Page:Women worth emulating (1877) Internet Archive.djvu/94

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WOMEN WORTH EMULATING.

Then how thy grateful child has blest
Each wise reproof thy accents bore!
And now she longs, in worlds of rest,
To dwell with thee for evermore."


It is not wonderful that this lovely girl, brought into society when young people of her age were in the schoolroom, should have been much admired and sought after, A vain or romantic girl would have been ruined by so much praise; a cold-hearted and selfish one would have taken it as her right, and sought only her own pleasure; but this young lady had two great preservatives—her deep love for her father, and her conscientious desire to act as her pious mother, if living, would have approved.

She had not then, nor for some years afterwards, the guidance of that unerring light which religious conviction gives to the soul I but wise early training had its influence, and she sought and loved the society of the good and intellectual Her earliest friend, on whom she relied for advice, to whom she gave her confidence, was Mrs. John Taylor, a lady distinguished among the then very cultivated society of Norwich, for her many excellences of mind and character. Nothing is so important to the young as the friendships they form. The common proverb contains a volume of wisdom: "Tell me your company, and I will tell you your manners."

Dr. Alderson was intimate with most of those memorable Norwich families whose names have gained a world-wide celebrity. The Taylors, the