Aunt Mary | Page 3

had
very little time, and I am sorry to say that he had very little inclination,
to attend to his children, though we must do him the justice to say that
he wished sincerely for their proper training; but he thought, as I fear
too many papas do, that this duty belonged exclusively to his wife. This

we think is a grave mistake. Children cannot be taught too early the
lesson of obedience; and often it happens that the weakness or
tenderness of a mother prevents her from enforcing this very salutary
precept.
But I return to our young friends, who were under the necessity of
making their request in the presence of both Mabel and Julia, though
they had agreed between themselves not to do so, but to ask their
mamma alone, so that if it were inconvenient to her they would not
press the matter.
Without waiting for their mamma's answer, both the girls immediately
begged to be allowed to go, indeed using every entreaty, so that poor
Mrs. Ellis appeared quite distressed; and the young Maitlands were no
less so, for they remembered what their mamma had said to them.
'I really scarcely know what to do,' said Mrs. Ellis, at last; 'I should be
sorry to deprive you of any pleasure, but you know, Mabel, I am not
well, and nurse is not with us: besides which, your papa made a
particular request this morning that I would not let you go out to-day.'
'Oh, that is always the way with papa,' broke in Mabel, impetuously. 'I
believe he would never let us go even for a walk, if he were at home.'
'Hush, hush, Mabel!' said her mother; 'I wonder you are not ashamed to
speak of your papa in this disrespectful manner. Besides, you know that
you are not speaking the truth.'
'Don't let them go, Mrs. Ellis, if it is inconvenient to you,' said Dora
Maitland; 'we will call another day. I am sure mamma would be very
sorry to hear that our coming brought any trouble to you.'
'It is not a trouble, of course,' again broke in the impetuous Mabel,
without waiting her mamma's reply; 'and we shall be home long before
papa, so nothing need be said to him about our having been out.'
The two young visitors looked at each other, and appeared quite
distressed at this suggestion. They had been, and rightly so, taught to

consider deception of any kind as falsehood; but Mrs. Ellis did not
appear to be of the same opinion, and though she still urged her own ill
health and the absence of the nurse, she was evidently inclined to yield
to the continued and earnest request of her daughters.
'We will promise you not to be away more than an hour, dear mamma,'
said Julia, who was certainly the best of the two girls; and this promise
being seconded by Mabel very earnestly, poor Mrs. Ellis foolishly gave
her consent to their going, which consent had no sooner been obtained,
than the selfish girls darted off to make ready for their walk, leaving
Dora and Annie very much concerned about what had passed, and
determined in their own minds to forego the anticipated pleasure of
seeing the glass beehives till a more convenient season, for fear they
should not be back at the appointed time.
Mrs. Ellis, as I think I have before stated, had long been very delicate;
she was of a nervous temperament, and nothing appeared to affect her
health so much as excitement of any kind. She had been ordered lately
to be kept perfectly quiet, but this is one of those rules that are more
easily made than complied with by the mistress of a house, and the
mother of a family; and, unfortunately for Mrs. Ellis, she had no
strength of mind to aid her in the discharge of the duties that devolved
upon her, for she was weakly indulgent both to her children, and her
servants, and thus she was too often the slave of the one, and the dupe
of the other.
After the young people had set off for their walk, she sat down to
consider whether she had done right in letting them go; and
remembering her husband's prohibition, and the uncertainty of the time
at which he would return home, she evidently came to an unfavourable
conclusion in the matter, as she exclaimed aloud; 'I wish I had not let
them go!'
Wishing, however, now, was of no avail, and as sundry screams from
the nursery betokened a misfortune of some kind, the bell was rung for
the cook to go, and ascertain the cause of the tumult. Fortunately, there
was no great harm done: poor little Willie had contrived to mount on
two boxes,