As an instance, twenty-five questions were given her to be answered. She was seated at a table, without books, from 10 a. m. till 8 p. m., ceaselessly thinking and writing; and the twenty-five questions in classical literature were faultlessly answered, and that, too, at a time when, had I known what I know now, she should have been resting on her bed.
Her father, to whom the paper was shown for his approval, wrote on the margin: "It seems to me that the task imposed here was a great one, indeed; but it has been performed with good success." I do not for a moment mean to find fault with her teachers, for kinder, more interested ones no pupil ever had; and the delight that a teacher derives from a painstaking and appreciative pupil cannot be understood by those unused to teaching.
While the dear child was meeting our utmost requirements as a scholar, the foundations of her life were being sapped away.
In May, 1872, a little more than two weeks before the June commencement, she was taken with fearful sickness and severe chills, just after one of the hæmorrhages that came every three weeks regularly. Our doctor was called, and the first thing she said to him was: "Doctor, I must not be sick now. I cannot afford the time. I must be well for commencement." For four days she suffered very much, but quinine and all sorts of tonics brought her up; and the two weeks that should have been taken to get well in were spent in study, study, study. All the examinations were passed successfully, even brilliantly, and she was graduated with all the honors of the institution. Oh, how proud we were of her! and when she came home, frail and weak as a wilted flower, we said that she should have a long rest, and every comfort that we could give her.
All summer she remained in the Highlands of the Hudson; yet, when autumn came, she was not as well as we thought she ought to be, though very much improved with regard to the monthly turns, they recurring at right times now.
In September she commenced studying again; her French and music were continued, so that she might become still more accomplished in those branches, and lectures on rhetoric and moral philosophy were attended also.
The habit of studying was so strong upon her that she could not give it up. Now came swelling of the joints and fingers, and the old trouble, all of which she would have kept to herself if she could have done so; but I was so anxious about her that I ascertained her condition, went to the doctor again, and begged him to tell me what to do that would stop the weakening periodical disturbance, as I was persuaded that was the cause of her trouble. He said she had inflammatory rheumatism, and prescribed soda. But I was not to do any thing for the other matter, and, against my own convictions, I let things take their course. Oh, if he had said, "Take her home, and
