line, who was busy at her
desk, asked permission to finish a letter before listening; so there was
silence for a few minutes, and Selma, who wore a new costume of a more
fashionable guise than her last, reflected while she waited that the
details of such work as occupied her sister-in-law must be tedious.
Indeed, she had begun to entertain of late a sort of contempt for the
deliberate, delving processes of the Littletons. She was inclined to ask
herself if Wilbur and Pauline were not both plodders. Her own idea of
doing things was to do them quickly and brilliantly, arriving at
conclusions, as became an American, with prompt energy and despatch. It
seemed to her that Wilbur, in his work, was slow and elaborate, disposed
to hesitate and refine instead of producing boldly and immediately. And
his sister, with her studies and letter-writing, suggested the same
wearisome tendency. Why should not Wilbur, in his line, act with the
confident enterprise and capacity to produce immediate, ostensible
results which their neighbor, Gregory Williams, displayed? As for
Pauline, of course she had not Wilbur's talent and could not, perhaps,
be expected to shine conspicuously, but surely she might make more of
herself if only she would cease to spend so much time in details and
cogitation, with nothing tangible to show for her labor. Selma
remembered her own experience as a small school teacher, and her
thankfulness at her escape from a petty task unworthy of her
capabilities, and she smiled scornfully to herself, as she sat waiting,
at what she regarded Pauline's willingness to spend her energies in such
inconspicuous, self-effacing work. Indeed, when Pauline had finished her
letter and announced that she was now entirely at leisure, Selma felt
impelled to remark:

"I should think, Pauline, that you would give a course of lectures on
education. We should be glad to have them at our house, and your friends
ought to be able to dispose of a great many tickets." Such a thing had
never occurred to Selma until this moment, but it seemed to her, as she
heard her own words, a brilliant suggestion, both as a step forward for
Pauline and a social opportunity for herself.

"On education? My dear Selma, you have no idea of the depths of my
ignorance. Education is an enormous subject, and I am just beginning to
realize how little I know concerning it. People have talked and written
about education enough. What we need and what some of us are tryin