Bat, as my husband would say, you are taut, trim and well ballasted, and
good for a long, safe voyage. You have obeyed the Fifth Commandment, and
its promise is yours.
"Mara, dear child my heart, for some reason, aches for you. I knew and
loved your grandfather and your father and mother. You were born into a
heritage of bitterness and sorrow, and I fear Mrs. Hunter, with all her
good qualities, was not so constituted as to be able to counteract
inherited tendencies. I wish I could have brought you up, for then we
could have cried or laughed together over what happened.
"But you have learned to repress and to brood--two dangerous habits. You
want to do some great thing, and alas! there is seldom a great thing which
we poor women can do. You are not impelled by ambition or a desire for
notoriety, but by a sort of passion for self-sacrifice.
"If you had lived twenty odd years ago no soldier of the South could have
been braver or more devoted. You are not satisfied with mere living and
making the best of life as it is. I don't know why, but I feel that there
are depths in your heart which no one understands. Be careful, dear child,
and be patient. Don't yield to some morbid idea of duty, or be involved in
some chimerical plan of an achievement.
"Learn Ella's philosophy, and be as content with sunshine and daily duty
as possible. Ella will do this unconsciously, my dear; you will have to do
it consciously, just as a sick man seeks health.
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