Tempest and Sunshine | Page 9

schoolroom, where
he found assembled all his pupils. It was comparatively easy to arrange
them into classes and ere the close of the day the school was pretty
generally organized. Weeks passed on and each day the "Yankee
schoolmaster" gained in the love of his scholars, and one of them, at
least, gained in the affections of the teacher. Julia had adhered to her
resolution of appearing amiable and of surprising Mr. Wilmot with her
wonderful powers of learning. This last she did to perfection. No lesson
was so long but it was readily learned and its substance admirably told
in words of her own. She preferred reciting alone and she so far

outstripped the others in the length of her lessons, it seemed necessary
that she should do so. Mr. Wilmot often wondered at her marvelous
capacity for learning so much in so short a space of time, for she never
took home her books at night, and she said she had plenty of time for
her lessons during school hours.
With Fanny it was just the reverse. She got her lessons at home and
played all day at school! Sometimes a reprimand from Mr. Wilmot
would bring the tears into her eyes and she would wonder why it was
she could not behave and make Mr. Wilmot like her as well as he did
Julia. Then she would resolve not to make any more faces at that booby,
Bill Jeffrey, for the girls to laugh at, nor to draw any more pictures on
her slate of the Dame Sobriety, as she called Julia, and lastly, not to pin
any more chalk rags on the boys' coats. But she was a dear lover of fun
and her resolutions were soon for gotten. Her lessons, however, were
generally well-learned, and well recited; but she could not compete
with Julia, neither did she wish to. She often wondered how her sister
could learn so long lessons, and, secretly, she had her own suspicions
on the subject, but chose to keep them to herself.
Meantime the winter was passing rapidly and, to Mr. Wilmot, very
agreeably away. He liked his boarding place much and one of its
inmates had almost, without his knowledge, wound herself strongly
around his heart. For a time he struggled against it, for his first
acquaintance with Julia had not left a very favorable impression on his
mind. But since that night she had been perfectly pleasant before him
and had given out but one demonstration of her passionate temper.
This was one evening at the supper table. Zuba, a mulatto girl, brought
in some preserves and, in passing them, very carelessly spilled them
upon Julia's new blue merino. In the anger of the moment Mr. Wilmot
and his good opinion were forgotten. Springing up, she gave the girl a
blow which sent her half across the room and caused her to drop the
dish, which was broken in twenty pieces. At the same time she
exclaimed in a loud, angry tone, "Devil take you, Zube!" The loss of
the dish elicited a series of oaths from Mr. Middleton, who called his
daughter such names as "lucifer match," "volcano," "powder mill," and

so forth.
For her father's swearing Julia cared nothing, but it was the sorrowful,
disappointed expression of Mr. Wilmot's face which cooled her down.
Particularly did she wish to recall what she had done when she saw that
Fanny also had received some of the preserves on her merino; but
instead of raging like a fury, she arose and quietly wiped it off, and
then burst into a loud laugh, which she afterward told her mother was
occasioned by the mournful look which Mr. Wilmot's face assumed
when he saw that Julia's temper was not dead, but merely covered up
with ashes.
From this remark of Fanny's the reader will understand that she was
well aware of the part her sister was playing. And she was perfectly
satisfied that it should be so, for by this means she occasionally got a
pleasant word from Julia. She, however, often wished that Mr. Wilmot
could be constantly with her sister, for his presence in the house did not
prevent her from expending her wrath upon both Fanny and the blacks.
For some days after the affair of the preserves, Mr. Wilmot was
somewhat cool in his manner toward Julia, who had discernment
enough to attribute the change to the right cause. Earnestly did she
desire to win back his esteem, and she accordingly cast about for some
method by which she could undo what she had done. She could think of
no way except to acknowledge her error to Mr. Wilmot and promise to
do better in the future. So one evening when her father, mother and
Fanny were absent,