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CHAPTER IV.

FAMILY DUTIES.

"If we looked upon ourselves as doing the Lord's work in any position, we should feel our employment and station honourable. It is a work which some must do, and the Lord, who knows best, has chosen us to do it. And this feeling of satisfaction with, and acquiescence in our appointed post, would take from us all that secret rankling, that latent feeling of injury, which sometimes exists in the mind, and which makes every little slight shown us by others, instead of having just its own painfulness and no more, seem to us like an additional weight superadded to a burden already heavy."

IT

BRAMPTON RECTORY.

T is a great help in any condition of life to the cheerful fulfilment of its duties, if we try to discover what are the blessings it possesses, rather than the ills which attend it. Let us apply this remark to the position of Governesses, and see whether there are not many causes for thankfulness in their lot. One marked advantage they enjoy is this, the freedom from domestic caresthey have no household to provide for, no risk as to their income, none of that attention to servants which is so heavy a burden to many mothers, none of those innumerable arrangements to make which occupy so much time and thought, and which necessarily fall upon wives and parents.

In the work of education, this freedom of mind for the one object to which it should be devoted, is an unspeakable blessing.

To those who have the care of schools, directly the reverse is the case. They have indeed, a house of their own, but if they have no independent capital, and no other resources, the work is one of extreme risk, and of constant anxiety.

They have the same troubles which devolve on a mother, the charge both of the bodies and souls of the pupils, without that natural affection on either side which repays maternal solicitude. There is the uncertainty as to their number of pupils being sufficient to meet the necessary expenditure, besides the possibility of failure in the parents, which in these days of speculation is often a cause of ruin to schools. Then there is the versatility of their plans, often removing children who have caused incalculable trouble, just as they were beginning to reward it by their improvement. Add to this the waywardness, and pride, and meanness to which ladies so situated are exposed-the difficulty of classing children thus fortuitously thrown together; the perpetual demands on time and strength, from the unreasonable expectations of their employers; the trouble of finding suitable masters; and, above all, of selecting assistants who will heartily and earnestly consecrate themselves to fulfil their arduous duties. There is a strong feeling amongst those employed in education, that the teacher in a school is in a much lower position than that of a private Governess. If all these

things are taken into consideration, and many more might be added, the situation of the latter is far more independent than that of a schoolmistress, and she has greater ease of mind and freedom from care. It is easier to please one than many parties. She has nothing to do but her one work: let her think well of this, and duly estimate the privilege. Too many fancy that if they can save enough to commence a school, they shall be much happier; and not unfrequently they lose all they have earned, and involve themselves in hopeless ruin. They are generally ignorant of the detail of domestic life; they have been occupied with tuition, and they know nothing of the management of servants, and the careful keeping of accounts; they have not calculated on the advances of capital which they will be compelled to make, and which they may not again receive; these, and a thousand expenses and troubles of which they are ignorant, but which they cannot avoid, render it generally an imprudent step for a lady to quit a situation in a family, under the idea that she shall improve her condition by undertaking a school. Many are nevertheless doing this, and the competition is so great, that, without an excellent connexion, few have a chance of success. The list of applicants for Governesses' annuities will fully verify these observations. Those who have been residents in families of distinction, fancy that they shall succeed on that ground, but the very circle in which they have been, is that in which the children have invariably a home education. If they fix on high

terms for their school, to try and secure this class, they shut out others who would have gladly participated in the proposed advantages; and if they fix them low, the grade both of parents and children is such as to make the work thoroughly annoying. Should these remarks meet the eye of any lady who has taken a contrary view of the subject, or who thinks of embarking her capital in such a scheme, let her take heed before she does so, and be warned by the example of many who have thus lost all they had earned by years of labour. These facts prove that the situation of a Governess is a comparatively happier one than many are apt to suppose.

Those things which gall us seem the hardest of all trials-the burdens we bear, the heaviest of all --because those of our neighbours are untriedand "the heart knoweth its own bitterness." The restless desire to get rid of our troubles often makes those very troubles intolerable; whereas, if we sat down, and tried to find out causes for thankfulness, how light would they become! Who has not felt ashamed of his own murmuring spirit when he has quitted a cottage in which poverty and sickness combined to produce real wretchedness, but where, perhaps, in the midst of it, joy and hope shone through the gloom? After all, we are ourselves the authors of at least half our miseries; and therefore let those who educate others, first educate their own spirits. Let them take themselves to task-find out the real causes of their complaints, and try if they cannot remove

them; let them be true to themselves-true to their employers, true to God, and then see if they are not both wiser and happier, and so having raised themselves, they will be raised in the esteem of others" Godliness, with contentment, is great gain."

The generality of those who enter upon the work of education merely as a means of subsistence, and from no higher motive, must be continually galled and disappointed: we may except a few ardent minds to whom teaching is a real pleasure, and who enjoy the society of children.

There are happily many also who undertake the office of governess as a solemn duty, and they carry it on in a spirit of prayer; asking for that wisdom that cometh down from above, to direct, suggest, and support. They make sound religious instruction the basis of all that they do, and thus lay a foundation upon which it is safe to build. This is the secret of their success. The day is always begun with Scripture teaching, and this is made the pleasantest of all lessons. The deepest reverence is not incompatible with cheerfulness; and the surest way to recommend piety to our pupils, is not to talk to them of its priceless value, but to show them, not only with our lips, but in our lives, how truly it is our joy-how really "Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come."

The relative position and duties of a governess is the next subject for consideration. To illustrate this, we will suppose a family to consist of a