Painting and music were the only things I worked at industriously and faithfully.

I do not exactly remember at what period I started my museum which absorbed so much of my time.

Unlike most other children, - especially unlike those of today - who are eager to become men and women as speedily as possible, I had a terror of growing up, which became more and more accentuated as I grew older.

Through the study of fossils I had already been initiated into the mysteries of prehistoric creations.

It is with the approach of winter that cats...wear their richest fur and assume an air of sumptuous and delightful opulence.

My sister and my brother, of whom I have not spoken before, were considerably older than I; it seemed almost as if we belonged to different generations.

I am sure that the sad days and happenings were rare, and that I lived the joyous and careless life of other children; but just because the happy days were so habitual to me they made no impression upon my mind, and I can no longer recall them.