e goes on. The King
and Queen give place to new Kings and Queens, but, though dethroned,
they are still royal; their wants are forestalled, they are fed,
clothed, instructed, but above all, beloved. When did their education
begin? At six months? A year? Two years? No; it began when _they_ began;
the moment they entered the little world they called theirs. Every touch
of the mother's hand, every tone of her voice, educates her child. It
never remembers a time when she was not its devoted lover, servant,
vassal, slave. Many an ear enjoys, is soothed by music, while ignorant
of its laws. So the youngest child in the household is lulled by
uncomprehended harmonies from its very birth. Affections group round and
bless it, like so many angels; it could not analyse or comprehend an
angel, but it could feel the soft shelter of his wings. [13]

The following was addressed to a friend, whose home was already blessed
with six fine boys:

DORSET, _Sept. 16, 1868._

Dear Mr. B.:--I am just as glad as I can be! I _said_ it was a girl, and
I _knew_ it was a girl, and that is the reason it _is_ a girl. Give my
best love to Mrs. B., and tell her I hope this little damsel will be to
her like a Sabbath of rest, after the six week and work days she has had
all along. It is hard to tell which one loves best, one's girls or one's
boys, but it is pleasant to have both kinds... I hope your place has as
appropriate a name as ours has had given to it--"Saints' Rest"!!--and
that you will fill it full of saints and angels; only let them be girls,
you have had boys enough.

* * * * *

III.

The Year 1877. Death of her Cousin, the Rev. Charles H. Payson. Illness
and Death of Prof. Smith. "Let us take our Lot in Life just as it
comes." Adorning one's Home. How much Time shall be given to it? God's
Delight in His beautiful Creations. Death of Dr. Buck. Visiting the sick
and bereaved. An Ill-turn. Goes to Dorset. The Strangeness of Life.
Kauinfels. The Bible-reading. Letters.

During the early months of 1877 Mrs. Prentiss' sympathies were much
excited by sickness and death among her friends.

"I spend a deal of time," she wrote, "at funerals and going to see
people in affliction, and never knew anything like it." And wherever she
went, it was as a daughter of consolation. The whole year, indeed,
was marked by a very tender and loving spirit, as also by unwonted
thoughtfulness. But it was marked no less by the