eat and
vegetables, and occasionally placed upon her the responsibility of
most of the family purchases; and yet the unaffected, queenly dignity
with which the imaginative girl yielded herself to these most useful
yet prosaic avocations was such, that when she entered the market, the
fruit-women hastened to serve her before the other customers. The
first comers, instead of being offended by this neglect, stepped
aside, struck by those indescribable indications of superiority which
ever gave her such a resistless influence over other minds. It is
quite remarkable that Jane, apparently, never turned with repugnance
from these humble avocations of domestic life. It speaks most highly
in behalf of the intelligence and sound judgment of her mother, that
she was enabled thus successfully to allure her daughter from her
proud imaginings and her realms of romance to those unattractive
practical duties which our daily necessities demand. At one hour, this
ardent and impassioned maiden might have been seen in her little
chamber absorbed in studies of deepest research. The highest themes
which can elevate or engross the mind of man claimed her profound and
delighted reveries. The next hour she might be seen in the kitchen,
under the guidance of her placid and pious mother, receiving from her
judicious lips lessons upon frugality, and industry, and economy. The
white apron was bound around her waist, and her hands, which, but a
few moments before, were busy with the circles of the celestial globe,
were now occupied in preparing vegetables for dinner. There was thus
united in the character of Jane the appreciation of all that is
beautiful, chivalric, and sublime in the world of fact and the world
of imagination, and also domestic skill and practical common sense.
She was thus prepared to fascinate by the graces and elegances of a
refined and polished mind, and to create for herself, in the midst of
all the vicissitudes of life, a region of loveliness in which her
spirit could ever dwell; and, at the same time, she possessed that
sagacity and tact, and those habits of usefulness, which prepared her
to meet calmly all the changes of fortune, and over them all to
triumph. With that self-appreciation, the expression of which, with
her, was frankness rather than vanity, she subsequently writes, "This
mixture of serious studies, agreeable relaxations, and domestic cares,
was rendered pleasant by my mother's good management, and fitted me