| Description | Sarah Haigh thanks Magadalene Ross for her last letter but regrets that she cannot give her any assistance in modelling, for she gave it up owing to the impossibility of getting any regular instruction. Miss Haigh thinks it would be very useful to Miss Ross though and believes her brother could render much more assistance than she could, even if she had been practising for the last twelve months. She is glad that Miss Ross is going to pay more attention to flower painting and all the ornamental objects of miniature backgrounds, for a piece of elegant background is a great improvement to a good miniature.
It is not likely that Miss Haigh will not come to live near London. She will stay in Sheffield until her youngest pupil has done with school room tuition, which is likely to be in four years time. She is working hard on her own education, for, as a teacher, it is her duty to progress herself in knowledge and wisdom and her object is to raise herself above the ordinary level of governess so that she might attain a higher situation and do more for her younger brothers, who are in great need of her assistance. She outlines her methods of study and the rules she applies to her own education, with particular reference to Latin.
Miss Haigh is thankful to know that Miss Ross reads scripture, although she does not have time to learn it, and recommends some passages. She asks Miss Ross to send from Fuller's 'some of the most beautiful heads, size of life, which you can find', perhaps Clorinda if possible, for one of her pupils who is improving very quickly in drawing and has a good idea of taking likenesses. |