had seldom or never before seen in any of their age. . . . A
circumstance now occurs to my mind which I may as well mention. When
my children were very young, when, as far as I can remember, the oldest
was about ten years of age, and the youngest about four, thinking they
knew more than I had yet discovered, in order to make them speak with
less timidity, I deemed that if they were put under a sort of cover I
might gain my end; and happening to have a mask in the house, I told
them all to stand and speak boldly from under cover of the mask.

"I began with the youngest (Anne, afterward Acton Bell), and asked what
a child like her most wanted; she answered, 'Age and experience.' I
asked the next (Emily, afterward Ellis Bell) what I had best do with
her brother Branwell, who was sometimes a naughty boy; she answered,
'Reason with him, and when he won't listen to reason, whip him.' I
asked Branwell what was the best way of knowing the difference between
the intellects of men and women; he answered, 'By considering the
difference between them as to their bodies.' I then asked Charlotte
what was the best book in the world; she answered, 'The Bible.' And
what was the next best; she answered, 'The Book of Nature.' I then
asked the next what was the best mode of education for a woman; she
answered, 'That which would make her rule her house well.' Lastly I
asked the oldest what was the best mode of spending time; she answered,
'By laying it out in preparation for a happy eternity.'

"I may not have given precisely their words, but I have nearly done so,
as they made a deep and lasting impression on my memory. The
substance, however, was exactly what I have stated."

The strange and quaint simplicity of the mode taken by the father to
ascertain the hidden characters of his children, and the tone and
character of these questions and answers, show the curious education
which was made by the circumstances surrounding the Brontes. They knew
no other children. They knew no other modes of thought than what were
suggested to them by the fragments of clerical conversation which they
overheard in the parlour, or the subjects of village and local interest
which they heard discussed in the kitchen. Each had their own strong
characteristic flavour.

They took a vivid interest in the public characters, and the local and
foreign politics discussed in the newspapers. Long before Maria Bronte
died, at the age of eleven, her fathe