“Miss Buss was in her little room. In her kindest way she held out her hand to me and said— “‘Dear child, I want to talk to you; did you write that?’ producing the book. “‘Oh yes,’ I laughed, ‘just to tease Louie!’ “I shall never forget the way in which she drew me to her, put my head on her shoulder, and then talked to me. She pointed out that the offence in itself was not a serious one, but that the jesting with a subject so serious as Love was one that no girl should indulge in; and then followed the most beautiful little picture of what true earthly love might be, that makes me glow to think of now, and she urged me never to trifle with the subject in any form, reserving all my ‘best’ for the one who was to give me ‘what is God’s best gift on earth, dear, the love of a good man, such as the love your father and mother have, and such as I hope He may give you.’ How glad I am to think she _knew_ I have received that gift!” It must indeed have been a joy to this happy young wife to be able often to brighten the later days of the solitary worker, whom she mourns now with tender and grateful remembrance in words that find far echoes— “You know my deep affection, I may truly say veneration, for the dear one, and I feel as if one of my very nearest had gone. I look on it as one of the greatest privileges of my life to have lived in such close contact with her for so many years. Dear, dear Miss Buss, what an inspiration she has been, and what a responsibility rests with us to carry out what she has always taught us as the ideal of life! Her influence in the world is untold; and I am sure many are the lives she has influenced in critical times when the thought of what _she_ would do, or would wish, has turned the scale in the right direction.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: THE GYMNASIUM, NORTH LONDON COLLEGIATE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS. ] CHAPTER VIII. EARLY EDUCATIONAL IDEALS.