 bank-book; of course, the corresponding pages at the
other end came out as well, and this little unnecessary waste of paper (his
private economy) chafed him more than all the loss of his money. Envelopes
fretted his soul terribly when they first came in; the only way in which he
could reconcile himself to such waste of his cherished article was by patiently
turning inside out all that were sent to him, and so making them serve again.
Even now, though tamed by age, I see him casting wistful glances at his
daughters when they send a whole inside of a half-sheet of note-paper, with the
three lines of acceptance to an invitation, written on only one of the sides. I
am not above owning that I have this human weakness myself. String is my foible.
My pockets get full of little hanks of it, picked up and twisted together, ready
for uses that never come. I am seriously annoyed if any one cuts the string of a
parcel instead of patiently and faithfully undoing it fold by fold. How people
can bring themselves to use india-rubber rings, which are a sort of deification
of string, as lightly as they do, I cannot imagine. To me an india-rubber ring
is a precious treasure. I have one which is not new - one that I picked up off
the floor nearly six years ago. I have really tried to use it, but my heart
failed me, and I could not commit the extravagance.
    Small pieces of butter grieve others. They cannot attend to conversation
because of the annoyance occasioned by the habit which some people have of
invariably taking more butter than they want. Have you not seen the anxious look
(almost mesmeric) which such persons fix on the article? They would feel it a
relief if they might bury it out of their sight by popping it into their own
mouths and swallowing it down; and they are really made happy if the person on
whose plate it lies unused suddenly breaks off a piece of toast (which he does
not want at all) and eats up his butter. They think that this is not waste.
    Now Miss Matty Jenkyns was chary of candles. We had many devices to use as
few as possible. In the winter afternoons she would sit knitting for two or
three hours - she could do this in the dark, or by firelight - and when I asked
if I might not ring for candles to finish stitching my wristbands, she told me
to keep blind man's holiday. They were usually brought in with tea; but we only
