iterary education shall occupy fewer hours, and that they shall have
time left for exercise in the open air to invigorate the body; while
other children are exhausted with nine hours a day at schools and
institutes, and are obliged to pay for this with the loss of their
health and the joyousness of youth.

MRS. S. It is very well known that your daughters are obliged to play
the whole day long.

DOMINIE. And not all night too? You probably might explain their skill
in that way. I am astonished that you have not heard that too, since
you have picked up so many shocking stories about me and my daughters.

MRS. S. (_dismisses the subject, and asks suddenly_). Now just how old
is your daughter Emma?

DOMINIE. She is just sixteen years and seven weeks old.

MRS. S. Does she speak French?

DOMINIE. Oui, elle parle Francais, and in musical tones, too,--a
language which is understood all over the world.

MRS. S. But she is so silent! Does she like to play?

DOMINIE. You have given her no opportunity to speak, she is certainly
not forth-putting. For the last two years she has taken great pleasure
in playing.

MRS. S. You acknowledge, then, that formerly you had to force her to it?

DOMINIE. In the earlier years of her natural development, as she was a
stranger to vanity and other unworthy motives, she certainly played, or
rather pursued her serious studies, chiefly from obedience and habit.
Does your daughter of thirteen years old always practise her exercises
without being required to do so? Does she like to go to school every
day? Does she always sew and knit without being reminded of it?

MRS. S. (_interrupting_). Oh, I see you are quite in love with your
daughters! But they say you are terribly strict and cruel in the musical
education of your children; and, in fact, always.

DOMINIE. Do you suppose I do this from affection? or do you infer it,
because they have proved artists, or because they look so blooming and
healthy, or because they write such fine letters, or because they have
not grown crooked over embroidery, or because they are so innocent,
unaffected, and modest? or--

MRS. S. (_irritably_). We will drop that subject. But I must give you
one piece of good advice. Do not make your daughter Emma exert herself
too much, as you have done with your eldest daughter.

DOMINIE. If that is so, Mrs. Spriggins, it seems to have agreed with her
very well.

MRS. S. (_vehemently_). But she would have been bett