This is Miss Alice Clarissa Kelly. She is almost ten years old, and the youngest in her family. She loves beautiful, girlish things: lace and bows, freshly picked flowers, pretty dresses, having her hair curled into perfect little ringlets and tied with a pink satin ribbon. She is mad about sweets, and likes little cups of tea with three lumps of sugar. School is a bore, except for when she gets to read from classic books or poetry. She loves poetry, even if she doesn't always understand everything she reads, she just enjoys the sound of such pretty words all strung together.
At night when she should be asleep she leafs through books of riddles and fairy tales, and sometimes she closes her eyes and pretends she is the heroine from one of her favorite stories. She keeps pretty seashells and pressed flowers in an old music box that used to be her grandmother's, and never gets to sleep without her favorite doll to keep her company.
She is trying to learn piano and violin, but it is hard, and she is not very good yet. Someday she would like to be as good as the great musicians, and amaze the audience with her playing. Or perhaps she would like to be an actress, blowing kisses after her fifth curtain call, or a dancer, flouncing around in beautiful clothes, so light on her feet that she looks like a fairy.
But most of all she would like to be as smart and pretty as her big sister, Vanessa. Vanessa is away at school now, learning so many new things, and how to be a real lady; Alice Clarissa misses her. She misses braiding her hair, and listening to her read stories before bed time. She can't wait for summer so Vanessa will come back.
And now she wishes you a good day, and hopes you will meet again soon!
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