EARLY STUDIES


My father was taught to believe that my brain was too large for my body and
so kept me much out of school, but I gained book-knowledge with far less
labor than is usually requisite. At ten years of age I was as familiar with
Lindley Murray's Grammar as with the Westminster Catechism; and the latter
I had to repeat every Sunday. My favorite studies were natural philosophy,
logic, and moral science. From my brother Albert I received lessons in the
ancient tongues, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. My brother studied Hebrew during
his college vacations. After my discovery of Christian Science, most of the
knowledge I had gleaned from schoolbooks vanished like a dream.

Learning was so illumined, that grammar was eclipsed. Etymology was divine
history, voicing the idea of God in man's origin and signification. Syntax
was spiritual order and unity. Prosody, the song of angels, and no earthly
or inglorious theme.




GIRLHOOD COMPOSITION


From childhood I was a verse-maker. Poetry suited my emotions better than
prose. The following is one of my girlhood productions.

ALPHABET AND BAYONET