“No, dear Leila; I think you are too young to have a school at present; but don’t look so disappointed, my love; let us talk this matter over quietly. Miss Palmer is a great many years older than you are, she is a grown-up young lady, and it is quite right that she should in every way imitate her excellent mother’s example, and endeavour to make up as much as lies in her power for the loss they have sustained in Mrs. Palmer’s death: but you, my love, are still a child, and requiring too much instruction yourself to be able to instruct others; yet you, dear Leila, also have your responsibilities.” “I am so glad of that papa,”--and her countenance brightened again. “Yes,” Mr. Howard continued, “you are responsible for the talents God has entrusted to you, for the employment of your time, for the cultivation of the abilities He has given you; for the use you make of the religious instruction you receive in correcting your faults; you are by nature ardent and impetuous, you must struggle for the mastery over yourself; for more self-denial, in rejecting the sudden impulses by which you are governed; you must try to check that excessive sensibility which, if indulged in, must unfit you for the necessary exertion for the welfare of others which is so high a duty, and without which you would soon become a useless, selfish being--turning away from the misery of others, from the fear of what you yourself must feel in witnessing it.” “But, papa, if I am not to teach a school or visit the poor, and only to cultivate abilities, is not that turning away from others, is not that being selfish?” “But, my dear Leila, it is by no means my wish that you should turn away from others; though you are as yet too young to teach a school yourself, you are not too young to accompany your Aunt Stanley when she goes to visit the school, in which she takes so much interest. Selina often accompanies her; I shall ask her to allow you to do so also; and in this way you will become acquainted with the duties you will, I trust, one day fulfil yourself. You will, also, accompany me in visiting the poor; you have now a weekly allowance, which, though not much, will still enable you, by practising self-denial in some of your own desires, to save a little each week for the benefit of others: with this you can sometimes buy materials which may be useful to poor children; and by employing some part of your time in making them up, you can bestow a double benefit; for remember, Leila, it is not real charity to give of your superfluity only.” “I know it, papa; I know that you are thinking now of the rich man throwing into the treasury, and the widow’s mite, and I will try to be the widow’s mite. Am I staying too long, papa?” she continued; “must I go now? perhaps you wish to have your book again?”