n afternoon, although I
think she usually is able, but her advantage is that she thoroughly
enjoys the flavor of every sentence; her reading stimulates and
encourages her and makes her happy.

She was one of the founders of the Book Club in the village, and as the
Public Library grew out of that, there was considerable work to be done
by some of the members, and of this she did much more than her share.

She is one of the most active members also of the Reading Club and the
Natural History Club, two organizations which combine culture and
society quite as effectually as the more ambitious circles in our
cities. Her house is always hospitably open to either of these clubs,
for she loves society and wishes to make the most of all the intelligent
people in the place who belong to one or the other of them. Her
sociability, however, carries her farther. She knows everybody in the
town well enough for a bow and smile in passing, and that is no small
achievement in a modern village where the population is so fluctuating.
I would suggest that we try for a moment to recall the difference it
makes in the cheerfulness of our day whether all the people we meet have
a pleasant word for us or not; and then, I think, we shall see that her
influence is by no means slight or worthless. Perhaps it is a little
candle, but it throws its beams far.

She likes to go to see her friends, and she faithfully returns the
semi-formal calls which cannot be avoided even in the most unfashionable
centres. She makes her own callers heartily welcome, and even invites a
friend or two to tea now and then. She is always hospitably ready to
entertain visitors from a distance, and consequently she often has the
pleasant variety of going away on a visit herself.

She likes to go to the public entertainments of the village. A sewing
society, a Sunday-school picnic, or a fair attracts her. These are
simple pleasures, but taken with such a spirit as hers, they are
innocent and wholesome, even if they seem barren to an outsider.

She always does her part at all such gatherings. She is ready to serve
on any committee. She will make delicious cake for a Grand Army supper,
or sell flowers in aid of the Village Improvement Society. One would
hardly expect her to have time for such duties, but one of the strong
points in her character is that she never has any inclination to shirk
a responsibility that belongs to her, and she is generous in her
interpretation of