"Teach me, my God and King,
In all things Thee to see,
And what I do, in any thing,
To do it as for Thee.

"All may of Thee partake,
Nothing can be so mean,

Which with his tincture (for Thy sake)
Will not prove bright and clean.

"A servant with this clause,
Makes drudgery divine;

Who sweeps a room, as for thy laws,
Makes that, and the action fine.

"This is the famous stone,

That turneth all to gold;

For that which God doth touch and own,

Cannot for less be told."

HERBERT.

HE remarks made in the preceding chapter THE

were not intended to depress or dishearten those to whom it was addressed, but, on the contrary, to stimulate them to exertion, that they may never hereafter be liable to similar charges.

They will reply: "We have special difficulties to contend with. We are exiles from happy homes; we have temptations and hazards to which the affluent are not subjected; we are often forced

into selfishness by the meanness of our employers, and into insincerity by their unreasonable expectations, and into assumption to repel their haughtiness. We must act on the defensive. We are isolated, dependent. We are in subordination to the will of others: our very position causes us to be undervalued."

There is truth in all this: but let us try to look at each of these points fairly, and see whether governesses may not have brought many of these trials into their own lot, and whether they may not therefore be able to remove them.

you

The general feeling is now so strongly in their favour, and the unkind treatment which many have received has been so thoroughly exposed, that their condition is decidedly better than it was some years ago. Let us then, ask: "Does the public undervalue because of your occupation? Do you not set them the example of so doing? Are not many ashamed of owning what they are, from the false notion that it degrades them to acknowledge it? Can others value you for being employed in a work for which you despise yourselves ?"

Now here lies the root of the error. You do not regard your calling as a God-appointed one; you do not feel that whatever position you are in, you did not get into it by chance or accident; that every one has a work to do, an office whose duties he must fulfil, and a service to serve for a Master in Heaven. Oh, if we all thus regarded things, how changed would our feelings be! All

are but servants-all have a burden to bear, and a cross to carry, and He who lays it on us, Himself first bore the load, and then promised to help all His followers to bear it, too. Life is, indeed, a hard struggle to those who make the grievous mistake of supposing that here is our rest, and that we are to quarrel with everything which makes it otherwise. He who "took upon Him the form of a servant," sanctified servitude, and made it honourable, and to each of His followers He says, "Take up your cross and follow me;" "Whoso taketh not up his cross and followeth me cannot be my disciple. What cross is fittest for us to bear He knows who appoints it, knowing our frame and remembering that we are dust. If we look thus at the work of teaching, it changes its aspect, it is transformed into the obedience of a child to a parent, into the fulfilment of His will, whose last command was, "Feed my lambs."

It has been well remarked, that if an angel were sent down from Heaven to do some service on earth, he would be as willing to sweep a street as to sit on a throne, for he would come, not to choose his own lot, but to accomplish his master's will.

The idea that governesses are dependents, is another error which we have to combat. How can one who maintains herself be a dependent? Those only deserve this name who, rather than exert themselves, or honourably labour for their own support, and that perhaps of their families, are content to waste their lives in idleness, sub

sisting upon the charity of relatives, who, often from motives of pride, give them this unwilling help.

There is a sense certainly in which teachers are dependents, because the whole system of the universe is one of dependence. There is, properly, no individual life, none subsists separately from the class to which he belongs. Who is more dependent than the mother? The arduous cares of a family, and her duties as a wife, make it impossible for her to educate her children likewise. She must therefore rely upon others to do this for her; and it is the conviction of this fact, that makes her so anxious to find one who can and will conscientiously fulfil those duties which she unwillingly relinquishes.

Some vulgar-minded persons think that money repays this service; but none who really know what the worth of education is can regard it in this light. The governess must trust to her own exertions and God's help, and the mother, and she, mutually rest upon and help each other. The same idea may be followed out to any extent, for it is literally true, in every rank of life, from the highest to the lowest, that they are mutually dependent. The various offices which belong to the poor are essential to the comfort of the rich, and the employments which the latter give to the former are the means of their support. God hath so knit all society together, that it forms but one body." But "the body is not one member, but many; if the foot shall say, because I am not

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the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet one body, and the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the foot, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary."

Another complaint is that of being in subordination to the will of others. But is that condition peculiar to this class-is it not equally the lot of every one? Does not the same rule apply to every profession? What discipline is so strict as that of the army, how rigorously enforced in each of its ranks? And yet what soldier or officer considers himself degraded thereby? Does not every man feel that such obedience is indispensable?

Look again at the church; is not the curate subject to his rector, the rector to his archdeacon and bishop, the bishop to the archbishop?

The notion is therefore altogether a mistaken one, that subordination is necessarily a source of unhappiness. Rightly viewed it should be considered a cause for thankfulness, for how much less responsible is the position of one who has