ugh she was taking twelve subjects at one time, and was naturally
looked upon with awe and admiration by less brilliant pupils. A new
scholar once questioned her as to her routine of work, and the reply
left her questioner speechless with wonder.

"Oh, I haven't any," said Anna, with a toss of her curly head. "And I
don't study. I just go to bed and read, sometimes till one o'clock in
the morning--poetry, novels, and all sorts of things; then just before
I go to sleep I look my lessons over." Evidently the new-comer was a
bit doubtful of being able to follow her leader, for Anna added,
reassuringly: "Oh yes, you can, if you try. It's easy when you get the
habit!" and went off, leaving a much-amazed girl behind her.

At the time of her visit to the lawyer's office Anna begged to be
allowed to leave school to try and add to the family income, but her
practical mother persuaded her not to do this for at least a year or
so, and, seeing the wisdom of the advice, Anna remained in the
"Friends' School." So active was her mind that for weeks at a time she
did not sleep over five hours a night; the remaining time she spent in
doing all the copying she could get and in reading every book on which
she could lay her hands. Newspapers, speeches, tracts, history,
biography, poetry, novels and fairy-tales--she devoured them all with
eager interest. A favorite afternoon pastime of hers was to go to the
Anti-Slavery Office, where, curled up in a cozy corner, she would read
their literature or listen to arguments on the subject presented by
persons who came and went. At other times she would be seized with a
perfect passion for a new book, and would go out into the streets,
determined not to return home until she had earned enough to buy the
coveted prize. At such a time she would run errands or carry bundles
or bags for passengers coming from trains until she had enough money
for her book. Then she would hurry to a bookstore, linger long and
lovingly over the piles of volumes, and finally buy one, which she
would take home and devour, then take it to a second-hand bookshop and
sell it for a fraction of what it cost, and get another.

Among her other delights were good lectures, and she eagerly watched
the papers to find out when George William Curtis, Wendell Phillips,
or Henry Ward Beecher was going to lecture in the city; then she would
start out on a campaign to earn the price of a ticket for the lecture.

One day when she had rea