exertion could be too great for those who so thought of, so cared for them? [Footnote 1: While passing through the press, the scene of the Family Tree has been strongly objected to by a valued Christian Friend, as being enacted on the Sunday evening. It was too late then to repair the error. The author can only express her sincere regret for a fault originating in an insufficient knowledge of the Christian feeling toward the Sabbath, and most earnestly trusts the error may be pardoned.] Returning happiness had had such a beneficial effect, that, though Ellen still looked pale enough for her aunt not to feel quite comfortable about her, she could walk without any return of pain, and in one or two hymns even join her voice with her cousins', though it was weaker than usual. However small in appearance the talent for music, still Mrs. Hamilton cultivated it, in her boys as well as her girls, simply for the sake of giving them home resources and amusements that could be pursued together; she thought it such a mistaken notion in education to imagine that only perfection was worth attaining in the fine arts, and that, if there were not talent enough for that, it was better not attempted. Many a home might have envied the feelings with which old and young, to the lowest domestics, sought their pillows that night; for Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton, so lavish in their indulgence to their children, never forgot that for their domestics and retainers there were also claims on New Year's Eve; and the servants' hall, and every cottage which called Mr. Hamilton landlord, had vied in happiness with his own.