you have gained a thorough knowledge of the writer, his environment, and his friends, and have seen the reason for the existence of his works. You should read Austin Dobson, and Sir Edwin Arnold, choosing especially his shorter poems, and Thomas Bailey Aldrich. You will probably have a marked copy of Owen Meredith's "Lucile," and I hope, my dear girl, one also of that greatest poem ever written by a woman, "Aurora Leigh." You will learn to love Tom Hood. Whittier will appeal to your quiet hours, and so will Adelaide Procter. There is a writer of to-day who is a never-ceasing pleasure to me, and I think he will be to you. Through long nights of sleeplessness I have had his poems and his stories read to me, and one night when nothing would quiet pain, it was forgotten for a few minutes as I listened to the description of "The Hush-a-by Lady from Lullaby Street." That this writer is an American and of to-day makes me glad, and I am sure it will you. Of course, you know I mean Eugene Field. His "Little Book of Profitable Tales" and its companion, the "Little Book of Western Verse," will bring happiness and pleasure even where there is despair and pain.
