Those who believe themselves obliged to have recourse to the
seductions of fashion and dress in order to attract the attention of
their would-be admirers, give a sad manifestation of the emptiness of
their minds and the depravity of their hearts. Those who are
distinguished for their noble qualities of head and heart attach
their hopes, to loftier claims; by their modesty and reserve they are
pleasing to all, and the sentiments which they inspire, being always
noble and pure, never give the slightest annoyance to any one; on the
contrary they arouse the holiest and most generous instincts of the
soul.
One of the sweetest charms that adorns your age is that which arises
from its simplicity and candor. The world itself, so liberal in its
judgments, will not pardon in you whatever savors of egotism and
ostentation. In these and similar things it will avail you naught to
offer for excuse custom and usage, behind which so many aged women
try to take refuge. Profit, then, by the truce which the world in a
measure concedes in favor of your modesty, to acquire the habit of
simplicity in your dress and whole exterior.
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