DEDICATION. MY DEAR CHILDREN, You have often urged me to write something for your amusement, and I have endeavoured to satisfy your wishes. It has been my earnest desire, that this little history should contain such instruction as may be of real and lasting advantage to you all. Do not consider my heroine too perfect a model for your imitation; for in my own experience I have met with persons, even of her age, endowed with talents equal to those described as possessed by her; and the strength of mind, which evinces itself in every action of her life, is attainable by all who have a sincere and heartfelt wish to acquire a truly reli 3762 .984 .3113 3CAP) 805649 9-2-3 -36 1/2 gious frame of mind, from which alone. fortitude, submission, and true humility, are to be gained. It is with sincere pleasure that I dedicate this little work to you, and trust that it will be a lasting memorial of my affection, and also of my sentiments with regard to what your conduct ought to be throughout life. In the fervent hope of seeing all the virtues and perfections of Alice Seymour reflected in you, my dear children, I bid you adieu, in the full expectation, from your present promising dispositions, that your earnest exertions will be used to prove your filial love, and to advance stedfastly in the path of virtue. Believe me Your affectionate Mother, THE AUTHORESS. ALICE SEYMOUR. CHAPTER I. ALICE SEYMOUR, the heroine of this tale, was the daughter of a gentleman who had accumulated a large fortune in a banking-house. He had by merit and industry raised himself from the situation of clerk to that of partner, and from that time had been every year acquiring increased wealth. In the days of his comparative insignificance, Mr. Seymour had married an amiable young woman, whose station in life was every way suited to his own. She had united herself to him from mo |