Another time we took the French writers of Louis XIV. and we all feel that
Molière and La Fontaine and Mme. de Sevigné are our personal friends, so
that the value of their books is doubled to us!

We took mythology at one time, and many girls found that they understood,
much better, allusions in books and various pictures in the Academy, which
are often about mythological subjects. Ignorance on this point may
sometimes be very awkward. I have heard of an American lady who invited
her artistic friends to come and see a picture she had lately bought of
"Jupiter and Ten." The friends puzzled over her notes of invitation, and,
on arriving at her house, were still more puzzled to know how to pass off
the mistake gracefully, when they found that the picture was one of
"Jupiter and Io." I trust you will not cause your friends embarrassment of
this kind!

Another time we took the history of Queen Victoria, as our way of
celebrating the Jubilee patriotically. We began by all collecting as much
patriotic poetry as we could, which was surprisingly little--I wonder if
you would find more--and, all through, we made a special point of finding
poems written about any of the events. We found _Punch_ a valuable
assistance, and we much enjoyed the cartoons and jokes which had been so
mysterious to us before. Just that part of history which is not in
"Bright," and which, yet, is before our time, is so very hard to find out
about, and many allusions in the newspapers and parliamentary speeches are
consequently wasted on us.

Now, all this was miscellaneous, yet I had one object running through it
all, and the girls helped me to carry it out by listening in the right
spirit, knowing that I was only pointing out the various doors through