order to produce an abundance of savory fruit. You should attack not
only those gross and manifest defects which disfigure the soul, but
also those imperfections which are slight in appearance, but which,
if left alone, will in time become pernicious inclinations. You
should even watch over certain natural dispositions, which, though
good in themselves, and even often esteemed above their true merit by
the world, might easily, on that account, divert the thoughts of the
mind and the efforts of the will from more important objects;
dispositions very often dangerous for those who possess them, because
it is easy to abuse them, and because they flatter and nourish self-love,
or the other passions that flesh is heir to. You should imitate
those intelligent gardeners who pay a daily visit to their garden,
pruning knife in hand, and cut off branches that might exhaust or
overcharge the tree--not sparing them for the beauty of their foliage
or the brightness of their flowers.

If you wish to cultivate your heart and make it produce all the
fruit and virtue that it is capable of producing, suffer nothing
useless or superfluous to grow therein, choosing what is best,
measuring your esteem of certain things, and your application of
certain duties by the degree of importance that each merits, giving
the preference, in your mind and heart, to the virtues which bring
the soul nearest to God. Love those hidden virtues, so modest and
humble, which are the ornament of your sex--those virtues of which
God alone is witness, which the world ignores,--which it often, in
fact, despises, because they secure no advantage in men's esteem,
receiving their reward only in the future world. But this is just the
reason why God loves them so dearly, and why you should prefer them.
For if, in general, it is dangerous to please the world and useful to
shun it, this truth is especially applicable to woman, who, being