Unknown

“ Miss Damer was too much moved to express herself as she wished. “Come,” said Jane, in a cheerful voice, “we must not have sorrow at this our first meeting. I perceive that Miss Damer and you will be friends, so come with me; you shall be my guests this evening, and we will leave the other young ladies to my sister.”
With a countenance expressive of kindness, Jane took an arm of each of the young ladies, and walked with them up the garden. As she passed Miss Vincent and her companion, she said very quietly, “Young ladies, I hope you will conduct yourselves better to-morrow.” ”

“ Adair will never give another medal,” said Miss Damer.
“You deserved it,” cried Miss Cotton with warmth, “and I hope you will always be rewarded for excelling, in every thing you attempt.”
“A person must be envious indeed,” said Miss Arden, “who can for a moment feel hurt at another being rewarded!” ”

“ The vital spirit, which we call the soul, is given by God, to direct us to do that which is right; and, from childhood to the grave, is our faithful friend. My daughter, whose lifeless remains you are now contemplating, was in all her ways actuated by this spirit, to obedience, and to goodness; and in a state of glory she will again exist, with a mind purified and exalted. What would be the use of life, and of the wonderful powers with which we are [139] gifted, were we to lie down in the grave, as the beasts that perish?”
“But how will Miss Jane rise again, ma’am?” asked Miss Bruce. ”

“ The moment a young lady steps into a carriage, and drives off for the last time from the dwelling of her instructress, she seems to forget that there had ever been such a person in existence. Perhaps, when her nuptial favours are preparing, and her [181] hopes are bright, she may exclaim in a careless tone, “O, we must not forget—” here she mentions the lady to whom, next to her parents she is most indebted; and here finishes her remembrance of school, and the friend of her youth: in bridal favours, or flimsy letters, all her gratitude is shewn. ”

“ We, who have had every indulgence, and no cares to perplex us!”
“My dear Elizabeth, in the day of prosperity we seldom rejoice with thankfulness; but in the time of adversity, when our path is darkened, then we can bitterly repine. Surely we should place our joys and our sorrows against each other, as a defence from a murmuring spirit.”
[3] “It is not late trials that trouble me, but future vexations that I dread. You know that I have never been accustomed to stupid, drawling, spoiled children.” ”

“ But I did not know that we had a new pupil. Pray when did she arrive?”
“I beg you a thousand pardons, ma’am, for leading the young ladies to do wrong! It was all my fault,” said Catherine.
Miss Arden related the matter plainly as it was.
“I commend Catherine,” said Elizabeth, “for her wish to serve her parents; nor am I offended with you, young ladies, for wishing to serve her. But you must beware that we are not to do a wrong thing, even with the very best motives. There is always something mean in acting clandestinely. ”

“ The value of time is unknown: at least, it is not properly estimated, till grey hairs, wrinkled features, and a debilitated frame check the career; then eternity, with all its hopes and fears, opens to the view. We will for a moment consider you upon the bed of sickness, surrounded by your family; a physician, with an air of irresolution, writing a prescription, and your anxious countenance denoting the insufficiency of all earthly aid; will the remembrance of balls, routs, and artificial scenes, cheer the dying hour? The moment arrives when you close your eyes upon this world and its vanities ”

“ And when I am old and infirm, should you recollect me, and call upon me as the friend of your youth, how gratifying will it be to my heart to think that I have been one means, in the hands of Providence, of giving to society discreet and amiable women. ”

“ Tell me why you wish to gain other knowledge?”
“Because, ma’am, I am most wishful to be useful to my parents. They are poor, and have a large family to bring up. If I could but open a little school in our village, what a blessing should I be to them!”
“Well, Catherine,” said Miss Arden, [121] after considering a little, “I will do what I can for you—I mean if Miss Damer approves; for I dare not trust to my own judgment. Meet me in the school-room early to-morrow morning, and I well tell you how it is to be.” ”

