assiduity was very agreeable to him. I
performed the most menial offices unperceived by him taking the time
for it when the servants were not at hand; as well to mortify myself as
to pay due honor to what Jesus Christ said, that He came not to be
ministered to, but to minister. When father made me read to him, I read
with such heartfelt devotion that he was surprised. I remembered the
instruction my sister had given me, and the ejaculatory prayers and
praises I had learned.

She had taught me to praise Thee, O my God, in all Thy works. All that
I saw called upon me to render Thee homage. If it rained, I wished
every drop to be changed into love and praises. My heart was nourished
insensibly with Thy love; and my spirit was incessantly engrossed with
the remembrance of Thee. I seemed to join and partake in all the good
that was done in the world, and could have wished to have the united
hearts of all men to love Thee. This habit rooted itself so strongly in
me, that I retained it throughout my greatest wanderings.

My cousin helped not a little, to support me in these good sentiments;
I was often with her, and loved her, as she took great care of me, and
treated me with much gentleness. Her fortune being equal neither to her
birth nor her virtue, she did with charity and affection what her
condition obliged her to do. My mother grew jealous, fearing I should
love my cousin too well and herself too little. She who had left me in
my young years to the care of her maids, and since that to my own, only
requiring if I was in the house. Troubling herself no further, now
required me always to stay with her, and never suffered me to be with
my cousin but with great reluctance. My cousin fell ill. My mother took
that occasion to send her home, which was a very severe stroke to my
heart, as well as to that grace which began to dawn in me.

My mother was a very virtuous woman. She was one of the most charitable
women of her age. She not only gave the surplus, but even the
necessities of the house. Never were the needy neglected. Never any
wretched one came to her without succor. She furnished poor mechanics
wherewith to carry on their work, and needy tradesmen wherewith to
supply their shops. From her, I think, I inherited my charity and love
for the poor. God favored me with the blessing of being her successor
in that holy exercise. There was not one in the town, or its environs,
who did not praise her for this virtue. She some