The Barbadoes Girl | Page 9

not but it would prove the forerunner of virtue, in a child who appeared
convinced of her faults, and desirous of improving herself.
It was now near Christmas, and Mrs. Harewood was inquiring for a
boarding-school where she could place Miss Hanson. She would have
preferred to keep her at home, and have a governess, who might attend
to the instructions necessary both for her and Ellen; but the bad temper
and insolent airs of Matilda had prevented this, as Mrs. Harewood
could not bear the idea of subjecting an amiable young person, whom
she designed for that situation, to be tormented with such a girl. She
knew that, in schools, two faults seldom fail to be cured: these are
impertinence, or insolence, and affectation--one rendering a person
disagreeable, the other ridiculous; and every member in the community
of which a school consists, is ready to assist the ruler in punishing the
one, and laughing at the other.
One morning, when Matilda got out of bed, she went to look whether
the morning was fine, and the moment she got to the window, eagerly
cried out, in great surprise--"Ellen, Ellen! get up this moment, and
come to the window; the whole world is covered with white! and see,
there are thousands and thousands of little white feathers coming from
the skies, as if the angels were emptying feather-beds upon the earth."
"It snows," said Ellen, calmly; "I recollect my papa told us you had
never seen it snow."
"What is snow?"
"We will ask Edmund; he can tell you much better than I can."
The surprising appearance thus witnessed, induced Matilda to hasten
down stairs, where Edmund was writing his Latin exercise.--"Do pray
tell me," she cried, "what snow is, and why I never saw it before?"

"Snow," said Edmund, "is nothing but drops of rain, which, in passing
through the cold air, become congealed or frozen. If you take this pretty
light substance into your warm hand, it will melt and become a
rain-drop again."
As Edmund spoke, he opened the window a very little way, caught
some snow, and showed her the effect he spoke of.
"But why did I never see this in Barbadoes?"
"Because Barbadoes lies nearer to the sun than England, and is much
warmer, even in winter; therefore the rain-drops never pass through that
region of cold air which freezes them in northern climates. If you were
to go farther north, you would find still more snow and ice, the same I
saw you looking at yesterday. I will lend you a little book, where you
will see a description of a palace of ice, and of whole mountains of
snow, called Glaciers; and, if you please, I will show you that part of
the globe, or earth, in which those effects begin to take place. But, my
dear Ellen, pray lend Matilda your tippet, for she looks as much frozen
as the snow; she must take great care of herself in this cold climate."
Ellen threw the pinafore she was going to put on over the neck of the
shuddering Matilda, and then ran nimbly before them towards the globe,
on which Edmund was going to lecture, neither of them looking in
Matilda's face; but Charles, who just then happened to enter, perceived
that silent tears were coursing each other down her cheek. His
compassion was moved; he apprehended that the cold, which he felt
himself to be severe, had made her ill, and he inquired what was the
matter with her, in a tone of real commiseration.
"I am so--so very ignorant," said Matilda, sobbing.
"Oh, that's it!" cried Charles, gaily; "then you and I may shake hands,
for I am ignorant too."
"Oh no, European children know every thing, but I am little better than
a negro; I find what your mamma said was very true--I know nothing at
all."

"Dear Matilda, how can you say so?" said Edmund; "though you have
not read as much as we have, yet you have seen a great deal more than
any of us, and you are the youngest of the company, you know.
Consider, you have crossed the Atlantic Ocean, seen groves of
orange-trees and spices grow, and the whole process of sugar-making.
You know the inside of a ship as well as a house, and we never saw any
thing better than a sloop, or sailed any where but on the Thames."
"Besides," said Charles, "you have seen monkeys and parrots, and
many other creatures, in their own country, and many curious fish on
your voyage. Oh, you understand natural history much better than we
do."
"And if you understand nothing at all," added Ellen, kindly pressing her
hand, "mamma says it is only wilful ignorance that is blameable."
Matilda wept still more while