“ With some surprise, Miss Damer, in looking over the themes, read the following fable:
“One bleak, cold winter morning, an ass and her foals were loitering upon the edge of a wild common; not a tree was to be seen, and scarcely a bit of herbage for their breakfast to be found. ‘This is a comfortless life!’ said the ass; ‘the winds are chilly, the snow will soon fall, and we have not a shed to cover us! ”

“ A carriage and four, as it is styled, stopping suddenly at the gate, caused a little bustle. Amongst Mrs. Adair’s pupils, some were ready to look, and others to exclaim, “who can they be?” “what a beautiful girl!” and “what a nice little boy! but I fear he is lame!” “Oh, look! do look at that queer old lady following them out of the carriage! How oddly her nose is turned! and what a droll bonnet!” “I wonder whether they will dine with us!” “I should like to know who they are.” ”

“ Now let me tell you, Miss Bruce, one simple truth: you have acted in all things contrary to that which you know is right. But pray what is the meaning of the word right?”
“To do all things that I know I should do; I do not know any thing more, papa; indeed I do not.”
[166] “You know the right, but a perverse and wilful disposition leads you to do wrong.”
Mr. Bruce rang the bell, and ordered the housekeeper into his presence. When she entered the room, he commanded her to close the door. “Take my daughter,” said he, “to the chamber that was occupied last night. ”

“ The young ladies began the employment of teaching with alacrity. They endeavoured to ground Catherine in those things that would be useful in a village school. But geography her mind was bent upon, so Miss Arden presented to her a book; likewise several little works, which she thought would be useful.
One morning, however, they were surprised in the midst of their lessons. “Begin that line again,” said Miss Arden. Elizabeth had walked gently into the room, and now stood by the table where the two young ladies were seated, and Catherine standing. ”

“ Depend upon it, Elizabeth, people live in an ideal world, when they do not think of proper ways and means to provide [79] for a family. The word liberal, in its modern sense, means profuseness to needy adventurers, and idle friends; indifference to the nearest and dearest ties, originate in this misapplied term. A liberal spirit runs into debt to honest tradesmen, and with an unruffled countenance hears of their bankruptcy. The liberal treat as lords, when they know they are only beggars. ”

“ This is Miss Adair: but I am so confused, I scarcely know what I am doing—only that I am going where I have been most happy! But you will write to me, or see me, or something.”
“If you wish to see Miss Damer, come in one of the morning coaches,” said Elizabeth.
“I thank you, ma’am, kindly,” said the nurse. “You are now in good hands, my dear young lady, so do not fret; Providence, I have often told you, would [66] never desert so dutiful a daughter; and you find an old woman’s words may be true. We shall be happy yet, never fear. People cannot forget their own. ”

“ Elizabeth was restless and uneasy the whole of the day that her mother had taken her departure for Colonel Vincent’s. The evening was wet and gloomy; the young people could not, therefore, take their usual exercise in the play-ground. After sitting some time with her sister and Miss Arden, she sauntered into the school-room, to observe how they were employed. Some of the young ladies were attending to their lessons for the following day. One [116] party had spread the road to happiness upon a work-box; all anxious to attain the desired haven. ”

“ Miss Vincent is removed from her family by her marriage to a gentleman of consequence in Ireland. She is still the same character, haughty and insolent.
Her sister Isabella, is improving in all the graces of mind and person; she is the general favourite of the school.
Miss Bruce is becoming all that her father can desire. [176]
When Miss Damer went into the situation as a governess, it was with the hope of remaining some time, perhaps years. We can easily fix our plans, but we are strangers to the future; it is not for us to say by what means they are to be frustrated. ”

“ Yet we are ignorant whether we are to open our eyes on the objects of this world, or that which is to come. I own I have not any desponding thoughts; I rest alone upon the mercies and the merits of a suffering and a redeeming Saviour ”

