OF PIOUS LADIES. 213 only to be exceeded by those more dread- ful future mansions to which it was con- ducting them, changed its face. The loathsome prison; which had witnessed nothing but intoxication and idleness ; had heard no sounds but those of revil- ing and of imprecation, gradually became a scene of comparative decency, sobriety, and order. Ifever a charity of so extensive and public a nature could have been pleaded, as some excuse for the remission of do- mestic duties, this might have been con- sidered as the one exempt case, but it was not so. If she stole some hours from her family to visit the prison, she stole some hours from sleep to attend to her family. Happily, goodness is contagious as well as sin. We may now say in a good sense, " Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth !" Distant places have caught the flame. The bright ex- ample is already imitated by other ladies
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