CHAPTER IV.

REPROOF AND AMENDMENT.

IN less than a month from Miss Robson's appearance at the Rectory, a great change for the better had taken place in the state of affairs there. Both Harriet and Charlotte became more orderly and obedient in their behaviour, and so decidedly improved under the tuition of their present governess, that Mrs. Allen no longer interfered, as she had been too much in the habit of doing, with the plans pursued in their education.

Gertrude, also, benefited by the present state of things. She was not a very quick, though a very diligent little girl, and being, as you have already seen, exceedingly shy and timid, her advancement in her school

pursuits had hitherto been much hindered by the want of patience she had encountered in those who had been deputed to instruct her; which, owing to the weak health of both her parents and then their death, had been chiefly the different servants that had the charge of her before she came to Mr. Allen's. These persons were not much used to the task of bearing with the ignorance of childhood, and patiently waiting for the opening of its mental powers. Indeed, it is greatly to be feared, that many amongst those who are in a higher station than that of servitude, and better fitted by education to deal with young minds, are still wanting in that first and greatest requisite for guiding and ing them properly, which consists in well understanding, and constantly acting upon the precious precept of our blessed Redeemer, "In your patience, possess ye your souls."

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But Miss Robson was not of this number. She had been deeply exercised in sorrows of various kinds; and used often to say, that the necessity of obtaining a maintenance by bearing with the tempers and habits of children, in the arduous task of tuition, which many persons would consider as an

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aggravation of other trials, had been to her amongst her chiefest blessings, in taking her, as it were, out of herself and her own particular interests and feelings, and constraining her to exchange many useless regrets, and vain contemplations on this and the other disappointment, for the useful occupation, not only of teaching, but also of being taught. "I have, on the whole," she would frequently observe, "learnt more that is valuable from my pupils, than they have learnt from me. Many are the precious lessons of patience, and self-control, and knowledge of the workings of the human heart, that they have unconsciously imparted to me."

You may be assured, therefore, that she was not the person to meet with any impatience or discouragement, the laborious efforts of Gertrude to accomplish what the other children could do without any effort at all; for they were remarkably quick and acute in their understandings, and wanted nothing but Gertrude's diligence to become, in due time, well informed and accomplished girls.

I told you that I should let people and things describe themselves; and so, I think,

I must give you a little scene in the schoolroom, which took place about two months after Miss Robson's arrival; which will serve to show you how the nature of the little girls operated upon themselves and each other; and also, how the conduct of their governess affected them upon that occasion. There was one difficulty in spelling, that Gertrude was almost always puzzled in; and that was the proper disposition of the two vowels i and e, as they occur in such words as believe, perceive, receive, niece, chief, &c. They have been found puzzling to older heads than Gertrude's, and Miss Robson heard the frequent misplacement of these letters with the utmost patience. But not so Harriet and Charlotte, who used to smile at one another, and sometimes whispered to Gertrude before she began her spelling lesson, "not to put the cart before the horse," in a way rather trying to the poor little girl; and truth to say, it was the arch and quick glance of Charlotte's eye, whilst she was repeating her lesson, that often so bewildered her, that it produced the very errors she was labouring to the utmost of her ability to avoid.

One morning that this was more particularly the case, Miss Robson observed it; and when Gertrude had finished saying her spelling lesson, and had been corrected in her usual error of misplacing the letters in the words believe, receive, &c., she said to Charlotte, "I think you can write well enough now to take your slate, and accompany your sister in her exercise from dictation."

Much elated, as children generally are with being engaged in something new, Charlotte was soon ready with her slate, and seated herself with Harriet to write, as Miss Robson read to them a passage which she selected for a particular purpose; and as it is a very valuable passage, and one from which much instruction is to be derived, I shall transcribe it for your use; just telling you, that it was written nearly two centuries ago, by a wise and good man to his children, during a time in which, from various circumstances, he was obliged to be absent from them; and therefore, like a tender father, desired to admonish them by letter, of several things, wherein, from the ignorance and heedlessness of youth, they were likely to stand