"I don't know; I only think of themselves; except sometimes they make me think of Alice."
"You know, from any works we may form some judgment of the mind and character of their author?"
"From their writings, I know you can," said Ellen; "from what other works?"
"From any which are not mechanical; from any in which the mind, not the hand, has been the creating power. I saw you very much interested the other day in the Eddystone lighthouse; did it help you to form no opinion of Mr. Smeaton?"
"Why, yes, certainly," said Ellen; "I admired him exceedingly for his cleverness and perseverance; but what other works? I can't think of any."
"There is the lighthouse, that is one thing. What do you think of the ocean waves that now and then overwhelm it?"
Ellen half-shuddered. "I shouldn't like to go to sea, John!
But you were speaking of men's works and women's works?"
"Well, women's works; I cannot help forming some notion of a lady's mind and character from the way she dresses herself."
"Can you? do you?"
"I cannot help doing it. Many things appear in the style of a lady's dress that she never dreams of; the style of her thoughts, among others."