pes. I liked big empires in those days; there was
a solid satisfaction in putting down Russia, and seeing what a large part
of the map was filled up thereby.

The only grammar that we ever learned as grammar was the Latin, and that
not until composition had made us familiar with the use of the rules
therein given. Auntie had a great horror of children learning by rote
things they did not understand, and then fancying they knew them. "What
do you mean by that expression, Annie?" she would ask me. After feeble
attempts to explain, I would answer: "Indeed, Auntie, I know in my own
head, but I can't explain". "Then, indeed, Annie, you do not know in your
own head, or you could explain, so that I might know in my own head." And
so a healthy habit was fostered of clearness of thought and of
expression. The Latin grammar was used because it was more perfect than
the modern grammars, and served as a solid foundation for modern
languages.

Miss Marryat took a beautiful place, Fern Hill, near Charmouth, in
Dorsetshire, on the borders of Devon, and there she lived for some five
years, a centre of beneficence in the district. She started a
Sunday-school, and a Bible-class after a while for the lads too old for
the school, who clamored for admission to her class in it. She visited
the poor, taking help wherever she went, and sending food from her own
table to the sick. It was characteristic of her that she would never give
"scraps" to the poor, but would have a basin brought in at dinner, and
would cut the best slice to tempt the invalid appetite. Money she rarely,
if ever, gave, but she would find a day's work, or busy herself to seek
permanent employment for anyone asking aid. Stern in rectitude herself,
and iron to the fawning or the dishonest, her influence, whether she was
feared or loved, was always for good. Of the strictest sect of the
Evangelicals, she was an Evangelical. On the Sunday no books were allowed
save the Bible or the "Sunday at Home"; but she would try to make the day
bright by various little devices; by a walk with her in the garden; by
the singing of hymns, always attractive to children; by telling us
wonderful missionary stories of Moffat and Livingstone, whose adventures
with savages and wild beasts were as exciting as any tale of Mayne
Reid's. We used to learn passages from the Bible and hymns for
repetition; a favorite amusement was a "Bible puzzle", such as a
description of some Bible scene, which was to