A Garden of Girls; Or, Famous Schoolgirls of Former DaysConcannon, Thomas, Mrs.
History
A Garden of Girls; Or, Famous Schoolgirls of Former Days
Concannon, Thomas, Mrs.
Catholic Church -- Education; Girls -- Biography; Women -- Education -- History
“Afterwards as I was not sleepy, Sœur Bichon came to my bed, and said
that if I died that night, I should go straight to Paradise. I asked her
what I should see in Paradise. And she said to me, ‘Picture to yourself,
dearie, that Paradise is a great big hall, all made of diamonds, rubies,
emeralds, and other precious stones. Le bon Dieu is sitting on a throne.
Jesus Christ is on His right hand, and the Blessed Virgin on His left,
the Holy Ghost is leaning over His shoulder, and all the Saints are
passing up and down before Him.’ While she was telling me this, I fell
asleep.”
And so we leave her, dreaming of Heaven, in her little white convent bed,
poor little Hélène Massalski.
II.—ANNA GREEN WINSLOW
(_Boston 1771—1773_)
In 1771, the very year little Hélène Massalski was passed through
the wicket of the grill of the Abbaye-aux-Bois, and dressed in her
pensionnaire’s uniform to begin her adventurous school career, a demure
little maiden in far off America sat her down to write _her_ diary
too. It is impossible to imagine a greater or more piquant contrast
than that between the little Catholic girl in her French convent, and
the little Puritan who was sent to her “Aunt Deming” in Boston by her
parents in Nova Scotia to be “finished” by Boston teachers. While Hélène
was “spoiling her hand” scribbling memoirs which nobody could read but
herself, and getting Mlle. de Choiseul to write her “copy-book” for
her so as to avoid trouble with M. Charme, her writing-master, little
Anna Green Winslow was recording in careful penmanship the events of
her Puritan day “for the edification of her ‘Hond. Mamma’” and her own
practice in “making letters even.” Poor little girl! one feels that
something more than the chill of the Boston winter has got into her frail
little body; and one wishes for something better than the warmth of
“Unkle Joshua’s” fire to cheer her on bitter days on her way from school.
For in truth she is a very likeable little person, this “Pilgrim’s
daughter,” and one feels that in a kindlier atmosphere she would have
blossomed into something very dear and sweet. Sometimes in the midst of
her notes of “Mr. Hunt’s” and “Mr. Beacon’s” sermons, one comes across
the most naïve confession of personal vanity, and one cannot help loving
her for it. It was all very well for Mr. Beacon to tell her that “true
beauty consisted in holiness”; and to show her “Hond. Mamma” that she had
been paying attention she even took the pains to copy his very words—his
“lastly” to his dear young friends: “Let me tell you, you’l never be
truly beautiful till you’re like the king’s daughter, all glorious
within, all the ornimints you can put on while your souls are unholy
make you the more like white sepulchres garnished without, but full of
deformyty within. You think me very unpolite, no doubt, to address
you in this manner, but I must go a little further and tell you, how
cource soever it may sound to your delicacy, that while you are without
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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