"I have got my work before me.

The next thing is to give Bella hers." It was decided that Bella should pursue a different method from her mother.

She was to learn the letters of the alphabet in regular order, taking the first two, _a_ and _b_, for her first lesson.
Mary Bell made copies of those two letters for her, with the chalk, upon the top of the board.

She made these letters in the form of printed and not written characters, because the object was to teach Bella to read printed books.
"Now," said Mary Erskine to Bella, "you must study _a_ and _b_ for half an hour.

I shall tell you when I think the half hour is out.