Had not improvement been rapid, their untrained zeal might perhaps
have flagged. Had the mental symptoms, by their obscurity, baffled
them or defied them on every side, their lack of systematic,
scientific training for such a task might have made them discouraged:
but delicate and exacting as the work was, their love and enthusiasm,
their insight and patience, their cleverness and ingenuity, triumphed
over all obstacles; and luckily for their youth and comparative
inexperience, they were rewarded in marvellous measure.
Not that every day was bright and hopeful. The carefully kept record
was black enough on occasions, beginning with the morning when Helen,
sitting in the circle, felt a rough hand on her head, and Marm Lisa,
without the slightest warning of her intention, snatched Mary's steel
band forcibly from her hair, and, taking it across the room, put it
in its accustomed place on its owner's head. Everybody was startled,
but Mary rose from her chair quietly, and, taking the ornament in one
hand and Marm Lisa in the other, she came to Helen's side.
'I like to have my shining crown in Miss Helen's hair,' she said; 'it
is such pretty, curly hair--stroke it softly, Lisa; she must wear it
this morning to please me, and then I will take it again for my own.
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