est_, are very
fallible. We must get our light directly from on high. At the same
time we influence each other for right or for wrong, and one who is
thoroughly upright and true, will, unconsciously, influence and help
those about him.... I am enjoying, as I always do, having the three
younger children close about me here, and all sleeping on my floor. We
are really like _four_ children, continually frolicking together. We are
all crowded now into my den, and I wish you were here with us to be the
"_fifth_ kitten." Did you ever read that story?

_To Mrs. Catherine G. Leeds, Dorset, July 12, 1873._

It was ever so kind in you to let us share in your relief and pleasure,
and we unite in affectionate congratulations to you all. I do hope this
new and precious treasure will be spared to his dear mother, and grow
up to be her stay and staff years hence. It is the nicest thing in
the world to have a baby. What marvels they are in every respect, but
especially in their royal power over us!

In spite of the dry weather we have had a pleasant summer, so far. Just
before we entirely burned up and turned to tinder, showers came to our
relief, and our gardens are putting on some faint smiles and making
some promises. I did not allow a drop of water to be wasted for weeks;
dish-water, soap-suds, dairy water, everything went to my flower-beds,
and each night, after Mr. Prentiss came, a barrel-full was carted up
from the pond for me; how many the rest used I don't know. Disposing of
such a load has not been blessed to my health, and I have had to draw in
my horns a little, but M. and I work generally like two day-laborers
for the wages we get, and those wages are flowers here, there and
everywhere, to say nothing of ferns, brakes, mosses, scarlet berries,
and the like. And when flowers fail we fall back on different shades of
green; the German ivy being relieved by a background of dark foliage,
or light grasses against grave ones; and when we hit on any new
combination, each summons the other to be lost in admiration. And when
we are too sore and stiff from weeding, grass-shearing or watering, we
fall to framing little pictures, or to darning stockings, which she
does so beautifully that it has become a fine art with her, or I betake
myself to the sewing-machine and stitch for legs that seem to grow long
by the minute.

What the rest of the family are about meanwhile, I can not exactly say.
Mr. Prentiss sits in a chair with an umb