introduced to _Robinson Crusoe_. Mr.
Wintle gave it to the servant who was to walk out with her, and who read
aloud as she walked. Bessie was deeply interested, and would allow of no
pause in the reading: "She kept her going all the time:" says a sister.
Sometimes there were three or four little girls at Culham, and then in
the evening, grandpapa read aloud to them James's _Naval History_. It
was very little to their taste, and all but one paid little attention,
or if attending, could remember or understand but little. When, however,
the reading was ended, and grandpapa began to ask questions, it was
Bessie who knew how the vessels were manned and rigged, the complement
of men and guns, and all the details connected with the fitting out of a
man-of-war. And again Mr. Wintle had good reason to be "much pleased
with Blossom."

The little girl learnt needlework with her sisters. She could hem and
sew, but never liked doing either. A very neatly hemmed duster, done
before she was ten years old, and presented to an aunt, is still
preserved in the family. Knitting and crochet she liked better, and a
knitted purse in bands of very bright colours has been kept unused by
the friend to whom she gave it as a child. Her favourite occupation of
this kind was the making of slender watch chains with fine silk on a
little ivory frame. All her friends will remember these chains, which in
many cases were an annual present.

But needlework of any kind was always "against the grain." She liked any
other occupation better.

Perhaps the chief characteristic of early youth was her love of poetry
and music. Wordsworth's poems, especially those that referred to
flowers; Mary Howitt, Mrs. Hemans, these were her favourites. A sister
says she cannot remember the time when Bessie was not in the habit of
sitting down to the piano to improvise. She set Mary Howitt's "Sea Gull"
to her own music before she was twelve years old. It was published at
the time of the Irish famine, and realised L20, which she gave to the
Famine Fund.

Bessie's first music-mistress was the widow of an organist in Oxford,
but when her talent for music was more pronounced she had lessons from
Dr. Elvey, the brother of Sir George Elvey. Whilst she was learning a
new piece, a sister would sit by her side and read the notes aloud. She
quickly discovered if a single one had been omitted; and, as with
_Robinson Crusoe_, she kept her reader "going all the time." But her
enthusi