THE RANDALL FAMILY I3I
tic, and of course disagreeable. I have never known a woman more truly unhappy, and, notwithstanding some generous traits, I should propose her as an example to be shunned rather than as a model to be imitated by her sex. Indeed, the ambition to become a writer seems always un- fortunate for women, as being by no means suitable to their natural characters or aspirations. Were I to except any, it would be, not Madame de Stael, but perhaps Miss Austen the novelist, and above all Miss Edgeworth, to my mind the best of all female writers because the most womanly. . . .
On my return [from the White Mountains in October], I stopped at the house of the young artist girl where Stan- ley and I stopped in the summer ; and here I found myself so welcome that it was not easy to get away. The young woman expressed great longing to see an etching and learn what it looked like ; so I have since sent her a little collection, and have been pleased to notice that her nat- ural taste has been good enough to distinguish what was best with perfect propriety of gradation. Yet she has before seen nothing but what the artists who board there in summer have done, few of whom are likely to set the world on fire. She designs to teach drawing, and would fain come to Boston to learn etching, a project from which I should like to dissuade her, if I had the right. For she will be disappointed, I think, when she leaves the beauti- ful farm, to which I suppose she is heir, to become an upper servant of the richer vulgar. Though it is delight- ful to acquire knowledge of all kinds, yet to teach the A B C of it forever, and mostly to the stupid, is another affair. Were she my relative, I should wish her to marry some intelligent and thrifty farmer of her neighborhood, and remain in the beautiful country where she lives.
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