Self.
- All Ruskin’s Works.
- “The Wide, Wide World.”
- “The Country of the Pointed Firs.” S. O. Jewett.
- All my Gardening Books and Florists’ Seed Catalogues.
- All my Wild Flower Books.
- “A Little Book of Western Verse.” Eugene Field.
- Poems by Ann and Jane Taylor.
- All my Cookery Books.
- All the Board of Agriculture’s Leaflets.
- A Book on Deer Culture.
Of course, we each gazed in profound surprise and contempt on the others’ lists, and asked why this and that had been put down. Why did Ursula want a guide to London, when the object of going to The Island was to get away from London?
She said she thought you ought to keep in touch with things even if you were away; and if it came to that, why did I want a Deer book, since I couldn’t look at venison?
I said I felt it in me that I should start keeping deer as soon as I landed, and there was more sense in doing that than in reading a Time Table, for instance!
Virginia protested a Time Table was absolutely essential, else how would you ever be able to get away when you wanted to? And you never knew when you might be summoned to anyone’s funeral in a hurry, and was she supposed to be cut off from all human enjoyment? Whereas no one could possibly want a Student’s Song Book, when they couldn’t sing two notes in tune; and, also, why Mrs. Hemans, might she venture to ask?
“Yes, who would dream of carting around a Mrs. Hemans in these days?” I scoffed.
“The frontispiece engraving of Mrs. Hemans always reminded me of mother’s Aunt Matilda,” said Ursula impressively. “I only saw her twice, but on the first occasion she gave me a doll, and on the second a blue and white bead necklace; I’ve got three of the beads left, in my workbox. And I’ve always loved beads, and I loved her in consequence, and I wouldn’t dream of being parted from Mrs. Hemans. And, in any case, why bring a Dictionary?”