_Love!_"

What a blessing that little unconscious one was to all beneath that lowly
roof! Annie and Susie would sit beside its little cradle and watch it for
hours; and if permitted to hold the tiny creature for a few moments they
were never weary of caressing her. Daily and almost hourly they discovered
some new beauty or perfection in the dear object of their most tender
regard, and the day of her birth was made an era in the house; for almost
every thing that was spoken of was said to have taken place either so long
before or so long after the _Baby came_.

At length a school was opened about a mile distant, and the parents thought
best that the little girls should have the advantage of attending it
through the summer. At first they were quite reluctant to go; for they were
strangers still to the children around them, and the young lady who taught
them they had never seen until they met her among her pupils. After a few
days they became very fond of their school and their young playmates, and
the only drawback to their happiness was leaving the little darling Mary
for so many long hours every day. But it was soon evident that they learned
some _evil_ things as well as _good_ things. They grew less willing to
submit to the gentle control of their parents, and were quite inclined to
think the rules under whose influence they had been educated were
altogether _too strict_, fortifying their occasional remonstrances with
"Mary Jones says so," or "Fanny Adams thinks so." This gave their
affectionate parents much solicitude and pain.

One evening the little girls came home with a petition that they might "go
to school barefooted," and, as usual for the last few weeks, Susie said,
"All the girls go without shoes."