On this page
-
Text (1)
-
400 GOING A GOVERNESSITSTG.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
> H Conscience As A Right To Whispers , ...
come in to lielp you sometimes if I can spare time , but my baby and the quantity of needlework required in so large a family take utp
most of the day . If , however , I engage a nurse , I dare say I shall come into the school-room occasionally . "
Here the lady paused , on which I tremblingly enquired " what salary she proposed to give ? " " Well" she replied" salary was
,, not an object , with her , and she wished to give everyone their due , and undervalue nobody ; therefore , under the circumstances , as I
had never been out _beforeh and she did not require much from , me , suppose we said £ 20 per annum if I stayed more than six months ,
and £ 18 if I left at the expiration of that term . Would that satisfy me ? " I was not quite sure , ( having never bought even a new bonnet
for myself , ) but I rather thought it would be a small sum ; but then the lady offered it with such an air of patronizing majestythat I felt
, almost certain it must be a very large one , and as I had no doubt she knew more about such things than I , and that bonnets and mantles
did not cost so very much after all , I made answer that I was " perfectly _satisfied" to sell my little frail body and my active mind to the
magnincient lady in bed , for the enormous sum of £ 20 per annum . " And then" pursued my patroness"if you have any time for
needle-. , , work you know _^— " but at this moment the door opened to admit " papa" and his red haired daughterwho wasas I saw at a glance ,
, , , the image of her sire . " Weel , " began the gentleman , with a strong Caledonian accent , which I fear I shall fail to convey to paper ,
" and have ye told the leddie all aboot it ? " at the same time bestowing a nod of his head upon me . " Yes , my dear , I have told
this young lady of the few little matters she will have to attend to when she comes to us . "
" And have ye tould her not to stop here on the Sabbath ?" "I forgot to mention , " said his wife , turning her eyes again upon
. me , " that we wish you to go home on Sunday . I bowed , and the gentleman added , " We dinna want ye here .
Have ye got a gude hame to gang to ?" I felt the tears that had long been resisting every restraint I put
upon them here begin to overflow , and taking this for an answer , the brute continued , "Weel it ' s a gude thing ye havena ; but ye
canna bide here on the Sabbath . " Here the wife explained that they once had a governess , with so
comfortable a home to go to , that she left them , at the end of three months ; and finding I could not endure much more of such a scene
with composure , I rose to take my leave , promising to " consult my friends . " . I have not the least recollection of how I got home .
But I reached that little oasis somehow ; feeling ( for I had made up my mind that I must take this situation ) how soon I should be *
separated from the few dear ones left , and earn my bread among strangers . In the long twilight of the summer _' s eve I told my tale ,
and looking as youth ever does—on the bright side of things—I
smoothed down its ruggedness , and rounded its angles , until the .
400 Going A Governessitstg.
400 GOING A _GOVERNESSITSTG .
-
-
Citation
-
English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Aug. 1, 1858, page 400, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01081858/page/40/
-