SOMERV'ILLE. 2$ 



When Mary could no longer work out her pro- 

 blems on paper, she did them in her mind, and every 

 night she worked out from memory a number of 

 problems which had been already gone through. 

 But, as on a former occasion, it was her father who 

 discovered that all was not right, and interfered to 

 make it so. When Mary was running wild and 

 learning nothing at all, her father had said, " This 

 kind of life will never do. Mary must at least 

 know how to write and keep accounts," so she had 

 been sent to boarding-school. This time the danger 

 was of a different sort ; Mary was studying too hard, 

 her father said. " We must put a stop to this, or we 

 shall have Mary in a strait jacket one of these 

 days." In both cases the father's interference was 

 beneficial. 



Strange to say, the first of her pursuits which 

 brought honour to Mary was painting. She had 

 worked very hard under Mr. Nasmyth, and had not 

 only copied several landscapes he had lent her, but 

 had ventured on a little original execution by colour- 

 ing the outline of a print from an actual storm wit- 

 nessed from the garden. A friend of the family, 

 Dr. Blair, the kindly minister of the High Kirk in 

 Edinburgh, heard of the girl's skill, and asked 

 permission to look at the contents of her portfolio. 

 A few pictures were sent to him, and in a day or two 

 he returned them with a letter addressed to Mary 

 herself, and containing words of high praise. 



