called to it, have frequently made comparisons, and have found that
you are remarkably narrow and flat, and what is more, have a
tendency to stoop, which still lessens the size of the cavity in
which the lungs play."

"Well, ma, my clothes are not tight. Just see here."

Mrs. Beaufort tried her clothes, and found them to be much tighter
than in her judgment was good for health.

"You are still unwilling, Amanda, to be governed by your mother,
where her wishes come in opposition to your pride or inclinations. I
know that you are compressing your chest too much, but you are not
willing to yield to my judgment. And yet I prescribe no arbitrary
rules, but endeavor to guide you by a rational consideration of true
principles. These you will not see; and the consequences that must
follow their violation will be the transgressor's reward."

"Indeed, indeed, ma, you are too serious. You are frightened at a
shadow. No one of my friends enjoys better general health than I
do."

"And so might the graceful maple say of the sturdy oak in the first
years of their existence. But long after the first had been humbled
beneath the hand of decay, the other would stand with its roots more
firmly imbedded in the earth, and its limbs battling the storms as
vigorously as ever."

Amanda made no reply to this, for she was suddenly struck with its
force. Still she only pretended to loosen her stays to satisfy her