Pride and Principle CHAPTER 3.
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Mr. Goodwin, the brother of Mrs. Pimlico, was a lawyer of eminence, residing in a city some three or four hundred miles from that which had the honor of numbering his sister among the members of its most distinguished and fashionable votaries. He was a real gentleman, that is, one from the heart. And his wife was a real American woman, inside and out. Both were respected and loved in the circle of true refinement and intelligence where they moved. Not for their calm, cold exterior, not because of their strict observance of every fine law in the code of etiquette--but for their genuine goodwill towards all, that never permitted them to say or do anything to offend good sense, real good-breeding, or virtuous principles.
Mrs. Goodwin, like Mrs. Pimlico, went much into company, and sought, like her, positions of influence. But, with what different ends! While the artificial gentlewoman sought praise and glory--Mrs. Goodwin sought to inspire all around her with elevated sentiments and correct principles of action. While the former looked for deference to herself--the latter forgot herself in her efforts to make others pleased and happy. Thus it was, that a principle of good will to all, made Mrs. Goodwin a lady; while pride and self-love, gave to Mrs. Pimlico merely the external semblance of one.
The residence of Helen with her aunt and uncle, had been a blessing both to them and to herself. They had no children of their own. Their love for her was, in consequence, of a tenderer character than it otherwise would have been. In the few years that she spent with them, her mind expanded rapidly in its advance to maturity; and they had the unspeakable pleasure of guiding and protecting this expansion--and seeing Helen's character taking that true form which distinguishes the real woman of worth, from theconventional lady. In parting with her, they found that they had loved her even more tenderly than they had imagined; that she seemed so much like their own child, as to make the separation, which was to be a permanent one, deeply painful. During the few months which had elapsed since her return home, a regular correspondence had been kept up between Helen and her aunt, in which the former had hinted only vaguely at her mother's excessive deference to the smallest social forms, too many of which were, to her, perfectly unmeaning. But, enough was apparent to one so well acquainted with Mrs. Pimlico's peculiarities as Mrs. Goodwin, to make her fully aware of the trying, if not dangerous, position in which Helen was placed.
"I really think we shall have to make your sister a visit," Mrs. Goodwin said, one day, about six months after Helen had returned home. "I cannot tell you how much I desire to see our dear Helen."
"That will hardly be possible," Mr. Goodwin replied. "Three or four hundred miles is a long journey. And just at this time, my business requires close attention."
Mrs. Goodwin sat, thoughtful, for some time. and then said in a quiet, but serious voice,
"Apart from the pleasure it would give me to see the dear girl again, I think duty really calls upon me to make some sacrifices for her sake. She has been with her mother for about six months of the most critical portion of her life. We both know, too well, the false standard she sets up, and the pertinacity with which she will seek to make Helen square her conduct by that standard; instead of guiding her into the living principles of right conduct in life, from which flow, as a pure stream from a pure fountain--the highest forms of social fellowship those which have governed the best, the wisest, and the most refined men and women of this or any other age. Helen is young, and, we know, loves her mother tenderly; and we cannot tell how the latter may insinuate into her mind, her own false notions, and cause her to act from them. If she had not entrusted Helen to our care for so many years, thus throwing upon us the duty of guiding her opening mind, and sowing there the seeds that are to spring up and produce fruit in after age; and if Helen were not now of a rational and therefore individually responsible age, I would deem any act that looked to the destruction of her mother's peculiar influence over her, as decidedly wrong. But we have a certain responsibility in regard to her. It fell to our duty to implant good seed in her mind, and now, it seems to me that we would be blameable, if we did not do our best to prevent evil seed from being sown, and springing up in luxuriant vegetation, to the weakening or extermination of the good. Does it not so present itself to your mind?"
"Perhaps you are right," Mr. Goodwin said, thoughtfully. "But what can you do by a mere visit of a few days or a few weeks, to counteract the daily and hourly influence of her mother?"
"Not much, if Helen has already yielded herself up blindly to her influence. But this, I don't believe to be the case. I think she is still struggling against mere prescription, and seeking to discover the good and the true in everything. I do not propose to myself, to take any distinct counter-positions to her mother, to array myself in open opposition to her, in her own sphere of action; but to strengthen and sustain Helen by my example, to let her come within the attractive impulses of another and a different sphere. If still firm in her love ofprinciples in action, my presence for a little while may be of great use to her. If she is wavering, I may be able to exhibit to her a truer standard than the one about to be adopted."
To this, Mr. Goodwin did not reply for some time. At length he said,
"You are right, Mary. If, in the order of divine Providence, it becomes our duty to sow good seed--then we ought, as far as it is in our power, to seek to water that seed, and protect it, as it springs up, from poisonous plants. In the
present case, we cannot do much; nor would it be right to attempt to do much. But I think you had better make my sister a visit, and spend a few weeks with her. It will not be in my power to accompany you. But you can go alone."
"I would rather not go alone," Mrs. Goodwin said, looking up into her husband's face with a glance of affection. "I am not a favorite with your sister, and shall not feel comfortable unless you are along."
"I wish it were in my power to go, Mary, but it is not at this time. I have two or three cases on hand which require my attention. But the end which you propose to yourself is one involving a serious duty. If we set out to act from right principles, we will sometimes be required to do violence to our feelings. But this you have already learned."
"True. Then you think I ought to visit Philadelphia, even if I have to go alone?"
"I do. If I can possibly leave home at the termination of your visit, I will come on for you."
This matter decided, a letter was written to Mrs. Pimlico, announcing that her sister-in-law would be in Philadelphia in a few weeks. The receipt of this letter, as has been seen, occasioned some little excitement in the minds of both the mother and daughter. The former was really not much gratified by the news; while the latter was in ecstasies that it required all her self-possession to control.
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