less remarkable for what
it was in itself than for its perfect and beautiful harmony with all the
coloring and shading around it.

Other women have had talents, others have been good; but no woman that
ever I knew possessed goodness and talent in union with such an
intuitive perception of feelings, and such a faculty of instantaneous
adaptation to them. The most troublesome thing in this world is to be
condemned to the society of a person who can never understand any thing
you say unless you say the whole of it, making your commas and periods
as you go along; and the most desirable thing in the world is to live
with a person who saves you all the trouble of talking, by knowing just
what you mean before you begin to speak.

Something of this kind of talent I began to feel, to my great relief,
when Aunt Mary came into the family. I remember the very first evening,
as she sat by the hearth, surrounded by all the family, her eye glanced
on me with an expression that let me know she _saw_ me; and when the
clock struck eight, and my mother proclaimed that it was my bedtime, my
countenance fell as I moved sorrowfully from the back of her rocking
chair, and thought how many beautiful stories Aunt Mary would tell after
I was gone to bed. She turned towards me with such a look of real
understanding, such an evident insight into the case, that I went into
banishment with a lighter heart than ever I did before. How very
contrary is the obstinate estimate of the heart to the rational estimate
of worldly wisdom! Are there not some who can remember when one word,
one look, or even the withholding of a word, has drawn their heart more
to a person than all the substantial favors in the world? By ordinary
acceptation, substantial kindness respects the necessaries of animal
existence; while those wants which are peculiar to mind, and will exist
with it forever, by equally correct classification, are designated as
sentimental ones, the supply of which, though it will excite more
gratitude in fact, ought not to in theory. Before Aunt Mary had lived
with us a month, I loved her beyond any body in the world; and a
utilitarian would have been amused in ciphering out the amount of favors
which produced this result. It was a look--a word--a smile: it was that
she seemed pleased with my new kite; that she rejoiced with me when I
learned to spin a top; that she alone seemed to estimate my proficiency
in playing ball and marbles; that she never l