“As he grew older, he developed a taste for argument, that would have done him good service had he been able to follow out his darling project of becoming a lawyer; indeed, as it was, he was always called upon, unprofessionally, to settle the neighbors’ disputes, and was renowned for making all the love-matches of the neighborhood.  In his reading he had rather a peculiar taste; he delighted in theological and controversial books, and I never knew any one who was more thoroughly acquainted with the Bible.  He could not only give the precise chapter and verse from which any text was taken, but was able to detect the slightest verbal error in the quotation.

“He had a passion for preaching, and although unordained, was always ready to deliver a sermon whenever he could find a vacant church and an audience.

“Every one in America has heard of your papa’s benevolent disposition, and the amount he used to spend in private charities.  Your Uncle Barnes was, if possible, more generous.  I have known him to part with his last dollar to relieve another from want or embarrassment, and this was not done through weakness or inability to refuse, but from a genuine impulse of sympathy with those in need.

“I am very proud to say of my only surviving brother, that although he has never had the advantage of a good education, he has lived to the age of sixty without indulging in tobacco, wine, or profane language, and has brought up his boys in the same temperate habits.”

“How many children has Uncle Barnes, Aunt Esther?” inquired Ida.  “I have, I think, seen only three.”

“There are ten living,” replied mamma.  “Brother Barnes, you know, has been twice married.  His first wife was a woman of fine character, but became, soon after her marriage, a confirmed invalid, and brother Barnes’ constant attention and care of her during her years of illness was almost unparalleled for devotion.

“Victoria is the oldest of the children:  she was a very bright, clever little girl, and a great pet with mother, as she was the first grandchild born at home.  Sister Arminda’s children, living at some distance, were not so available for instruction, and in that occupation consisted mother’s happiness.  She taught Victoria to read when she was two years and a half old, and I remember seeing her stand, a few years later, at mother’s knee, reading one of Hans Christian Andersen’s stories, with the tears streaming down her cheeks at the pathos—­a proof of appreciation that delighted mother’s heart.

“Victoria is married, and lives in Kansas.  She is a fine, intelligent woman, and since the loss of her little girl, last winter, has shown a strong disposition to write.  She has the ability to do so, and if her health and her home duties permit, I am sure she will make a clever writer.

“Horace, whom you have seen, is next Victoria in age; he is also married, and lives in New Jersey.