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She has always resented any comparison of herself with inferior animals. If called a busy bee, she will reply, "no, I am a busy little girl. I can do much more than a busy bee."

Having been told that the soul was without form, she was much perplexed at David's words, "He leadeth my soul." "Has it feet? Can it walk? Is it blind?" she asked; for in her mind the idea of being led was associated with blindness.

Of all the subjects which perplex and trouble Helen, none distresses her so much as the knowledge of the existence of sin in the world, and of the suffering which results from it. For a long time it was possible to keep her away from all knowledge of evil; and, situated as she is, it will always be comparatively easy to prevent her from coming in personal contact with vice and wickedness. The fact that sin exists, and that great misery results from it, dawned gradually upon her mind as she understood more and more clearly the lives and experiences of those around her. The necessity of laws and penalties had to be explained to her. Only those who are acquainted with the depth and tenderness of her sweet child-nature can conceive what an awful shock it was to her to learn that a father could unkindly treat his little son. She found it very hard to reconcile the presence of evil in the world with the idea of God which had been presented to her mind.

One day she asked: "Does God take care of us all the time?" She was answered in the affirmative. "Then why did he let little sister fall this morning, and hurt her head so badly?" Another time she was asking about the power and goodness of God. She had been told of a terrible storm at sea, in which several lives were lost, and she asked: "Why did not God save the people if he can do all things?" Here was the most puzzling question which has ever perplexed the human mind.

Surrounded by loving friends and the gentlest influences, as Helen had always been, she has, from the earliest stage of her intellectual enlightenment, willingly done right. She knows with unerring instinct what is right, and does it joyously. She does not think of one wrong act as harmless, of another as of no consequence, and of another as not intended. To her pure soul all evil is equally unlovely.

While to do right is as natural to her as breathing, it is most pleasing to observe that beautiful spirit of love which prompts her to extenuate the faults of those she believes to have done wrong. When told that any of the children have been naughty, she will immediately make some apology for them, and say: "It was a mistake. He did not mean to do wrong."

She heard recently that her beautiful mastiff had been killed by the police near her home; but the thought of blaming the men who had done the cruel deed did not apparently enter her head. As soon as her first burst of sorrow had subsided, she said: "I am sure they could not have known what a good dog Lioness was!"

Thus the knowledge of evil calls into existence those noble sentiments, -- loving sympathy for the suffering, loving pity for wrong-doers, and the desire to help and comfort others.

The library of the institution is utilized both directly and indirectly to kindle in her a glowing sense of duty and a love of nature, and to set before her such high ideals as give grace and nobleness to character. Her mind is so constituted that it is difficult to tell whether the faculty of reasoning or of imagination has the predominance. The following is a striking illustration of the vividness and originality of her fancy: --

A DREAM. -- Last night I dreamt that long, long ago, when the birds and flowers and trees were first made, the great God who had created all things sat upon a beautiful cloud which looked like silver, and seemed to float in the midst of the blue sky like a throne; and he looked down upon the earth, -- the wonderful world he had made out of his own thought. Oh, how beautiful the earth was! with her great mountains climbing upwards to the sky, and her valleys filled with sweet-smelling flowers and delicious fruit. The trees seemed alive with beautiful living things; the little birds' joyous songs made the air vibrate with music. I felt it in my dream. I knelt on the cool, green moss that crept down to the edge of the merry little brooks, and I touched the water as it rippled past me. The broad, deep lakes were as quiet as little sleeping babies, and I felt the ground tremble under my feet when the river went rushing past to join the stormy ocean. Then I went to the shore and put my bare feet in the water, and felt the waves beating against the shore continually; and God smiled, and the world was filled with light, and there was no evil, no wrong in all the world, only love and beauty and goodness. Just then I felt teacher kissing my lips, and I awoke.

It has been my aim, in Helen's religious instruction, to awaken within her an intellectual and emotional recognition of the fact that her life is virtually related to the universal life of God. Afterwards it will be easy for others to teach her whatever theory or special form of belief it may seem desirable for her to know.