She had learned, or thought
that she had learned, that most girls are vapid, silly, and
useless,--given chiefly to pleasure-seeking and a hankering after
lovers; and she had resolved that she would not be such a one.
Industry, self-denial, and a religious purpose in life, were the
tasks which she set herself; and she went about the performance of
them with much courage. But such tasks, though they are excellently
well adapted to fit a young lady for the work of living, may also be
carried too far, and thus have the effect of unfitting her for that
work. When Elizabeth Garrow made up her mind that the finding of a
husband was not the only purpose of life, she did very well. It is
very well that a young lady should feel herself capable of going
through the world happily without one. But in teaching herself this
she also taught herself to think that there was a certain merit in
refusing herself the natural delight of a lover, even though the
possession of the lover were compatible with all her duties to
herself, her father and mother, and the world at large. It was not
that she had determined to have no lover. She made no such resolve,
and when the proper lover came he was admitted to her heart. But
she declared to herself unconsciously that she must put a guard upon
herself, lest she should be betrayed into weakness by her own
happiness.
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