Page:Advice to young ladies on their duties and conduct in life - Arthur - 1849.djvu/81

She was the daughter of a widow, suddenly reduced from comfortable to needy circumstances, and was acquiring a knowledge of dress-making as a means of adding to their small and insufficient income. This girl had received an excellent education, and had moved in very good society. She was intelligent, polished in her manners, and possessed a finely-cultivated taste. The loss of friends, and a change in external circumstances, had subdued her whole character, and made her thoughtful. There was something about Ann, rude as she at first was, that caused her to respect the poor girl. Instead of ridiculing her for her deficiencies, she gently sought to correct them. This evidence of good-will touched the feelings of Ann, who hearkened to all her suggestions, and sought to correct every little defect of manner, or roughness of speech, that was kindly pointed out to her. The ease, grace, and womanly dignity of Florence were beautiful in the eyes of the humble-minded girl. She saw in them something really true and excellent, when contrasted with the rudeness and bold vulgarity of others in the work-room. Her whole character was a model of excellence in her eyes—a standard of emulation. We first begin to rise towards excellence of any kind, when we first begin to admire and love it.