"DEAR MADAM, --

"The little girls are all well; Beth and my boy report daily:
Hannah is a model servant, and guards pretty Meg like a
dragon. Glad the fine weather holds; pray make Brooke useful,
and draw on me for funds if expenses exceed your estimate.
Don't let your husband want anything. Thank God he is mend-
ing.

"Your sincere friend and servant,

" JAMES LAURENCE."

FOR a week the amount of virtue in the old house would have
supplied the neighborhood. It was really amazing, for every
one seemed in a heavenly frame of mind, and self-denial was
all the fashion. Relieved of their first anxiety about their
father, the girls insensibly relaxed their praiseworthy efforts
a little, and began to fall back into the old ways. They did not
forget their motto, but hoping and keeping busy seemed to
grow easier; and after such tremendous exertions, they felt
that Endeavor deserved a holiday, and gave it a good many.

Jo caught a bad cold through neglect to cover the shorn head
enough, and was ordered to stay at home till she was better,
for Aunt March didn't like to hear people read with colds in
their heads. Jo liked this, and after an energetic rummage from
garret to cellar, subsided on the sofa to nurse her cold with
arsenicum and books. Amy found that housework and art did
not go well together, and returned to her mud pies. Meg went
daily to her pupils, and sewed, or thought she did, at home.
but much time was spent in writing long letters to her mother,
or reading the Washington despatches over and over. Beth
kept on, with only slight relapses into idleness or grieving.

All the little duties were faithfully done each day, and many

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