t hear she is getting along rapidly. If I could go to
school two years more, I should be glad, but of course that is out of
the question.... It is easier for you to write often than it is for me.
You have not three tearing, growing brothers to mend and make for. I am
become quite expert in the arts of patching and darning. I am going to
get some pies and cake and raisins and other goodies to send to our
girl's sick brother. If I had not so dear and happy a home, I should
envy you yours. You say you do not remember whether I love music or not.
I love it extravagantly _sometimes_--but have not the knowledge to enjoy
scientific performances. The simple melody of a single voice is my
delight. Mrs. French, the Episcopal minister's wife, who is a great
friend of ours and lives next door (so near that she and sister talk
together out of their windows), has a baby two days old with black curly
hair and black eyes, and I shall have a nice time with it this winter.
Do you love babies?

The question with which this letter closes, suggests one of Lizzy's most
striking and loveliest traits. She had a perfect passion for babies, and
reveled in tending, kissing, and playing with them. Here are some pretty
lines in one of her girlish contributions to "The Youth's Companion,"
which express her feeling about them:

What are little babies for?
Say! say! say!
Are they good-for-nothing things?
Nay! nay! nay!

Can they speak a single word?
Say! say! say!
Can they help their mothers sew?
Nay! nay! nay!

Can they walk upon their feet?
Say! say! say!
Can they even hold themselves?
Nay! nay! nay!

What are little babies for?
Say! say! say!
Are they made for us to love?
_Yea_! YEA!! YEA!!!

In the fall of 1838 Mrs. Payson purchased a house in Cumberland street,
which continued to be her residence until the family was broken up. You
remember the charming little room Lizzy had fitted up over the hall in
this house, how nicely she kept it, and how happy she was in it. One of
the windows looked out on a little flower garden and at the close of the
long summer days the sunset could be enjoyed from the west window. She
had had some fine books given her, which, added to the previous store,
made a somewhat rare collection for a young girl in those days.

About this time, having been relieved of her part of domestic service by
the coming into the family of a young relative--whose devotion to h