Page:Live and Let Live.djvu/185

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A HAPPY FAMILY.
185

for the most part, the result of the fidelity of one mistress of a family!

Before Lucy retired for the night, Mrs. Hyde took her aside to give her the necessary instructions. "Are you an early riser, my child?" she asked.

"I have not been of late, ma'am—I used to be; but I find what mother said is true—it takes a great while to form good habits, and a very little while to fall into bad ones."

"You will find, too, that it is not difficult to recover good habits once formed. In the mean time my daughter Susan will call you."

"Your daughter, ma'am!—do your young ladies rise as early as the servants?"

"Yes—often earlier. Time, you know, Lucy, is most precious to those who make the best use of it. I do not like to see one minute wasted, and least of all by my children."

"I always thought, ma'am, that young ladies must have more sleep than servants."

"No," replied Mrs. Hyde, smiling; "I believe that young persons who live in one part of the house require just as much sleep as young persons who live in another part of it. In those families where there are idle members and working members, the workers, of course, require most."

"Ma'am!" said Lucy, in a sort of maze. We believe that Lucy's surprise was owing to her very limited experience; but certainly, in the three wealthy families in which she had lived, she had never seen a practical acknowledgement that all the members were governed by the same physical laws. "I mean, Lucy," resumed Mrs. Hyde,