Julia. So it is—five minutes past twelve!—I could not have believed I had been more than two hours with the flowers. Well, mamma, I will run and fetch my books: they shall be ready by the time you get back into the breakfast-room. You shall see I will be very good and attentive.“
Julia was very attentive: she did all her lessons well; she wrote a copy; cast up two sums in addition, without a single error; read a little French, and did some grammar.—When the grammar was finished, she sat down to work. She asked her mother if she might talk to her while she was hemming her handkerchief. Her mother said she might.
Julia. Pray, mamma, why do you not have a hot-house, as well as Lady Beauchamp? It would be very agreeable to have flowers and fruits at this season of the year, when there are none in the open air. Do not you think so, mamma?
Mrs. V. Yes, certainly, it would be agreeable.
Julia. Then why do not you have one?
Mrs. V. Because I am too poor.
Julia. Oh! now, mamma, you seem to be joking: you are not poor—not very poor.
Mrs. V. I did not say I was very poor; but still, I am too poor to have a hot-house, with propriety. Hot-houses are extremely expensive: the glass costs a great deal of money to keep it in repair; for it is so brittle that it is frequently broken. Coals are likewise very expensive; and the constant fires which are necessary to bring the fruits and flowers forward, during winter, consume a great quantity. Then the wages of the gardeners would be very high. All these things would be more than I could afford.
Julia. But still, mamma, I do not think you poor. I call Mrs. Jones, who lives in the cottage at the end of the lane, poor.
Mrs. V. No, certainly, I am not as poor as Mrs. Jones is: she and her husband are obliged to work hard, to earn enough to buy coarse food and clothes for themselves and children. When the poor man was ill, in the winter, and could not labour, the family were almost starved. Do not you recollect, Mrs. Jones told me her husband would have died, and herself and children would have perished through want, if Sir Henry and Lady Beauchamp had not sent medicines to Jones, when he was so ill with the rheumatic fever, good warm flannel to clothe him, meat to make him broth, and plenty of potatoes and rice, for the children to eat, till he was well enough to earn his wages again? Sir Henry Beauchamp and his lady are also kind to a great many other poor people, and assist them when they are ill and unable to work. They are very rich, and are therefore able to do all this good, and at the same time have hot-houses and other expensive things.—I could not.—If I were to attempt to have a hot-house, I should have no money to pay the butcher and the baker for bread and meat. Besides, it is not right to spend all we have on ourselves: we should always take care to save some of our money, to give to those who are in distress, and who are still poorer than ourselves.