preached about his not being allowed to go into the promised land. It
seems as if I was acquainted with him. It must have been a powerful
disappointment to him, after he had trudged along so many
years--turned back, too, when he'd got a good piece on his way; then
it was so aggravating, to get up there and look over into the nice
green meadows, and know that if he hadn't let out his temper so, he
might have gone in with the rest of them. I declare, I got so
exercised thinking it over when I was a working my butter, that I
forgot to salt it."

"I think I should like to study Shakespeare," said Mrs. Berkeley.
"Where does one find such knowledge of human nature as there? Where
else are such rare gems to be had by digging?"

"In my book," said Mrs. Lewis, "the Psalmist says, 'It is more to be
desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold;' and another says, 'It
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.' Is not that
a knowledge of human nature that excels even Shakespeare?"

"It strikes me a variety would suit all," said another. "George
Eliot's writings are full of power, and deep enough for me, I assure
you. We might read some of her books, then some of Dickens and
Thackeray, then occasionally a book of poems; Longfellow and
Whittier, or, if we want to study harder, there is Mrs. Browning,
Tennyson, and Shakespeare. It would be excellent discipline to try
and get at the exact meaning of the authors, and puzzle out all the
obscurities, it would not be long before we should feel quite rich in
a literary way. In reading such works together, and talking them
over, of course we make them ours as we can in no other way."