y character, but such as it was, she was content with
it. "The method has answered in my case," she complacently maintained,
without the slightest suspicion that the assertion proved nothing but
extreme self-satisfaction. Accordingly, as she could not afford to
send her daughters to school as well as the boys, she decided to
educate them herself. Everybody who could read, write, and cipher was
supposed to be able to teach in those days, and Mrs. Caldwell
undertook the task without a doubt of her own capacity. But Aunt
Victoria was not so sanguine.

"I hope religious instruction will be a part of their education," she
said, when the subject was first discussed.

"They shall read the Bible from beginning to end," Mrs. Caldwell
answered shortly.

"That, I should think, would be hardly desirable," Aunt Victoria
deprecated gently.

"And I shall teach them their Catechism, and take them to church,"
Mrs. Caldwell proceeded. "That is the way in which _I_ was taught."

"_We_ were instructed in doctrine, and taught to order our conduct on
certain fixed principles, which were explained to us," Aunt Victoria
ventured.

"Indeed, yes, I dare say," Mrs. Caldwell observed politely; so there
the subject had to drop.

But Aunt Victoria was far from satisfied. She shook her head sadly
over her niece's spiritual state, and determined to save the souls of
her great-nieces by instructing them herself as occasion should offer.

"What is education, mamma?" Beth asked.

"Why, learning things, of course," Mrs. Caldwell replied, with a smile
at the child's simplicity.

"I know that," Beth snapped, irritated by her mother's manner.

"Then why did you ask?" Mrs. Caldwell wished to know.

"The child has probably heard that that is not all," said Aunt
Victoria. "'Learning things' is but one item of education--if you mean
by that the mere acquisition of knowledge. A well-ordered day, for
instance, is an essential part of education. Education is a question
of discipline, of regular hours for everything, from the getting up in
the morning to the going to bed at night. No mind can be properly
developed without routine. Teach a child how to order its time, and
its talents will do the rest."

"Get out your books, children," said Mrs. Caldwell, and Aunt Victoria
hurriedly withdrew.

Beth put a large Bible, Colenso's arithmetic, a French grammar, and
Pinnock (an old-fashioned compilation of questions and answers), on
the table, and looked