Edward, who, seated at his desk, had been drawing or dallying with his pencil, during the reading, now opened his portfolio. The group gathered round him, and the rest of the evening passed pleasantly, in discussion on the merits of its contents.

CHAPTER IV.

66

A HALT IN THE MARCH OF INTELLECT."

It was with affectionate interest that the family group gathered round their aunt on the succeeding evening, to hear her read the letter of her friend. The thought that the kind voice which sounded so pleasantly in their ears, was nearly unheard by its possessor, sent through the circle a glow of tender sympathy that gleamed in their eyes and smiled upon their lips. It was impossible to make her seat by the brisk clear fire more snug and cosy, for her comfort had long been the study of all the household; but on this night, when she sought to contribute to their little stock of literary recreations, it seemed as if a closer bond of kindliness united the circle-a deeper tone of tenderness vibrated through their hearts. Happy the home where love is enshrined!

"And now," said Etty, as she finished placing a little work-table and lights before her aunt, and seated herself on a low stool at her side,

“And

now, dear aunt, let's hear what Peregrina Jot says, and pray keep to the name I have given her, for I'm sure it's characteristic; it conveys. just what she is both by nature and circumstances, an observer and a wanderer."

"Well, well!" said aunt Anna, smiling indulgently, "Peregrina Jot it shall be if you will; and here is her letter, a little volume as usual. I pass over preliminaries of personal matters, and commence with this remark :

66

“I am perpetually hearing, among a certain class of respectable people, complaints about modern systems of school training, and the pernicious results arising to that useful class of the community, domestic servants. "I am quite disheartened,” say some; after all that has been done, where are the results? Are our servants more conscientious, more industrious, because they are better educated?" And then they shake their heads, and say "No!" A lady at a town in Berkshire told me, "Girls now-a-days were being ruined by schooling," and, on my asking an explanation, she related a case where a poor girl, possessed of considerable musical talents, had not only been taught, by a lady who patronised her, to sing, but to play the seraphine; and, the lady dying, the girl had to go to service as a maid of all work. She was discontented and unhappy, left her place clandestinely, went to London, and became lost to herself and society. I remonstrated against generalizing from this individual case, where the mistake had been in cultivating a talent from mere

caprice, and then thinking neither of the interests nor of the feelings of its possessor. It seemed to me this poor girl was wrongly placed; she should have been made a teacher. 66 Ah, there it is," said my informant; " and where are we to get our maid-servants?" "You are to get them from schools where they are taught moral duties and the dignity and importance of labour," I replied. She insisted on it, that she knew no such schools. In some cases I have heard young ladies complain that their servants knew more of arithmetic and history than they did. Surely it was a shame, yes, a shame! that with leisure and libraries at command, a young lady should make such a complaint, was my reply. Still these numerous complaints, from persons once favourable to education, would perplex me greatly if it were not that I sometimes hear, from equally competent persons, a totally different sentiment. How unfortunate are the girls of the humbler classes, say they so inadequately taught ;-the qualifications for a school-mistress are never required to be equal to those of a school-master; and even should the teaching be good, the circumstances of parents, and the claims of domestic duties on girls, prevent their having the time for school instructions. It is a relief to get a boy away from home during the day; a girl is useful there. I balance all these conflicting testimonies, and find a modicum of truth in each. It is a fact that to teach what can never be likely to be needed, unless the sphere of the pupil is changed, leads to discontent and restless

ness; to successful change for the few really talented-to ruin for the many of feebler capabilities.

"To know what lies about us in our daily paths

Is man's chief wisdom."

My remedy for this, if I had the power to remedy it, would be, never to teach higher branches until elements were well understood-never to allow an ornamental study of any kind till there was knowledge amounting to proficiency in useful things. There is some truth also in the fact of moral training being deficient. If figures and words are regulated by laws and taught as systems, why not systematically teach moral principles, not as mere dogmatic maxims, but as rational inevitable requirements?

"It is true that girls are often far less thoroughly instructed than boys. Among the more affluent circles of society this disparity becomes yet greater. Boys are taught the principles of knowledge-girls the results. And it is painfully true, that in humble life girls are subject to interruptions from the recurring and necessary duties of home, that limit them as to time of receiving instruction, and, neutralize the efforts of the teacher.

"But, my dear friend, all this contrariety of opinion and of circumstances only the more fully convinces me that we must do right and leave results. Wherever the Almighty has given a mind, He has laid on society the solemn obligation of training that mind. It is right to promote

education. The success attending those efforts is with a higher Power.

“I was musing on this matter when in the stage-coach, a few days back, that conveyed me from the railroad some miles across the country to the little town of Two ladies were my

travelling companions. They seemed to be of better station than education, and their talk, as is the wont of many persons, was of their servants. Their troubles seemed, by their own account, unparalleled. They sang the same strain, with few variations, and the burden was, "education had ruined the girls." "I am on the look-out for a girl that can neither read nor write; for the creature I now have reads my letters," said one. "My girl is reading when she ought to be at work, and I've locked up every book in the house," said the other. Some appeal was made to me, and I briefly said, "I should not think a girl well educated who would be guilty of reading letters, or of wasting her employer's time. It's want of right education, and not too much of it, that is the evil in the cases you name. However, I certainly felt curious to know what would be the result of having an entirely uninstructed girl as a servant, whether it would really be so successful as these ladies seemed to think; and strangely enough, at the lodgings that were taken for me at I had an opportunity of seeing the comfort and order produced by ignorance.

"Will you have patience with me, dear friend, while I try whether I can write an interesting ac