We
find little in them to deepen our sympathies with our
fellows--little to make better the heart, or wiser the head."
"You discriminate with clearness, Caroline," he said; "I did not
know that you looked so narrowly into the merits of the world's
favorites. But to change the subject; do you intend going to Mrs.
Walsingham's next week?"
"Yes, I think I will be there."
"Are you fond of such assemblages?" the young man asked.
"Not particularly so," Caroline replied. "But I think it right to
mingle in society, although all of its forms are not pleasant to
me."
"And why do you mingle in it then, if its sphere is uncongenial?"
"I cannot say, Mr. Clarence, that it is altogether uncongenial.
Wherever we go, into society, we come in contact with much that is
good. Beneath the false glitter, often assumed and worn without the
heart's being in it, but from a weak spirit of conformity, lies much
that is sound in principle, and healthy in moral life. In mingling,
then, in society, we aid to develope and strengthen these good
principles in others. We encourage, often, the weak and wavering,
and bring back such as are beginning to wander from the simple
dignity and truth of nature."
"But is there not danger of our becoming dazzled by the false
glitter?"
"There may be. But we need not fear this, if we settle in our minds
a right principle of action, and bind ourselves firmly to that
principle.
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