To train fully the feminine
mind, without in any degree impairing her susceptibilities and
sensibilities, seems at once the necessity and the difficulty of
the subject. Her very influence over man lies in her sensibilities.
It will be to her a perilous fall from pride of place, and power,
when, goaded by an insane ambition, in the extreme development of
her mere intellect, she shall forfeit a single one of these securities
of her sex.
CHAPTER I.
THE SCENE.
The stormy and rugged winds of March were overblown--the first
fresh smiling days of April had come at last--the days of sunshine
and shower, of fitful breezes, the breath of blossoms, and the
newly-awakened song of birds. Spring was there in all the green
and glory of her youth, and the bosom of Kentucky heaved with the
prolific burden of the season. She had come, and her messengers
were everywhere, and everywhere busy. The birds bore her gladsome
tidings to
"Alley green,
Dingle or bushy dell of each wild wood,
And every bosky bourn from side to side--"
nor were the lately-trodden and seared grasses of the forests left
unnoted; and the humbled flower of the wayside sprang up at her
summons.
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