A FAMILY PICTURE.

Southern Cross, Volume 8, Issue 31, 24 November 1900, Page 11

A FAMILY PICTURE.

So often we see some lovely group, in which the eldest girl in a family, especially in those where there is no wealth, becomes the centre of life to the little brothers and sisters, who turn to her for everything they need, from the tying of a shoe-string to the solace of a disappointment. There is a peculiar charm in the faces and manueis of such young- girls ; a gentle benevolence of expression, a sweet persuasiveness of speech, which is most delightful. My old notebook tells of more than one young man who chose his wife because of glimpses he had caught of her among the younger children of her family. Especially, at this minute, I recall a sweet young figure, which I first saw seated on the stump of an old chestnut tree in the courtyard of a crowded boarding-house. The dear girl was not beautiful exactly; but as she sat on this low, rough seat, reading from a story book to a cluster of little brothers and sisters, there was a radiant charm about her that was irresistible. They leaned upon her shoulders, they sat at her feet, and one curly - headed boy knelt beside her, holding one side of the wide page. A restless, lonely child drew towards her as if she were a magnet. Jealously, the kneeling boy looked up and said ; ‘ She ain’t your sister,’ The intruder’s lips trembled. ‘ I wish she was. I ain’t got none.’ The English was bad; but the poverty of the little stranger seemed terrible to the happy group, and they made way for him without another word. —Home paper.