concerned, however, he seemed utterly indifferent to her having any
cultivation: having imbibed no modern ideas respecting feminine
capacities and privileges, but regarding woman, whether in the bud or
in the blossom, as the plaything of man's idler moments, and the
helpmeet--but in a humble capacity--of his daily life. He sometimes
bade her go to the kitchen and take lessons of crusty Hannah in bread-
making, sweeping, dusting, washing, the coarser needlework, and such
other things as she would require to know when she came to be a woman;
but carelessly allowed her to gather up the crumbs of such instruction
as he bestowed on her playmate Ned, and thus learn to read, write, and
cipher; which, to say the truth, was about as far in the way of
scholarship as little Elsie cared to go.

But towards little Ned the grim Doctor adopted a far different system.
No sooner had he reached the age when the soft and tender intellect of
the child became capable of retaining impressions, than he took him
vigorously in hand, assigning him such tasks as were fit for him, and
curiously investigating what were the force and character of the powers
with which the child grasped them. Not that the Doctor pressed him
forward unduly; indeed, there was no need of it; for the boy manifested
a remarkable docility for instruction, and a singular quickness in
mastering the preliminary steps which lead to science: a subtle
instinct, indeed, which it seemed wonderful a child should possess for
anything as artificial as systems of grammar and arithmetic. A
remarkable boy, in truth, he was, to have been found by chance in an
almshouse; except that, such being his origin, we are at liberty to
suppose for him whatever long cultivation and gentility we may think
necessary, in his parentage of either side,--such as was indicated also
by his graceful and refined beauty of person. He showed, indeed, even
before he began to read at all, an instinctive attraction towards