y edifying to be
with him. He is very communicative, too, and seems to enjoy company, no
matter if he does say "her'n" and "his'n." Wonder why he doesn't say
"_shisen_" too? The girls are highly amused at the description I give
of my new acquaintance, but still more so at Mrs. Badger's account of
the friendship of this poor young cripple, and his enjoyment of my
visits. Of course it is only her own version, as she is very fond of
jokes of all kinds.

Night before last Lydia got playing the piano for me in the darkened
parlor, and the old tunes from her dear little fingers sent me off in a
sea of dreams. She too caught the vision, and launched off in a
well-remembered quadrille. The same scene flashed on us, and at each
note, almost, we would recall a little circumstance, charming to us,
but unintelligible to Anna, who occupied the other side. Together we
talked over the _dramatis personae_. Mrs. Morgan, Jr., in dark blue silk
with black flounces, a crimson chenille net on her black hair, sits at
the piano in her own parlor. On the Brussels carpet stands, among
others, Her Majesty, Queen Miriam, in a lilac silk, with bare neck and
arms save for the protection afforded by a bertha of _applique_ lace
trimmed with pink ribbon, with hair _a la_ madonna, and fastened low on
her neck. Is she not handsome as she stands fronting the folding doors,
her hand in tall Mr. Trezevant's, just as she commences to dance, with
the tip of her black bottine just showing? Vis-a-vis stands pretty
Sophie, with her large, graceful mouth smiling and showing her pretty
teeth to the best advantage. A low neck and short-sleeved green and
white poplin is her dress, while her black hair, combed off from her
forehead carelessly, is caught by a comb at the back and falls in curls
on her shoulders. A prettier picture could not be wished for, as she
looks around with sparkling eyes, eager for the dance to begin. There
stands calm Dena in snuff-colored silk, looking so immeasurably the
superior of her partner, who, I fancy, rather feels that she is the
better man of the two, from his nervous way of shifting from one foot
to the other, without saying a word to her. Nettie, in lilac and white,
stands by the mantel laughing undisguisedly at her partner, rather than
with him, yet so good-humoredly that he cannot take offense, but rather
laughs with her. Lackadaisical Gertrude, whose face is so perfect in
the daytime, looks pale and insipid by gaslight, and ti