paid; and she always did
what came to her in the work of duty or charity, and let pride, taste,
and comfort suffer for love's sake.

Anna and I taught; Lizzie was our little housekeeper--our angel in a
cellar kitchen; May went to school; father wrote and talked when he
could get classes or conversations. Our poor little home had much love
and happiness in it, and it was a shelter for lost girls, abused wives,
friendless children, and weak or wicked men. Father and mother had no
money to give, but gave them time, sympathy, help; and if blessings
would make them rich, they would be millionaires. This is practical
Christianity.

My first story was printed, and $5 paid for it. It was written in
Concord when I was sixteen. Great rubbish! Read it aloud to sisters,
and when they praised it, not knowing the author, I proudly announced
her name.

Made a resolution to read fewer novels, and those only of the best.
List of books I like:

Carlyle's French Revolution and Miscellanies.
Hero and Hero-Worship.
Goethe's poems, plays, and novels.
Plutarch's Lives.
Madame Guion.
Paradise Lost and Comus.
Schiller's Plays.
Madame de Stael.
Bettine.
Louis XIV.
Jane Eyre.
Hypatia.
Philothea.
Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Emerson's Poems. . . .

1853.--In January I started a little school--E. W., W. A., two L's, two
H's--about a dozen in our parlor. In May, when my school closed, I
went to L. as second girl. I needed the change, could do the wash, and
was glad to earn my $2 a week. Home in October with $34 for my wages.
After two days' rest, began school again with ten children. Anna went
to Syracuse to teach; father to the West to try his luck--so poor, so
hopeful, so serene. God be with him! Mother had several boarders, and
May got on well at school. Betty was still the home bird, and had a
little romance with C.

Pleasant letters from father and Anna. A hard year. Summer
distasteful and lonely; winter tiresome with school and people I didn't
like; I miss Anna, my one bosom friend and comforter.

1854.--_Pinckney Street_.--I have neglected my journal for months, so
must write it up. School for me month after month. Mother busy with
boarders and sewing. Father doing as well as a philosopher can in a
money-loving world. Anna at S.

I earned a good deal by sewing in the evening when my day's work was
done.

In February father came home. Paid his way, but no more. A dramatic
scene wh