THE children, four girls and three boys, ranging from
the beginning to the end of childhood, thronged
the house. As one child went out at a door another
came in; as one went out of a year another entered it. With
all these childhoods about her, my mother found that rare
thread of childhood that can be written about. The en-
chanting children all the world over who have been turned
into silliness, boredom and sentimentality in admiring an-
ecdote have something repaid to them when childhood
comes under shrewd but exquisite observation.

The children had one nurse, Slark, for a great number
of years. She loved the boys devotedly; her attitude to the
girls was expressed by an adjective which she always used
for them and which contained in its single syllable the dis-
creet abuse of whole sentences. The adjective was "great,"
and at first hearing it has to be searched for its abuse per.
haps; but "you great girls" said in a tone that implied an
endearing helplessness in the boys was a sufficient key to
her life-long partiality. She intermittently exchanged the
rôles of nurse and cook; when French nurses were en-
gaged she went to the kitchen.

My mother kept a watchful eye on the children under

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