Emilie the Peacemaker | Page 4

subject as she was to spasms,
too. Indeed she could eat no supper. She was very dull and not well, so
Emilie sat down to her solitary meal. She did not go on worrying her
aunt to eat, but she watched for a suitable opening, for the first
indication indeed, of the clearing up for which she hoped, and though it
must be confessed some such thoughts as "how cross and unreasonable
aunt is," did pass through her mind, she gave them no utterance.
Emilie's mind was under good discipline, she had learned to forbear in
love, and for the exercise of this virtue, she had abundant opportunity.
Poor Emilie! she had not always been a governess, subject to the trials
of tuition; she had not always lived in a little lodging without the
comforts and joys of family and social intercourse.
Her father had failed in business, in Frankfort, and when Emilie was
about ten years of age, he had come over to England, and had gained
his living there by teaching his native language. He had been dead
about a twelve-month, and Emilie, at the age of twenty-one, found
herself alone in the world, in England at least, with the exception of the
old German aunt, to whom I have introduced you, and who had come
over with her brother, from love to him and his motherless child. She
had a very small independence, and when left an orphan, the kind old
aunt, for kind she was, in spite of some little infirmities of temper,
persisted in sharing with her her board and lodging, till Emilie, who
was too active and right minded to desire to depend on her for support,

sought employment as a teacher.
The seaport town of L----, in the south of England, whither Emilie and
her father had gone in the vain hope of restoring his broken health,
offered many advantages to our young German mistress. She had had a
good solid education. Her father, who was a scholar, had taught her,
and had taught her well, so that besides her own language, she was able
to teach Latin and French, and to instruct, as the advertisements say, "in
the usual branches of English education." She was musical, had a fine
ear and correct taste, and accordingly met with pupils without much
difficulty. In the summer months especially she was fully employed.
Families who came for relaxation were, nevertheless, glad to have their
daughters taught for a few hours in the week; and you may suppose that
Emilie Schomberg did not lead an idle life. For remuneration she fared,
as alas teachers do fare, but ill. The sum which many a gentleman
freely gives to his butler or valet, is thought exorbitant, nay, is rarely
given to a governess, and Emilie, as a daily governess, was but poorly
paid.
The expenses of her father's long illness and funeral were heavy, and
she was only just out of debt; therefore, with the honesty and
independence of spirit that marked her, she lived carefully and frugally
at the little rooms of Miss Webster, the straw bonnet maker, in High
Street.
From what I have told you already, you will easily perceive that Emilie
was accustomed to command her temper; she had been trained to do
this early in life. Her father, who foresaw for his child a life dependent
on her character and exertion, a life of labour in teaching and governing
others, taught Emilie to govern herself. Never was an only child less
spoiled than she; but she was ruled in love. She knew but one law, that
of kindness, and it made her a good subject.
Many were the sensible lessons that the good man gave her, as leaning
on her strong arm he used to pace up and down the grassy slopes which
bordered the sea shore. "Look, Emilie," he would say, "look at that
governess marshalling her scholars out. Do they look happy? think you
that they obey that stern mistress out of _love_? Listen, she calls to

them to keep their ranks and not to talk so loud. What unhappy faces
among them! Emilie, my child, you may keep school some day; oh,
take care and gain the love of the young ones, I don't believe there is
any other successful government, so I have found it." "With me, ah yes,
papa!" "With you, my child, and with all my scholars; I had little
experience as a teacher, when first it pleased God to make me
dependent on my own exertions as such, but I found out the secret.
Gain your pupils' love, Emilie, and a silken thread will draw them;
without that love, cords will not drag, scourges will scarcely drive
them."
Emilie found this advice of her father's rather hard to