When the nymph is changed into the matron, and the sylphid form of eighteen is transformed into the "mother of many children," pray what becomes of companionship which had rested its sole support on the evanescent perfections of youth, the very nature of which is to pass away like a morning dream? Would it not be wiser first to consider the human species as formed for a world beyond this, in which it is appointed 'to fret our little hour,' and to make a vital sense of our _ultimate_ destination, the _primum mobile_ in every scheme of existence? This is the grand, the principal, the master-link of all earthly union, because it does not end here, but binds the faster as terrestrial things wax nearer to a close. Upon this broad base would not rational creatures, who are expressly fashioned for each others' society in this world, naturally be led to cultivate in common the greatest degree of intellectual perfection? Do you believe that the ditinguishing, the ennobling boon of reason is granted to _both_ sexes, to be only exercised by a very limited number of _one_ sex, and lavished in thoughtless waste by all the rest? Never entertain such an idea of the Creator, who has made nothing without its end, purpose, and design. I do not expect you to become a convert in the twinkling of an eye, but I feel as if we should one day have you added to our ranks, a staunch partisan of better views than those which you have learned to advocate." "Before you conclude," said I, "your introductory lecture upon _Bluism_, you must hear my creed, such as I brought it to Glenalta. Do not suppose that I think it possible for a society to be held together without the bond of religion. Whatever errors I might have been inclined to fall into, had I been left to myself, I have a friend, and that a youthful one too, who has kept such a _watch_ upon my sayings, doings, and thinkings, as to preserve me at least from the _grosser_ mistakes to which young men are liable who have no Mentor to guide their course. I am thoroughly convinced that religion is necessary in every community that aims at being well ordered, and that women ought to be considered as peculiarly its guardians; they are the nurses of young ideas, the first shoots of which are directed by female solicitude, and it would never do to have our _ladies_ turn infidels." "Very well," said Mr. Otway, "here are some strong admissions. You believe in the absolute necessity of religion in a well constituted state, and you are right; for if all the restraints which religion superadds to those arising out of mere moral fitness and utility, be quite inadequate to render men virtuous, _a fortiori_, they would not be better for increased latitude to do evil."