“ Adair is so strict, and tiresome! You will be surprised, mamma, when I [81] assure you that she is quite a sanctified Methodist: we have prayers in a morning, and prayers in an evening, and are obliged to write sermons! She is not by any means a suitable person to finish my education; and there are not five young ladies in the school, whose parents drive four horses. At Blazon Lodge how different! They were all fashionable, excepting two. Do, my good mamma, let me return to my dear Madame La Blond. Miss Adair has actually put me into Murray’s small grammar, and I am only in the third class. ”

“ Adair, “that the seed is cast into the earth, and rises up wheat, or any other grain: but we do not know how this comes to pass. The seed, that looks so insignificant in our eyes, after it has been in the earth the appointed time, gradually breaks forth in all its glory. We likewise shall be put into the earth; no longer valued, but by the remembrance of our worth ”

“ Come along, or we shall be finely punished!” Saying this, Miss Bruce dragged Isabella down the lane, whilst she struggled to make her escape.
“I will not go, Miss Bruce! you have no right to take me! I declare you have made me drop my questions!”
[144] “Never mind; I will give you question and answer too. Don’t you see that stile? and that nice white cottage by that large pool of water, where those children are throwing stones? We have only to turn down by those tall trees, and we shall be there in a moment.” ”

“ Let us at all times remember our own excellent instructress: her ‘authority, when most severe, and mustering all its force, was but the graver countenance of love, watering at once and nourishing the plant.’”
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[7] CHAPTER II.
It will, perhaps, here be necessary to say something of Mrs. Adair; I will not, however, enter upon her motive for opening a boarding-school. It is a well known fact that the loss of fortune, contracted incomes, or troubles in one shape or another, are the origin of almost all female seminaries. ”

“ Adair; “and always recollect, that ‘children of the present age are the hope of the one to come.’
“There is one thing I particularly charge you to avoid: never speak in a tone of ridicule of any lady who has previously instructed a pupil; there is something contemptible in trying to depreciate the talents of another. We are not to consider ourselves as supreme in wisdom, for our abilities are moderate; if we can do good, I believe it is the chief merit we can claim.”
[12] “I hope one thing,” said Elizabeth, “that the young ladies must never be allowed to learn their lessons at meals ”

“ Great affairs women seldom have anything to do with; it is in the petty, every-day concerns of life, that we are called upon to be prudent. How many men date their troubles [76] to the thoughtless extravagance and want of economy in a wife! But, for the sake of bringing the subject home to your own bosom, we will suppose that you are a young married woman.” Elizabeth blushed, and was attempting to speak, but Mrs. Adair checked her. “You receive your friends, and return your parties in bridal finery; one excursion takes place of another, and gaiety upon gaiety succeeds ”

“ Those persons whose time is devoted to the instruction of youth, have not only abundant opportunities of ascertaining the capacities of their pupils, but of observing their various dispositions, and of noticing the effects which have been produced on them by previous habit and example. It seldom happens that amiability of temper, respectful behaviour to superiors, or kindness to inferiors, distinguish children who in their infancy have been left to the care of menials, or who have been suffered, by the blind indulgence of parents, to gratify their forward inclinations ”

“ THE BOARDING SCHOOL. CHAPTER I.
Elizabeth Adair was stooping to prop a rose-tree in a viranda, when she hastily turned to her sister, and exclaimed, “it is useless attending either to plants or flowers now: I must give up all my favourite pursuits.”
“But you will have others to engage your attention,” returned Jane.
“And will they afford me pleasure? You may as well say that I shall listen with joy to the foolish commands of [2] some parents, and the haughty remarks of others.”
“Let this be our comfort,” said Jane, “sensible people always treat the instructors of youth with respect ”

“ At least, care sits a little heavy on your husband’s brow; he perceives that you are deficient in all the requisites for a good wife; and when he looks round the uncomfortable apartment in which he is seated, his thoughts [77] naturally revert to the home of his youth, and his prudent, excellent mother; you are too much the lady to attend to domestic concerns. ‘Servants receive high wages: and they must do their duty.’ And what is their duty? ”