d independence.

"'To make yourself understood by others, you must first learn to
understand yourself,' said he, as he came forward. Then, taking my hand,
he continued,--'What if you should give up all this abortive labour,
take a new pupil, and, instead of imparting to others what you have not
very firmly grasped yourself, try if you can make a human being of me?'

"I looked into his large gray eyes, and saw the truth and earnestness
shining in their depths, like pebbles at the bottom of a pellucid
spring. I never once thought of giving him a conventional reply. On the
contrary, I stammered out,

"'I am full, of faults and errors; I could never do you any good.'

"'I have studied your character attentively,' returned he, 'and I know
you have faults, but they are unlike mine; and I think that you might be
of great service to me; or, if the expression suits you better, that we
might be of great aid to each other. Become my wife, and I will promise
to improve more rapidly than any pupil in your class.'

"And I did become his wife, but not until a much longer acquaintance
had convinced me, that in so doing, I should not exchange one form of
dependence for another, more galling and more hopeless."

"Then this eccentric young man was Uncle Robert?"

"Precisely. But you see he has made great improvement, since."

"Well, Aunt Frances, I thank you for your story; and now for the moral.
What do you think I had better do?"

"I will tell you what you can do, if you choose. Your uncle has just
returned from a visit to his mother. He finds her a mere child, gentle
and amiable, but wholly unfit to take charge of herself. Her clothes
have taken fire repeatedly, from her want of judgment with regard to
fuel and lights, and she needs a companion for every moment of the day.
This, with their present family, is impossible, and they are desirous to
secure some one who will devote herself to your grandmother during the
hours when your aunt and the domestics are necessarily engaged. You were
always a favourite there, and I know they would be very much relieved
if you would take this office for a time, but they feel a delicacy
in making any such proposal. You can have all your favourites about
you--books, flowers, and piano; for the dear old lady delights to hear
reading or music, and will sit for hours with a vacant smile upon her
pale, faded face. Then your afternoons will be entirely your own, and
Robert is empowered to pay any re