Barbadoes Girl: A Tale for Young People Read online

  CHAPTER VII.

  It will be readily supposed that, with the hopes now entertained ofMatilda's conduct, Mrs. Harewood did not hesitate to provide the governesswe have spoken of, and accordingly Miss Campbell was soon established inthe family.

  She found Matilda rapid in her ideas, persevering in her pursuits, butprone to resentment on every trifling occasion, and still subject tofinding herself cause for repentance. On these occasions Miss Campbellconducted herself with composure and dignity, as if she considered apetulant child below the notice of a sensible woman: by this means thepride of the culprit was humbled; she was taught to retread her firststeps, and perceive that she was an insignificant being, obliged to thesuffrage of her friends, and only capable of being valuable in proportionto her docility and amiable conduct.

  Mrs. Harewood had been accustomed to give her children the treat of a ballat Christmas; but on this year she put it off until midsummer, partlybecause she was afraid, in so large a party, and with such variousdispositions, Matilda might not be able to conduct herself with perfectpropriety during a whole evening, and partly because she wished her tolearn to dance; for although this was, in her eyes, a very secondaryaccomplishment, when compared to solid knowledge, yet, as a healthful andinnocent amusement, and called for in order to form the person in thatstation of life in which Matilda was likely to move, she desired to see heracquire at least as much of it as would preserve her from the appearance ofawkwardness. It was an object of anxiety with this truly maternal friend tosave her from all unnecessary mortification, at the same time she earnestlydesired to see her tractable, humble, and gentle.

  Time now passed away pleasantly, for all were occupied, and thereforehappy: the idle are subject to many errors, and therefore many sorrows,from which the busy are exempt.

  The good governess studied the temper and disposition of her pupils, anddrew them forth in the happiest manner; not by making exhibitions of theirattainments to others, but by showing them what was necessary to themselvesfor their improvement. She considered the work of education as sowing goodseed, which shall spring up with vigour in advancing life, in proportion tothe depth of the soil and its preparation for receiving it.

  Whilst Miss Campbell inculcated those branches of polite learning whichgive a grace to virtue, she was still more desirous of inculcating virtueitself, by grafting it on religious principle, and that "fear of God, whichis the beginning of wisdom."

  The children of Mrs. Harewood had been taught, from their earliest days,that prudence and charity must go hand in hand; but it remained for MissCampbell to impress this salutary truth on the mind of Matilda, who wasnaturally very generous, but debased that feeling by ostentation, and eversought to indulge it with a vain and hurtful profusion, until she becameenlightened by her young preceptress, who likewise, in many other points,regulated those desires in her pupils which blend good and evil, andrequire a firm and delicate management. She was very solicitous to renderthem active, both personally and mentally, knowing that the health of bothbody and mind depends upon their due exercise, and that a taste for studyis yet perfectly compatible with those various exertions to which theduties of a woman always call her, in whatever sphere she may have occasionto move.

  Miss Campbell wished to save her pupils alike from that perpetualfidgetiness, which renders so many females unable to amuse themselves fora single hour, unless their hands, feet, and tongue are employed, and thatpertinacious love of reading, which renders them utterly unable to enterinto the common claims of society, while a new story is perused, or a newstudy developed; she considered these errors as diseases in the mentalhabit it was her duty to prevent or eradicate, since they must be everinconsistent with general duty and individual happiness.

  Time passed--the vacation arrived, and the young people had the pleasure ofall meeting again. Matilda was nearly as glad as Ellen to see Edmund andCharles, who, on their own parts, were much improved, and delighted to findthe girls so. Matilda was in every respect altered, and although she hadnot Ellen's sweetness of temper, yet she had greatly conquered herpropensity to passion, was very obliging in her general manners, andconsiderate to her inferiors, and attached to Ellen, her governess, and Mr.and Mrs. Harewood, with a tenderness and gratitude that was very amiableand even affecting.