"Her education was begun by Harris, who taught her to read, to use her
needle, and to speak genteelly; it was afterwards carried on by masters
from Reading, for her aunts had no sort of idea of that kind of
education which can only be carried on by intellectual company and
teachers. Harris was told that no expense would be spared for Miss
Vaughan; that her dress must be of the first price and fashion; that if
she desired toys she was to have them, and as many gift-books as St.
Paul's Church-yard supplied.
"As to her religious duties, Harris was to see that she was always very
well dressed, and in good time to go to Church with her aunts; that she
was taught her Catechism; and that she read a portion every day of some
good book; one of the old ladies recommending the _Whole Duty of Man_,
another Nelson's _Fasts and Festivals_, a third Boston's _Fourfold
State_, whilst the fourth, merely, it is to be feared, in opposition to
her sisters, remarked, half aside to Harris, that all the books above
mentioned were very good, to be sure, but too hard for a child, and
therefore that the Bible itself might, she thought, answer as well,
till Miss Vaughan could manage hard words. As Harris herself had no
particular relish for any of the books mentioned, she fixed upon the
Bible as being the easiest, and moreover being divided into shorter
sections than the other three.
"So Evelyn was to have everything that a child could wish for that
could be got with money; and though Harris minded to the letter every
order that was given her, yet she thought only of serving herself in
all she did. In private with the child she laid praises and flattery
upon her as thick as honey in a full honeycomb; she never checked her
in anything she desired, so long as she did nothing which might
displease her aunts, should it come to their knowledge; she scarcely
ever dressed her without praising her beauty, or gave her a lesson
without telling her how quick and clever she was. She talked to her of
the fine fortune she would come into when she was of age; of her
mamma's jewels, in which she was to shine; of the fine family houses;
and, in short, of everything which could raise her pride; and there was
not a servant about the house who did not address the little girl as if
she had not been made of the same flesh and blood as other people."
"Poor little girl!" said Lucy.
"I am sorry for her," remarked Emily; "she must have been quite spoiled
by all these things."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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