Six Months in a Convent, is a narrative of Miss
REBECCA THERESA REED'S sojourn in the Ursuline Convent at Charlestown, Massachusetts; whither she clandestinely went, against the wishes of her friends, and whence she escaped when she became tired of the uniformity and dulness of monastic life, wearied with its dis- cipline, and disgusted with submission, bickerings, and short commons. The object of the work seems to be, to excite enmity against conventual establishirents, and to warn Yankee young ladies against entering them. The advice, we dare say, is good,— till habit has inured the nun to monastic life, it can only be toler- able to persons of peculiar dispositions or peculiar misfortunes,— but, unfortunately, Miss REED'S conduct displays so much of weak self-will, that few will be inclined to take her for a Mentor. The narrative of the lady resembles her character, and is feeble. It has, however, an interest in its way : the daily account of the petty doings of the novices and sisters, the mixture of feminine despotism and wheedling in the Superior, and the oily unscrupu- lousness of the Catholic Bishop, are faintly indicated, as well as the dull and stagnant routine of existence in a nunnery.
Previous page
