making quite a handsome appearance with her dark, shining, black hair and equally dark, shining soft eyes and her brunette, creole complexion with its acquired healthy English tints. The pleasant, good-natured expression of her round, childlike face makes one forget that she has a stub nose, which is perhaps not beautiful in itself, and it is a real pleasure when she speaks, to observe the friendly mouth with its fine teeth.
"Laura, who was fifteen years old last September, is perhaps prettier and of more regular features than her older sister, whose direct opposite she is. Although she is just as tall as Jenny, as slender and delicately formed, there is something lighter, brighter and more lucid about her. The upper part of her face may well be called beautiful with its waves of curly hair of chestnut brown, her sweet, dear eyes of changeable greenish lights that burn like triumphal fires, and her finely formed and noble forehead. The lower part of her face is less regular, being less developed. Both girls possess rosy, blooming complexions, and I often marvel at their lack of vanity, for I remember very well that the same could not have been said of their mother at a certain tender age!
"At school they have always carried off the first prizes. They are perfectly at home in English and are quite advanced in French. They are able to read Dante in Italian and also know a little Spanish; the German language seems to give them the greatest trouble; although I take every means in my power to prevail on them to take a German lesson now and then, my wishes do not always find obedience, so you see that respect for me and my authority are not very great. Jenny's special talent is for drawing, and the best ornaments in our home are her crayon drawings. Laura was so negligent about drawing that we had to deprive her of this instruction, as a punishment. She delights in practising on the piano, however, and sings charming English and German duets with her sister. Unfortunately, they commenced taking their musical instruction rather late, having begun only a year and a half ago. It had been impossible for us to raise the money for these expenses, for we had no piano. The one which we have now is only a hired one, and is old and dilapidated.
"The girls are a constant pleasure to us, owing to their affectionate and unselfish dispositions. Their little sister, however, is the idol of the whole house.
"This child was born at the time our poor, dear Edgar departed from life, and all our love for the little brother, all the tenderness for him, were now showered on the little sister, whom the older girls cherish with motherly solicitude. But you could scarcely find a lovelier child, so pretty, naive and full of droll humour is she. Her charming manner of
