278 ROUGH WAYS MADE SMOOTH. 



after some initiatory instruction, she took to her needle and 

 to this employment in good earnest. She now laboured 

 incessantly at patchwork from morning till night, and on 

 Sundays and week-days, for she knew no difference of days ; 

 nor could she be made to comprehend the difference. She 

 had no remembrance from day to day of what she had been 

 doing on the previous day, and so every morning com- 

 menced de novo. Whatever she began, that she continued 

 to work at while daylight lasted ; manifesting no uneasiness 

 for anything to eat or drink, taking not the slightest heed of 

 anything which was going on around her, but intent only on 

 her patchwork.' From this time she began to improve, 

 learning like a child to register ideas. She presently learned 

 worsted-work, and showed delight in the harmony of colours 

 and considerable taste in selecting between good and bad 

 patterns. After a while she began to devise patterns of her 

 own. But she still had no memory from day to day of 

 what she had done, and unless the unfinished work of one 

 day was set before her on the next, she would begin some- 

 thing new. 



And now, for the first time, ideas derived from her life 

 before her illness seemed to be awakened within her. When 

 pictures of flowers, trees, and animals were shown her, she 

 was pleased ; but when she was shown a landscape in which 

 there was a river or a troubled sea, she became violently 

 agitated, and a fit of spasmodic rigidity and insensibility 

 immediately followed. The mere sight of water in motion 

 made her shudder. Again, from an early stage of her illness 

 she had derived pleasure from the proximity of a young 

 man to whom she had been attached. At a time when she 

 did not remember from one hour to another what she was 

 doing, she would anxiously await his evening visit, and be 

 fretful if he failed to pay it. When, during her removal to 

 the country, she lost sight of him, she became unhappy and 

 suffered from frequent fits ; on the other hand, when he 

 remained constantly near her, she improved in health, and 

 early associations were gradually awakened. 



