LEDYARD’S PRAISE OF WOREN. | 373

not make you vain, I wiii give you a copy of my
lines,

C. O, pray do!

P, Here they are. Read them.

 

LEDYARD’S PRAISE OF WOMEN.

TmrovcH many a land and clime a ranger,
With toilsome steps I’ve held.my way,
A lonely unprotected stranger,
To all the stranger’s ills a prey.

While steering thus my course precarious,
My fortune still has been to find

Men’s hearts and dispositions various,
But gentle Woman ever kind.

Alive to every tender feeling,
To deeds of mercy ever prone ;

The wounds of pain and sorrow healing,
With soft compassion’s sweetest tone.

No proud delay, no dark suspicion,
Stints the free bounty of their heart ;

They turn not from the sad petition,
But cheerful aid at once imparts

Form’d in benevolence of nature,
Obliging, modest, gay, and mild,

‘W oman’s the same endearing creature
In courtly town and savage wild.

When parched with thirst, with hunger wasted,
Her friendly hand refreshment gave ;

How sweet the coarsest food has tasted!
What cordial in the simple wave !

Her courteous looks, her words caressing,
Shed comfort on the fainting soul :-

Woman’s the stranger’s general blessing
From cultry I dia to the Pole.