Her mind was uncultivated, her reading scant; beyond the mere mechanical arts of education she knew nothing; but she had a refined taste, and excellent sense and judgment to separate the true from the false.

With these qualities, she set to work under Mr Benson's directions.

She read in the early morning the books that he marked out; she trained herself with strict perseverance to do all thoroughly; she did not attempt to acquire any foreign language, although her ambition was to learn Latin, in order to teach it to her boy.

Those summer mornings were happy, for she was learning neither to look backwards nor forwards, but to live faithfully and earnestly in the present.

She rose while the hedge-sparrow was yet singing his _reveille_ to his mate; she dressed and opened her window, shading the soft-blowing air and the sunny eastern light from her baby.