have much to say to his prince of Grecian wisdom. One of the number, mortified by the extreme loquacity of his companions, preserved a profound silence. At length the ambassador turned to him, and inquired, "But what have you to say, that I may report it?" The silent philosopher replied: "Tell your king that you have found one among the Greeks who knew how to be silent." The incident teaches an important lesson.

Some girls are quite disposed to employ extravagant epithets in expressing their views of various things. "Did you notice Mrs. B's new shawl, last Sabbath?" inquired one young lady of another; "was n't it splendid?"-"Yes; it was perfectly magnificent! I never saw anything like it," was the reply. "What a horrid bonnet Miss M- had on, at church!" exclaimed another "A complete scarecrow!" responded the other. This style of conversation is not feminine. It becomes the bar-room better than the parlor. Pretty is a better word than splendid, homely than horrid, and beautiful than magnificent, in the connection in which they are used. Such exaggeration should be avoided.

young woman.

Girls should also avoid swearing in conversation. The reader need not be startled by this advice; for some young ladies, who consider themselves superior to many others, employ a class of

epithets which well deserve the appellation of feminine profanity. Such are the words, gracious, mercy, vow, goodness, zounds, and others like them. If not so wicked, they are nearly as unbecoming to women as the vile oaths of the bar-room are to men. They should never be used by girls in any circumstances.

The common gossip of female society should be avoided. That there is more of this among females than there is among males, is very generally conceded. It probably arises from the fact that women visit more, and have no definite pursuits to occupy their minds. Hence, gossip very naturally gains ground.

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Both sexes are prone to scandal, and gossip promotes it. It seems natural for them to talk about one another, and criticize their dress, manners, and characters. Hints, inuendos, surmises, and expressed suspicions, have done much mischief in this way. Sometimes a hint does more injury, and becomes a graver slander, than a direct charge. Yet persons who do not intend to slander indulge in hints. Here is a cause of many neighborhood difficulties and personal alienations. Perhaps it is within the bounds of truth to assert that a very large proportion of social troubles spring from the conversation of individuals. A single imprudent or scandalous word has thrown a

whole neighborhood into commotion. The tattle of one woman at a village sewing-circle has made difficulty throughout a whole congregation. How great a matter a little fire kindleth!

It is impossible for a tattler to fulfil some of the requirements of female duty mentioned in the foregoing pages. This propensity generally engenders other disagreeable qualities, that hinder a good influence at home and abroad. A female like Elizabeth Burnett is much more likely to bless the world. It was said of her, "that if any person were spoken against in company where she was, she would, if there was room for it, take pains to vindicate or excuse them, or else turn off the discourse to some other subject."

The Scriptures frequently speak of this subject, as if it were one of great importance. "Be swift to hear, and slow speak." "Let your speech be always with grace seasoned with salt." "Thou shalt not go up and down as a tale-bearer, among the children of thy people." "A tale-bearer revealeth secrets." "Where no wood is, the fire goeth out; and where there is no tale-bearer, the strife ceaseth." "Let your conversation be as becometh the Gospel of Christ." "Be an example of believers in conversation." In such language this subject is presented in the Word of God. The reader must infer therefrom that the use of the

tongue is a matter of no trivial account. Not merely as an item of manners, but as a moral consideration, it is of great moment.

A careful observation will convince any one that conversation exerts an educational influence upon those who participate in it. Children generally converse after the manner of their parents, and pupils of their teachers. Hence, too, we find certain styles of conversation to prevail in certain districts, and even in certain circles of the same districts. How soon a young man will become assimilated to companions in his manner of speech! Let him enter the company of the reckless and profane, and how soon he learns to tip his sentences with an oath! The same is true of girls. Let one of them become the companion of the gay and frivolous, and soon the drift of her conversation will relate to dress, finery, and trifles generally. Here is education a direct influence to control the thoughts and mould the character.

It appears from the writings of distinguished Romans, that the GRACCHI were educated by the conversation of their mother, Cornelia. Cicero says: "We have read the letters of Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, from which it appears that the sons were educated not so much in the lap of the mother as by her conversation." This is proof that there is moulding influence in the art

of conversing well; and girls should understand it, that their riper years may not incur the guilt of idle words. "But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment."

Mary Lyon is a good example of sensible conversation. She never conversed about nothing. Strangers were always impressed by her manner of speaking. Dr. Hitchcock, speaking of her travelling in behalf of the Seminary she founded, says: : "She did not talk louder than many fashionably dressed boarding-school girls do in public conveyances,—the difference being that the latter inform the company of their own personal affairs, while she discussed principles as enduring as the human race, and as vital to human welfare as they are enduring. Many a man can say, 'I saw Miss Lyon once; I met her in the stage coach; an original character, quite.' One young lady certainly enjoyed her instruction the first year of the school, in consequence of such a casual interview of her father with Miss Lyon. The father had penetration enough to discover that she understood female education, and could so train young women in the way they should go, that when they were old they would not depart from it.”

Again, he says, "Her great readiness in conversation, and generous warmth of heart, adapted her