The Press., 1898-09-22
STRONG HEREDITY.

Baby was just born. Her,first act was to ring the bell. It was promptly an- swered by the parlor man..
 "My mother will need nourishment, she said, acknowledging the servants introductory bow with 8 pleasant smile. "You had better warm some milk and water and get her bottle ready" While the parlor man wenttdown to \ give the necessary orders to the cook Baby arranged her mother'si pillows | more comfortably.
 "Goo, goop' murmured Mrs.Corfield inarticulately in appreciation of! the in- \ crease of comfort.
 "Hushl It shall have itssbottle and go to by by," whispered Baby, .deftly \ smoothing the coverlet.
 A restless movement in the.ad joining room. followed by faint cry, distract ed her attention. She slipped on lit tie dressing gown that lay on a.chair \ ready for her use and hurried in to see \ what was the matter.
 A man was tossing feverishly,to and fro in a large cot surmounted with high rails. He had kicked off the bedohothes, \ and the cold air had, awakened him.
 
 \ tered, tugging at the blankets through the bars "How tiresome you are. A naughty man"
 She tapped him menacingly on the \ arm and shook a threatening finger. He commenced to whimper.
 "Now, it's no use beginning'to cry," she exclaimed. "I've got quite. enough to see to without any nonsense of that sort. Be quiet. sir, will you?' I Baby stamped her foot It had the de- sired effect, and MT. Corfield Quieted down. Then she returned to the other room. In @ few minutes the bottle, was brought up, and, having given it to .her mother and tucked her up comfortably, Baby sat down on the edge of the bed to think.
 There was so much to be done. And in spite of her ready made stock of in tuitions and her rich inheritance of ex- perience it was so difficult to set about it. In the first place, the parents must be fed and looked after. Baby could not leave them entirely to the servants i; she must exercise a great deal of super vision over them herself. They were so helpless. But they had given her their all, mental and physical, in accordance with the universal law of heredity, and she must prove herself worthy of the gift by trying to bring them up in the right way. Then there were domestic matters to be attended to. And finally Baby must think about starting her own career, in which, of course, she would follow in her mothers footsteps
 Feeling herself to be child of &C., tion, she did not sit musing for long. Mrs. Corfeld was asleep. The only sign of life she gave was an occasional tug at the bottle, followed by the gurgle of ldeglutition. Baby crept softly out of the room and went down stairs Had she been @ boy natural curiosity would have prompted,her to explore the house, but being of the sterner sex she walked straight into the library and sat down at the writing desk.
 Before doing anything else she must put her birth in the papers. She wrote out half a dozen notices. choosing her name from @ book which she took down from the shelves The announcement read as follo~s:
 Miss Philippa Reginaldina Corfeld begs to announce her birth at IS Will loughby square on the 2Oth inst. Both parents are doing we'll"
 It was nearly o'clock. Having writ ten personally to some of her relatives and C ched her letters to the post, Baby for tea. But she was not al. lowed to cnjoy that meal altogether un- disturbed. First, papa cried. She had to go up stairs and soothe him of to sleep again. Then the noise woke mother,
 who became fretfu1 and gave @ great deal of trouble. In fact. Baby was kept so we'll employed between them that she had no time to dress for dinner. Two or three days passed in this man. lner. Then came @ letter, bearing the stamp of a government office. addressed to Miss Corfield. There had been other correspondence - congratulatory notes from relatives and so forth. But this
 was altogether different. On the face of the envelope, in the left hand bottom corner, were the letters "T. M. /" writ ten in a bold hand. They were the ini- tials of the prime minister.
 With eager hands Baby tore open
 the cover and drew out the contents, The letter was eouched in the following
 terms,
 the Fourth area is just vacant, Knowing your mothers excellent qualifications for the post, and having seen the notice of your birth in the papers. have much pleasure in offer , ing you the appointment. Come and see me , before taking up your official duties. Yours, etc., THEoDoRA MUNsTERLEIGH. It was the very thing Baby would have chosen for herself. Her splendid inheritance of legal knowledge eminent ly qualified her for the post. Of course
 the work would fully occupy her time , but she must get competent nursery tutor to look after Mrs. and MT. Cor ! 6eld. She wrote 2 warm letter of thanks to the premier accepting the magistra-
 ey, and at the same time put an adver-
 tisement in the paper for a, competent
 man to take charge of her parents dur
 Ing their infancy.
 Among other applicants for the latter
 ntuation was a respectable, unmarried, middle aged man. AS his scientific principles were orthodox and he had no ! followers Baby engaged him. She was now practically freed from domestic : worries and could devote herself to the 3 public service. The visit to the prime minister, whom she found to be a charming girl few years older than herself, was most satisfactory. Baby
 took up her work with zeal, and soon 8 distinguished herself by her grasp e1 3 detail and sound judgment. The only anxieties that beset her were at home. Her parents Ns time went op ] turned out to be dreadful pickles. Papa [ would not learn bis alphabet, and moth 9 CT was always leading him into mis. 9 chief. They got into the kitchen and stole the jam. They bad pillow fights on the landing when they should have F been taking their midday sleep. They
 set all manner of booby traps for the
 nursery tutor and nearly worried him
 to death.
 The climax was reached when they one day altogether disappeared. Not 6