Page:Letters of Life.djvu/343

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LITERATURE.
331

of Springfield, Mass. Interesting reminiscences are entwined with them. At the close of each week, when the fair creatures whom it was my privilege to instruct were about to separate for the Sunday, I read, as a parting exercise, one of these brief abridgments to my attentive auditory. I seem still to see their bright eyes fixed upon me, some of which now turn lovingly to their own descendants, and some are darkened in the tomb. To my inquiry, "Will you sometimes think of this lovely character, until we meet again?" I hear the united answer, "We will." "And you will try to transplant the same virtues into your own young lives?" The response was, "We will." And so they have.


1833.

9. "Evening Readings in History."

A love of Ancient History, and the habit of teaching it, had frequently suggested the desire of rendering less diffuse portions of that of Assyria, Egypt, Tyre, Syria, and Palestine, and of so dividing and arranging these extensive themes as to bring them within the compass of brief readings, or lessons. This plan, however, was not attempted until my attention was turned to domestic instruction, when I felt the utter need of something adapted to the mind in its early stages of development. This work was written at the close of the first winter after my marriage, and proved a solace