"By degrees they spoke of education , and the book-learning that forms one part of it; and the result was that Ruth determined to get up early all throughout the bright summer mornings, to acquire the knowledge hereafter to be give to her child. Her mind was uncultivated, her reading scant; beyond the mere mechanical arts of education she knew nothing; but she had a refined taste, and excellent sense and judgment to separate the true from the false."
Elizabeth Gaskell was an English novelist and short-story writer of the Victorian era. She is known for works such as Mary Barton, Cranford, and North and South. She also wrote an influential biography of Charlotte Bronte.