apparently neither vicious nor cunning, but who, on the contrary, has
lived four years under the same roof with Mrs. S. Cora Grubb without
rebellion or violence or treachery! Why, dear girls, such a task, if
it did not appeal to one on the moral, certainly would on the
intellectual, side. Marm Lisa will teach us more in a year, you may
be sure, than we shall teach her. Let us keep a record of our
experiments; drop all materials that seem neither to give her
sensations nor wake her discriminative power, and choose others that
speak to her more clearly. Let us watch her closely, both to
penetrate the secret of her condition and to protect the other
children. What a joy, what a triumph to say to her some dear day, a
few years hence, "You poor, motherless bairn, we have swept away the
cobwebs of your dreams, given you back your will, put a clue to
things in your hand: now go on and learn to live and be mistress of
your own life under God!"'

It was at such a moment, when Mary's voice trembled, and her eyes
shone through a mist of tears like two victorious stars, that a hush
fell upon the little group, and the spirit of the eternal child
descended like a dove, its pure wings stirring the silence of each
woman's heart. At such a moment, their daily work, with its round of
harsh, unlovely, beautiful, discouraging, hopeful, helpful, heavenly
duties, was transfigured, and so were they. The servant was
transformed by the service, and the service by the servant. They
were alone together, each heart knit to all the others by the close
bond of a common vocation; and though a heretofore unknown
experience, it seemed a natural one when Mistress Mary suddenly bent
her head, and said softly:

'Father in heaven, it is by the vision of Thy relation to us that we