He was standing up with the box of papers in his hand, and saying:
"I must have you all over to tea some night, and Doris must come and see
my old house. And I have a big boy like Warren. Yes, we must be a little
more friendly, for life is short at the best. And you are to stay here a
while with good Cousin Elizabeth, and I hope you will be content and
happy."
She pressed the hand Uncle Win held out in both of hers. In all the
changes she had learned to be content, and she had a certain
adaptiveness that kept her from being unhappy. She was very glad she was
going to stay with Betty, and glanced up with a bright smile.
They all said good-night to Cousin Adams. Mr. Leverett turned the great
key in the hall door, and it gave a shriek.
"I must oil that lock to-morrow. It groans enough to raise the dead,"
said Mrs. Leverett.
CHAPTER III
AUNT PRISCILLA
There was quite a discussion about a school.
Uncle Win had an idea Doris ought to begin high up in the scale. For
really she was very well born on both sides. Her father had left
considerable money, and in a few years second-cousin Charles' bequest
might be quite valuable, if Aunt Priscilla did sniff over it. There was
Mrs. Rawson's.
"But that is mostly for young ladies, a kind of finishing school. And in
some things Doris is quite behind, while in others far advanced. There
will be time enough for accomplishments. And Mrs. Webb's is near by,
which will be an object this cold winter."
"I shouldn't like her to forget her French. And perhaps it would be as
well to go on with Latin," Cousin Adams said.
Mrs. Leverett was a very sensible woman, but she really did not see the
need of Latin for a girl. There was a kind of sentiment about French; it
had been her mother's native tongue, and one did now and then go to
France.
There had been a good deal of objection to even the medium education of
women among certain classes. The three "R's" had been considered all
that was necessary. And when the system of public education had been
first inaugurated it was thought quite sufficient for girls to go from
April to October. Good wives and good mothers was the ideal held up to
girls. But people were beginning to understand that ignorance was not
always goodness. Mrs. Rawson had done a great deal toward the
enlightenment of this subject. The pioneer days were past, unless one
was seized with a mania for the new countries.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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