The Factory Girl | Page 5

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 those friends be loved, whom she had left behind. And one, in particular, we may rest assured was not forgotten and our readers will not fail at once to recog nize the object of our reference. No! the heart of woman clings with wonderful tenacity to the object of its choice, and alas! too often though not in this case is that object unworthy of the deep, ardent and lasting affection, which exists in the heart of the fair one, and whose flame cannot be extinguished by the floods of adversity, or even