A little, dark, wild, shy child, whose peculiar organization demanded that her shyness should be conquered by kindness, her wildness tamed by gentleness, her self-distrust reassured by confidence, is disparaged and neglected, while her more beautiful companion and playmate, whose extreme tenderness and sensibility required the bracing process of a sterner training, is flattered and caressed; until wounded by the loss of love, the slighted child grows doubtful of herself, distrustful of others, and jealous of her more attractive rival, hard, proud and defiant to all she did _not_ love, suspicious and exacting towards the only one she adored; and the favored child, enervated by indulgence, grows more and more dependent on the love of those about her, more and more incapable of resisting any temptation that appeals to her through her affections; and these evils have grown with the growth, and strengthened with the strength of the children, of the girls, of the women. Alas! who can see the end of the interminable evil resulting from one small mistake in education; and from what wanton carelessness, even in well meaning parents and teachers, these mistakes are made; and sometimes how intentionally and in what good faith they are committed! Heaven knows there would seem to be enough to do to eradicate _hereditary_ evil, the roots of sin indigenous in the hearts of children, without laboring to sow there the seeds of errors foreign to the soil. The low vice of jealousy was foreign to the high temperament of our Hagar; yet how it had been planted, sunk, trodden deep, and stamped into the bottom of her heart. The mean sins of indolence, selfishness, and vanity were not native to the pure soil of our Rosalia’s bosom, yet how sedulously they had been cultivated there! Rosalia, the petted favorite, whose soft nature, while it pleaded for indulgence, really needed the hardening process of a strict training—Rosalia, still further enfeebled by fondness, has grown softer and weaker year by year; softer and weaker, until from very tenderness she is rendered incapable of resisting the solicitations of any evil that may tempt her through her sympathies. Rosalia has grown up gentle, tender, lovely, but vain, infirm, and unprincipled. Hagar, whose wild and shy temper needed to be wooed and won, and ameliorated by tenderness—Hagar still further repulsed, hardened, and alienated by neglect, harshness, and caprice—Hagar is still high spirited and faithful, but inclined to entertain envy, suspicion, and jealousy; foul blots on a fine character. Her jealousy of Rosalia was especially natural, and logical—I had nearly said inevitable—not only from the fascinating beauty of her rival from infancy up to womanhood, but from the very character of her ONE affection.