midnight
Two middle-aged Quaker ladies came gliding in , with calm , cheerful faces , and lustrous dove-colored silks . By their conversation I found that they belonged to that class of women among the Friends who devote themselves to traveling on missions of benevolence . They had just completed a tour of all the hospitals for wounded soldiers in the country , where they had been carrying comforts , arranging , advising , and soothing by their cheerful , gentle presence . They were now engaged on another mission , to the lost and erring of their own sex ; night after night , guarded by a policeman , they had ventured after midnight into the dance-houses where girls are being led to ruin , and with gentle words of tender , motherly counsel sought to win them from their fatal ways , -- telling them where they might go the next day to find friends who would open to them an asylum and aid them to seek a better life . `` As I looked upon these women , dressed with such modest purity , I began secretly to think that the Apostle was not wrong when he spoke of women adorning themselves with the _ ornament _ of a meek and quiet spirit ; for the habitual gentleness of their expression , the calmness and purity of the lines in their faces , the delicacy and simplicity of their apparel , seemed of themselves a rare and peculiar beauty . I could not help thinking that fashionable bonnets , flowing lace sleeves , and dresses elaborately trimmed could not have improved even their outward appearance . Doubtless their simple wardrobe needed but a small trunk in traveling from place to place , and hindered but little their prayers and ministrations .