gle day, I, a strong man, with
nothing else to occupy my mind, am reduced to physical and mental
worthlessness by the necessities of two boys not overmischievous or
bad. And you--Heaven only knows how--have unbroken weeks, months,
years, yes, lifetimes of just such experiences, and with them the
burden of household cares, of physical ills and depressions, of mental
anxieties that pierce your hearts with as many sorrows as grieved the
Holy Mother of old. Compared with thy endurance, that of the young man,
the athlete, is as weakness; the secret of thy nerves, wonderful even
in their weakness, is as great as that of the power of the winds. To
display decision, thy opportunities are more frequent than those of the
greatest statesman; thy heroism laughs into insignificance that of fort
and field; thou art trained in a school of diplomacy such as the most
experienced court cannot furnish. Do scoffers say thou canst not hold
the reins of government? Easier is it to rule a band of savages than to
be the successful autocrat of thy little kingdom. Compared with the
ways of men, even thy failures are full of glory. Be thy faults what
they may, thy one great, mysterious, unapproachable success places
thee, in desert, far above warrior, rabbi or priest.

The foregoing soliloquy passed through my mind as I lay upon the bed
where I had thrown myself after leaving the children's room. Whatever
else attempted to affect me mentally found my mind a blank until the
next morning, when I awoke to realize that I had dropped asleep just
where I fell, and that I had spent nearly twelve hours lying across a
bed in an uncomfortable position, and without removing my daily attire.
My next impression was that quite a bulky letter had been pushed under
my chamber-door. Could it be that my darling--I hastily seized the
envelope and found it addressed in my sister's writing, and promising a
more voluminous letter than that lady had ever before honored me with.
I opened it, dropping an enclosure which doubtless was a list of
necessities which I would please pack, etc., and read as follows:--

"JULY 1, 1875.

"MY DEAR OLD BROTHER:--WOULDN'T I like to give you the warmest of
sisterly hugs? I can't believe it, and yet I'm in ecstasies over it. To
think that you should have got that perfection of a girl, who has
declined so many great catches--YOU, my sober, business-like,
unromantic big brother--oh, it's too wonderful! But now I think of it,
you're j