She taught us everything herself except music, and for this she had a master, practising us in composition, in recitation, in reading aloud English and French, and later, German, devoting herself to training us in the soundest, most thorough fashion.

No words of mine can tell how much I owe her, not only of knowledge, but of that love of knowledge which has remained with me ever since as a constant spur to study.
Her method of teaching may be of interest to some, who desire to train children with least pain, and the most enjoyment to the little ones themselves.

First, we never used a spelling-book--that torment of the small child--nor an English grammar.

But we wrote letters, telling of the things we had seen in our walks, or told again some story we had read; these childish compositions she would read over with us, correcting all faults of spelling, of grammar, of style, of cadence; a clumsy sentence would be read aloud, that we might hear how unmusical it sounded, an error in observation or expression pointed out.

Then, as the letters recorded what we had seen the day before, the faculty of observation was drawn out and trained.