value of this elegant attainment of reading, or the influence it might enable them to exert. Half the daily practice required to thrum passably upon the piano, would make them respectable proficients. Narrative and poetry, in their appropriate robe of tuneful utterance, throw a strong charm around the wintry fireside. Parents forget the toil of nurturing the daughter who thus repays them. Perchance the aged grandparents are there to listen with delight, and the deafened ear rejoices in that sweet benevolence which without effort links it to the world of sound. "I quicken my homeward steps," said a young husband at the close of day, "for my wife reads so beautifully that I forget all the toils of business." A man who had been in youth tempted by wild associates, admitted that he was withheld from many allurements to vice by the delightful evening readings of his sister. It is a form of giving pleasure to the invalid or the solitary which the benevolent heart should not disregard. The amiable Miss Hannah Adams, one of our earliest literary women, and the author of a History of the Jews, was thus solaced in her venerable age. Some of the most lovely and accomplished young ladies of Boston went by rotation to read to her such works as renovated and refreshed her mind. The service was appreciated, and spoken of with the warmth and simplicity that characterized her nature.
"They pay me such respect," said she, "that I quite
