DAILY, as I continued my attendance at the seminary of Mdlle.

Reuter, did I find fresh occasions to compare the ideal with the real.

What had I known of female character previously to my arrival at Brussels?
Precious little.

And what was my notion of it?
Something vague, slight, gauzy, glittering; now when I came in contact with it I found it to be a palpable substance enough; very hard too sometimes, and often heavy; there was metal in it, both lead and iron.
Let the idealists, the dreamers about earthly angel and human flowers, just look here while I open my portfolio and show them a sketch or two, pencilled after nature.

I took these sketches in the second-class schoolroom of Mdlle.