Both the sisters are spinsters, comfortably off. Flavia is constant at all places of pleasure & expense. She has everything that is in fashion. She is very orthodox, is generally at Church & often at the Sacrament. If approached for charity, if in a good mood, she may toss the supplicant a little money & tell him what a big bill for dress she has received. She also thinks all the poor are cheats & liars.
She buys all popular novels, but also sometime reads a book of piety, if is very short & can be borrowed. She is very idle but wants the poor to be hard-working. She would be a miracle of piety, if she was but half so careful of her soul as she is of her body. So she has no grounds from the Scripture to think she is in the way of Salvation.
Her sister Miranda, is sober & reasonable. When she came into an income, her first thought was how she may best fulfil everything God required of her in the use of them & thus make the best use of this short life & submit to the will of God. She does not divide her duty between God, her neighbour & herself but does everything for Him. She divides her income between the poor & herself. Excepting the plainest food & dress, she never spends on herself. Everything about her resembles the purity of her soul & she is always clean without because she is always pure within.
Every morning sees her at her prayers. When you see her at work, she is doing something that is necessary for herself or others in need. There is scarce a poor family near her, but wears something made by her hands. She eats & drinks only for sustenance. The Holy Scriptures are her daily study. She has set up twenty poor tradesmen & educated several poor children & put them in honest employment.
When she dies, she must shine amongst the Apostles, Saints & Martyrs, who have fought the good fight & finished the course with joy.
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