wood-work no longer in danger of warping or opening too much.

My incorporation was an event. Business at once set in, and, with slight
fluctuations, has continued ever since brisk and healthful. The venture
has been a decided success. The constant, untiring skill of mamma, and
the valuable experience of each gay season has enabled me to frequently
increase the capital stock. For my face is more pretty than it was four
years ago, and my manners are more easy and pleasing. Mamma says manners
are every thing--and they are a great deal. I have grown to be somewhat
of a woman of the world. I have met so many new people--strangers from
all parts of the earth! I have been every where, and done so much. There
is nothing local about me! Some people say that I am all things to all
men; perhaps I am, for if I am not _broad_ I am not any thing. I
abhor narrow-mindedness! I am a trifle fraudulent in a harmless way,
which I am free to confess is more than a trifle fascinating to most of
the men I know. I smile, make eyes, sometimes sigh, and with many
devices coax the masculine fancy into life, and for my sake. Yet,
withal, I am said to be conscientious--very, in fact, and never
intentionally deceive. My reputation is better, alas! than I deserve. My
network is invisible but effectual; my weaving-power artless, but it is
the art concealing the artful.

I am a Private Corporation! Therefore, I own all the stock. I constantly
make loans, but I never sell. The collateral--either the many shades of
love or the subtle changes of friendship--must be A No. 1 in every
respect. It is _collateral_, not indorsements which I require.
Paper not able to sustain itself is not considered worth much in my
Banking-House (social).

It is my sweet expectation to retire from business whenever I chance to