“I think I was very happy then, too, though they declared I was unnaturally quiet and moping. In the summer time I gathered flowers, and papa told me marvellous stories of their meaning and form, until the frailest anemone seemed to me like some wonderful, beautiful friend, and I could find the modest, smiling faces of the very earliest violets, and purple and pink-tinged hepaticas under the green, graceful lady ferns, or among the moss that covered the rocks in the glen.
“There was a certain mysterious, dear, delightful garret, too, with its store of enchantment for rainy days, in the shape of old chests filled with various wonders,—such as worn, but most charming books and magazines, and curious old pictures, while others held dresses, antiquated cloaks, bonnets, and shoes, and many a beautiful thing gone out of fashion long ago.
“Many an hour I sat there, oblivious of dinner, absorbed in some entrancing book, or speculating about the wearers of these cast off garments, until the shadows of evening warned me that papa must be waiting for me down stairs.
“But I had certain warm, living friends there, about which I must not forget to tell you. At the head of the stairs, behind the chimney, there was a hollow log, in which some little, brown birds made a nest every year. There was a little round hole in the side of the house, which served them for a door, and they came flitting in and out there many times in the day. I used to be in a state of great excitement from the time of their spring house-cleaning till the first egg was laid, and was a shy, silent, but frequent visitor while the lady-mother was sitting.
“I think she must have learned to know me very well, for after a while she scarcely stirred when I approached, and used to turn her cunning, black eyes upon me, with her little head on one side by way of welcome. I should have clapped my hands the first time this happened, had I not been afraid of startling her, as she had such quiet ways; but nothing could restrain the expression of my perfect delight when the wee, helpless, open-mouthed birdies appeared. Then I shouted till papa came in amazement to see what was the matter, and even sober Allie and James hastened out of the kitchen to see what it all meant.
“But the first time I put my hand, all trembling with eagerness, into the warm nest, and took out a soft, round, brown creature, scarcely daring to kiss the pretty head, and putting it back in all haste, lest it should be hurt, such a thrill of love and ecstasy passed over me that it was almost painful to bear.
“So these tiny, twittering elves grew so near and dear to me, that when the time came for them to fly away, I used to feel sadly lonely and forlorn for many days. And when spring came, I mounted the garret stairs daily, in expectation of their return.
“Then there was my music. Papa brought the piano out of the gloomy parlor and put it into his own pleasant study, and there he taught me to play. So it was an ever new pleasure to sit before it hour after hour, playing whatever suited my fancy.
“We had an Æolian harp, too, in my own little window; and I used to gather roses, white and crimson, by putting my hand out through that window.
“Papa taught me to keep my room in perfect order. He was very particular, and could not tolerate dust or confusion. I soon became so very precise that Allie used to shake her head and declare I was born for an old maid. When I came to be with other children, I found that this being so set, as she called it, in my own ways, was rather inconvenient, and it was a hard lesson to learn that I must give up my cherished plans, for others’ pleasure, till I saw how selfish it was to persist in my own ways—orderly, systematic, and right as they were, in one sense—without any regard to the wishes or inclinations of any one around me. It has taken me many long years to unlearn some things which my isolated child life taught me, and the lesson has been a very hard one.”