The Path of Duty | Page 3

as yet, attended any school. My mother had been my only
teacher, and as her own education had been thorough, she was amply
qualified for the task.
CHAPTER II.
SUCCESS AT SCHOOL.
About a year after my father's death, my mother decided upon sending
me to school, as she thought I was becoming too sedate and serious for
a child only eleven years of age. I had never been very familiar with the
neighbouring children of my own age, and after the death of my father I
cared still less for their companionship. My chief enjoyment was in the
society of my mother; and as we kept no servant, I found many ways of
making myself useful to her; and every afternoon she devoted two or
three hours to my lessons and needlework. Thus passed away the first
year after our great sorrow, when, as I have already said, my mother
decided upon sending me to school. It seemed to me, at the time, quite
a formidable undertaking--this going to school. I had never been

separated from my mother, and the five hours to be spent daily in the
school-room seemed to my childish mind a very long time. I had ever
been shy and diffident in the presence of strangers, and the idea of
entering a large school a stranger to both teacher and pupils, was very
unpleasant to me. But when I found it to be my mother's wish that I
should go, I endeavoured to overcome my reluctance, and assisted my
mother in her preparations for entering me as a pupil at the beginning
of the ensuing term.
It was with a feeling of timidity that I accompanied my mother through
several streets to the school taught by Miss Edmonds. My mother
accompanied me to relieve me from any awkwardness I might feel in
presenting myself for admission. It was a select school for girls. As my
education had thus far been entirely conducted by my mother, I had of
course, never been subjected to the rules of a school-room; and I must
confess that I had formed an idea of school teachers in general that was
not at all flattering. I fancied them all to be old, sour and cross--a mere
walking bundle of rules and regulations, and I was quite unprepared to
see the sweet-looking young lady who answered to my mother's
summons at the door. Surely, thought I, this young lady cannot be Miss
Edmonds; and when my mother enquired if such were her name and
she replied in the affirmative, I thought going to school might not be so
bad after all. After giving Miss Edmonds my name and age, my mother
held some conversation with her regarding my studies, and left me with
an encouraging smile. I felt all my timidity return when I thought of
entering the school-room with Miss Edmonds, but her kind and friendly
manner reassured me. The school consisted of about thirty girls, many
of them older than myself. I had feared that my attainments would be
inferior to those of the youngest of the pupils, and I was equally
pleased and surprised when Miss Edmonds, after a long and careful
examination in regard to my acquirements, placed me in one of the
higher classes. There was to me an irresistible attraction in the
countenance and manner of my teacher; and, from the first moment I
saw her I loved her. Although her home is now far distant from mine,
and we have not met for many years, I love her as dearly now as when
she took me by the hand when a child of eleven years. She conducted
her school in a very systematic and orderly manner, and was very

particular to require perfect recitations from her pupils; but as I
possessed a retentive memory, I found my tasks much lighter than did
many of my classmates.
When I had been about a year at school, Miss Edmonds offered a prize,
in the class to which I belonged, to the young lady who should write
the most able composition upon a given subject. The prize was to be a
small gold pencil-case, and was to be awarded at the close of the
summer term. The closing day at length came; there was much
suppressed excitement when we were called to order that morning. As
we expected no visitors till the afternoon, we spent the morning mostly
in reviewing our various studies. By two o'clock our school-room was
crowded. We first passed a very searching examination in the different
studies we had pursued during the past year. I believe we passed our
examination in a manner creditable both to our teacher and to
ourselves.
The reading of our compositions was reserved, as the closing exercise.
The compositions, with the