MARIA AND THE CARAVAN.

Maria Wilton lives in the pretty white house which stands just at the
entrance of the wood, where the children find the blackberries so thick
in the berrying season. It is not as large or elegant a house as many
that we pass on a walk through the village; but yet, with its
neatly-painted front and blooming little garden, its appearance is quite
as inviting as that of many a more splendid mansion. Certain it is, at
least, that there is not a more pleasant or happy dwelling in the town.
Neatness and good order regulate all the arrangements of the family, and
where such is the case, it is almost needless to add that peace and
harmony characterize the intercourse of the inmates. It is seldom that
confusion or uproar, or disputes or contentions, are known among the
Wiltons.

But it was of Maria that I was intending to speak more
particularly,--her kind, and yielding, and conciliating manners towards
her brothers and sisters. Maria was not the oldest of the children; she
was not quite nine, and her sister Harriet was as much as eleven, and
her brother George still older. And yet her influence did more to
maintain peace and good feeling in the family group, than would have
been believed by a person who had not observed her. In every case where
only her own wishes or inclinations were concerned, Maria was ready to
give up to George or Harriet; because, as she said, they were older than
herself; and again, she was quite as ready to yield to little Susan and
Willy, because they were younger. Her brothers and sisters, in their
turn, were far less apt to contend for any privilege or advantage, than
they would have been, if she had shown herself more tenacious of her own
rights.