The Factory Girl | Page 5

was about to take but
it was too late; and though the tear-drops forsook her eyes, when the
last embrace and kiss were given, yet she cheerfully took her place in
the stage, and soon was far from the scenes of home, and the familiar
faces which remained. She had an object in view of sufficient
importance to cause her to relinquish her own happiness for a season to
secure its attainment.
But what were the feelings of that fond and pious mother, at parting
with the object of her tender care and anxious solicitude a beloved
daughter? How dare she trust one so young and inexperienced in a
distant city, and among strangers? Exposed, as she necessarily must be,
to many evils and dangers, had she no fears for her safety? Ah, none
but a mother can analyze a mother's feelings! None but those who
sustain the sacred relation, can feel the many anxieties which a tender
mother experiences for the welfare of a beloved child, from the earliest
moments of infancy even to mature age. But she had the sweet
satisfaction of knowing that those lessons of virtue and morality those
precepts of religion, which had been impressed upon the mind of
Calliste from early years had not been disregarded; a satisfaction which,
were it universal, would save the pang of sorrow from many a mother's
anxious breast. She had confidence in the fidelity of her daughter in the
observation of those precepts which she had received; and with that
feeling, though with unavoidable solicitude, which only a mother
knows, she was willing to trust Calliste in the wide world for a season.
How illy prepared, indeed, to encounter the temptations and difficulties
of life is that mind which has not the shield of Virtue as a safe defence.
Though possessed of brilliant talents and highly-cultivated intellectual

faculties, none are safe from the dangers of shipwreck upon the shoals
and quicksands of life, unless the chart of Virtue is on board, and
Wisdom at the helm. How many a brilliant star has been lost from the
constellation of intellectual beauty, because it strove to twinkle in its
own strength, and despised the constant, saving flame of Virtue.
Ye, who have learned by experience what it is to leave the paternal roof,
for the first time, to mingle with strangers, you can tell the feelings of
the subject of our narrative, on her journey to the place of her future
abode. But through the favor of a friend of her father, a place had been
secured for Calliste, in a respectable family, and also employment as
she had desired, and she was thereby saved the anxiety, which
otherwise would have taken possession of her mind. Her journey
afforded novelty for the mind, in the various objects which met her
attention, and perhaps was more pleasurable than otherwise. Calliste
was an admirer of the beauties of nature, and the land scapes, beautiful
and variegated, afforded many objects of attraction, which, to the
thoughtless, pass unnoticed. Indeed, to the reader of the book of nature,
there can be no scene more gratifying, than that which displays the
picturesque attractions of variety and beauty. Thus was her journey far
from being tedious or disagreeable, for the vivacity of youth will find
among novelties many objects to gain the attention.
As she neared the place of her future residence, perhaps Calliste felt the
need of a friend to introduce her; but she knew her arrival was
anticipated, and her letters of introduction were sufficient. But still,
though we may be amply prepared, we shall find on our first entering a
large town or city, especially if we are young and inexperienced, many
fears arising in our minds in relation to propriety, and the various other
lessons which experience alone can teach us. And this is the case more
particularly with females, from natural delicacy and regard to propriety.
But suffice it to say, Calliste was well received, for in her appearance
there was something peculiarly attractive and prepossessing to the
accurate observer of human nature.
We find her now at her place of destination, in an agreeable family, and
pleasantly located. She has become initiated into the mysteries of her

pro fession, and is now a FACTORY GIRL; and as we proceed, kind
reader, we will endeavor faithfully to portray the character of one, who
may be regarded as a representative of the sisterhood the highly
intelligent and respectable class of which she was an ornament.
She had learned the notes of the bell, and in the discharge of the daily
duties devolving upon her, she was comparatively happy; though the
thought of home, perhaps, caused the deep-drawn sigh to swell her
bosom, as she recounted in her mind the scenes of the past, and