not imitate him.

'Whenever you can write to me without encroaching too much on your
valuable time, remember I shall always be glad to hear from you.
Your last letter interested me fully as much as its two predecessors;
what you said about your family pleased me; I think details of
character always have a charm even when they relate to people we have
never seen, nor expect to see. With eight children you must have a
busy life; but, from the manner in which you allude to your two
eldest daughters, it is evident that they at least are a source of
satisfaction to their parents; I hope this will be the case with the
whole number, and then you will never feel as if you had too many. A
dozen children with sense and good conduct may be less burdensome
than one who lacks these qualities. It seems a long time since I
heard from you. I shall be glad to hear from you again.--Believe me,
yours sincerely,

'C. BELL.'

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

'HAWORTH, _June_ 15_th_, 1848.

'MY DEAR SIR,--Thank you for your two last letters. In reading the
first I quite realised your May holiday; I enjoyed it with you. I
saw the pretty south-of-England village, so different from our
northern congregations of smoke-dark houses clustered round their
soot-vomiting mills. I saw in your description, fertile, flowery
Essex--a contrast indeed to the rough and rude, the mute and sombre
yet well-beloved moors over-spreading this corner of Yorkshire. I
saw the white schoolhouse, the venerable school-master--I even
thought I saw you and your daughters; and in your second letter I see
you all distinctly, for, in describing your children, you
unconsciously describe yourself.

'I may well say that your letters are of value to me, for I seldom
receive one but I find something in it which makes me reflect, and
reflect on new themes. Your town life is somewhat different from any
I have known, and your allusions to its advantages, troubles,
pleasures, and struggles are often full of significance to me.

'I have always been accustomed to think that the necessity of earning
one's subsistence is not in itself an evil, but I feel it may become
a heavy evil if health fails, if employment lacks, if the demand upon
our efforts made by the weakness of ot