attempt to call him so. Harry is the thorough boy of the family, all
spirit, recklessness, and mischief, but so true, and kind, and noble-
hearted, that one loves him the better after every freely confessed
scrape. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to my boy for his
perfect confidence, the thing that chiefly lessens my anxiety for him
in his half-school, half-home life, which does not seem to me to work
quite well with him. There are two sons of Mrs. Anderson's at the
school, who are more his friends than I like, and he is too easily
led by the desire not to be outdone, and to show that he fears
nothing. Lately, our sailor-guest has inspired him with a vehement
wish to go to sea; I wish it was not necessary that the decision
should be made so early in life, for this fault is just what would
make us most fear to send him into the world very young, though in
some ways it might not do amiss for him.

"So much for the younger bairns, whom you never beheld, dear Flora.
The three whom you left, when people used to waste pity on me for
their being all babies together, now look as if any pair of them were
twins, for Norman is the tallest, almost outgrowing his strength, and
Ethel's sharp face, so like her papa's, makes her look older than
Flora. Norman and Ethel do indeed take after their papa, more than
any of the others, and are much alike. There is the same brilliant
cleverness, the same strong feeling, not easy of demonstration,
though impetuous in action; but poor Ethel's old foibles, her harum-
scarum nature, quick temper, uncouth manners, and heedlessness of all
but one absorbing object, have kept her back, and caused her much
discomfort; yet I sometimes think these manifest defects have
occasioned a discipline that is the best thing for the character in
the end. They are faults that show themselves, and which one can
tell how to deal with, and I have full confidence that she has the