"
* * * * *
In a letter which she wrote to Lady Herschel in 1838, we find some
reminiscences of her early years. She says that when, at the age of
twenty-two, she first visited England, there was no kind of ornamental
needle-work, knitting, plaiting hair, stringing beads and bugles, and
the like, of which she did not make samples by way of mastering the art.
As she was the only girl, and consequently the Cinderella, of the
family, she could not find time, however, for much self-improvement. She
was not, for instance, a skilled musician, but she was able to play the
second violin part of an overture or easy quartette. And it is worth
notice that the Herschels were something more than astronomers only.
Both Sir William and his son, great as they were in their special
department of science, took care to cultivate their minds generally;
were mathematicians, chemists, geologists, and men of letters. And here
is a lesson for our younger readers. The mind should always be diverted
towards one particular object; it should be the aim of everybody to
attain towards supreme excellence, if possible, in some one pursuit.
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