Then there were readings aloud from the most beautiful selections of French literature and poetry. Comments on the lessons received from their teach ers were made, and the Duchess taught her daugh ters the art of dictating letters, even before they had learned to write. Everything was done for us, says Madame de La Fayette in her biography of her mother, written in circumstances we shall un derstand later. All her faculties were bent on ac complishing our welfare, and on preparing our future happiness. The integrity and strength of her mind banished from our education all puerilities, and ac customed us from childhood to reason clearly and accurately. Her lively tenderness cemented the bond of parent and child, and her charming eloquence, corroborated by her daily example, made us under stand Christian virtue, which is the principle, the support and the reward of virtue.
