were the Arkansas-too far for commerce, too expensive to reach. But the fertile and salubrious province of the Texas, the nearest province of Mexico, is open to purchase, and is under mild and liberal government, and no prejudice exists there against the African race.

Were this to be the voluntary home of the free it would not indeed be the imaginary gratification of a return to the land of their ancestors, (though in reality on that vast continent it would be hard to say where that country was) but they would not be far from the country of their birth-nor far from their friends, nor from the influence of institutions of religion, education and civilization. They would be quite as well off as the yeomanry of New England who emigrate to the west. They would form a community much more within reach of public opinion too; and have great motives to deserve to be thought well of, individually and collectively. The good and the talented men among them would be known as such; and the mechanic arts as well as agriculture would divide the labor-and there would soon be merchants, physicians, lawyers, school-masters and divines in due proportion. In time, if preferable, the district might be purchased and annexed to the United States. At all events the ties of commercial interest would bind them to this country though they should pay the light taxes of citizens of Mexico.

The accessibility of this province when the rail road across Georgia and Alabama shall be opened to Pensacola, and the regular packets from thence to the Colorado, about two hundred miles, will make the removal cheap and convenient, and the good influence of their friends easy to maintain by personally visiting them.

But a previous question is, how these emigrants shall be emancipated? No doubt many owners of slaves and men of real benevolence are ready to free them as soon as they are assured that they will be provided for. There are however many who cannot or may not decide to afford it. Many must own fothing but their plantations and the people upon it, inherited of their ancestors. This may be the case with widows and female children of deceased planters. And this kind of property, possessed by their ancestors before the revolution, was secured to them by the Constitution. How then shall their interest be reconciled with philanthropy? They must retain their land, but without capital it is of no productiveness. Their capital is now in slaves, and how shall it be changed into other means-the means of hiring laborers and buying oxen and implements. Who will provide this

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vast capital for all the southern states at once?-not even the United States with its vast resources can be expected to do it. But yet there is a resource-as productive of moral profit as of money. It exists in labor: in the labor of the very people it is proposed to emancipate.

Were it established by law in all the southern states, that every African now held in bondage should be free on paying the price set on him by the magistracy of the country-or by the Legislature, and that his labor for his owner should be certain hours, and the rest of his labor by the hour at wages, but optional, and this extra labor should be placed to his credit, and when the amount equalled his value he should thereupon be free, a moral power would be awakened within his breast. Hope would be changed to certainty. He is already a free man save the debt he has contracted to work out. Now industry, order and fidelity become his interest. Now the avenue to liberty has been thrown open assuredly though prospectively. The danger of insurrection is past-instruction is safe. He is now learning the art of agriculture for himself. He is soon to emigrate to a similar country and have his own plantation. He admits the justice of his master's claim. He had brought him up-nourished him for fifteen years before he could be profitable. The prospectively emancipated now sees that freedom depends on himself,-on his subordination, and that idleness will but prolong his apprenticeship. While on the contrary it may be shortened by diligence and skill. Hope and faith have infused new life into his frame. His real character now develops and he becomes a different man. daily works for himself; and a habit of industry is formed.

He now

His labor may also emancipate his wife and children. Her industry cooperates with his. If not so soon effected as his own, he will by his new character have acquired credit, and her master may safely trust him to pay the rest of the debt for the whole family from the produce of the fertile prairies of the Texas.

It is thus only, it would seem, that policy, philanthropy, and justice can be reconciled, and private rights be respected, while the public good is promoted. We do not in New England take even an acre of the wildest land for public uses without a fair compensation; and we should be glad to see millions of the public money annually employed in this great branch of internal improvement-emancipation.

But on this plan, if any prefer to remain as tenants, there would be less objection than at present, because there is no longer that difference between the free and the bond. The bond are conditionally free.

And this middle plan comprehends still another moral feature that brings it within the scope of the Microcosm. The father and mother of a family, would now see their children with paternal affection, as their own, and no longer their master's little brood for the market. They are to accompany them to their new home. They are to assist them during their minority,

and then to settle near them. They now begin to feel an interest in their characters and qualifications, and desire to have them instructed. They treat them now with unwonted care and kindness; a new happiness springs up in their hearts, before hardened by their common calamity. They may now venture to love their children and allow the tendrils of affection to twine around their hearts, fearless of their being riven asunder. Thus to ameliorate the condition and the character of the daughters of Africa, to open to

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