60 Mary Somerville. 



my head in any of my pursuits, but I was in- 

 tensely ambitious to excel in something, for I felt 

 in my own breast that women were capable of 

 taking a higher place in creation than that as- 

 signed to them in my early days, which was 

 very low. 



Not long after Mrs. Ramsay's visit to my mother, 

 Miss Eamsay went to visit the Dons, at Newton 

 Don, a pretty place near Kelso. .Miss Ramsay and 

 the three Miss Dons were returning from a long 

 walk ; they had reached the park of Newton Don, 

 when they heard the dinner bell ring, and fearing to 

 be too late for dinner, instead of going round, they 

 attempted to cross a brook which runs through the 

 park. One of the Miss Dons stumbled on the 

 stepping-stones and fell into the water. Her two 

 sisters and Miss Ramsay, trying to save her, fell 

 in one after another. The three Miss Dons were 

 drowned, but Miss Ramsay, who wore a stiff worsted 

 petticoat, was buoyed up by it and carried down 

 stream, where she caught by the branch of a tree 

 and was saved. She never recovered the shock of 

 the dreadful scene. 



