“But I shall only have smatterings of things at this rate!”

“Smatterings are very good things in their way, so long as you are not misled into thinking them more than they are!  They are the keys which will enable you, in the future, to follow up the subject for which you may have any special opportunities.  They also prevent your being quite a dumb note anywhere,—­it is something to be able to listen intelligently!  Besides, if your mind is open on all sides, you will never find any one dull, for you are almost certain to be able to gain information on some one of the subjects you are interested in.”

“I don’t see how I can get all these things in, Aunt Rachel, for I shan’t have much time.”

“I think you might manage two hours a day, and I should divide the week thus:  Monday and Friday I should give to Italy or any subject which you meant to take as the staple of your reading; Tuesday take a science, and Wednesday English literature; Thursday take a stiff book and half an hour of French; Saturday take ancient history or mythology and half an hour of German.  I should write an essay every week at odd moments, if I were you, for you ought to think things out for yourself as well as filling your mind with other people’s thoughts by reading, but you could work out your essay in your head while walking or waiting for any one.  I should also advise you to make a list of every book you read after leaving school; you will find it very interesting in after years, especially if you put a short criticism on each."[2]

“But surely I had better do more than one subject in a day?  I should get tired of reading one book for two hours.”

“You might vary your treatment of the subject.  For instance, take notes of the History of Italy for one hour, and look out descriptions of pictures for another.  In literature you could read about your author for one hour, and read his works for the next.  In your science, give half the time to book-work, and the rest to practical work.”

“But would it not be a more thorough change to go to a new subject?”

“So it would, but you may not be able to fit in two hours’ reading with your duty to your neighbour!  On any day that you could honestly be only a half-timer, you are far less likely to get careless, and to despair of regularity, if you get a bit of your day’s subject, than if you have to leave one of your subjects entirely undone.”

Even Aunt Rachel’s good advice came to an end at last, as in course of time did Urith’s visit, and also the Midsummer term, after which she left school with the best possible intentions, and announced them at home with much dignity.  But, far from being allowed to carry on her course of study, it became a study with her two small brothers to prevent such morbid fancies from taking effect.  They won golden opinions from the servants those holidays, who said that the young gentlemen had never been so little trouble before.  They suddenly became as