J/./AT CAKPENTKK. 63 



twelve boys. Amongst these pupils Mary very soon 

 took her place, and was educated in subjects which were 

 not often taught to girls at that time. She studied 

 Latin, Greek and mathematics, geology, natural phil- 

 osophy, and chemistry, and proved herself remarkably 

 quick in learning. Dr. Martineau, in describing her 

 at this time, says that as "a sedate little girl of twelve 

 she looked at you so steadily, and always spoke like 

 a book, so that in talking to her what you meant for 

 sense seemed to turn into nonsense on the way. . . . 

 She appeared to have the world, and all that had 

 happened in it, at her fingers' ends, as if she had been 

 always and everywhere in it." 



When Mary was about twelve years old she was 

 attacked by a very painful affection of the eyes. Her 

 medical adviser was afraid that if great care was not 

 taken she might become blind, and he ordered her to be 

 kept for many weeks in a darkened room. An ordeal 

 of this sort would be a great trial to any one, but it was 

 particularly so to a child like Mary, fond of reading, 

 and quite unaccustomed to waste her time. It would 

 have been no wonder if she had been irritable and 

 unreasonable under the trial, but she was nothing of 

 the sort. She was sweet and patient through every- 

 thing, and by way of still being a help in the house- 

 hold, she appointed herself timekeeper for the family, 

 reminding the rest of their various engagements. 

 During this imprisonment, as it may be called, Mary's 

 sister Anna was very kind to her. She sat with her, 



