Priscilla Wakefield,
Mental Improvement or the Beauties and Wonders of Nature and Art in a Series of Instructive Conversations, 1799

This short treatise, published in the United States after three successful printings in London, described the journeys Wakefield made in the new United States. They are presented as "conversations," a genre of writing adopted by many women authors.

The phrase "mental improvement" was common in northern United States in the early Republic.
How would these conversations about nature and art "improve" the mind?