Bessie at school

by Joanna H. Mathews

"I am so very much obliged to you, ma'am," she said, too much delighted to remember that the lady was almost a stranger to her.

"Yes," said Bessie, "you can't know how very much we thank you, 'cause you don't know how much accustomed Maggie and I are to each other."

"And I hope you will soon both become accustomed to me, and learn to love me," said Miss Ashton; and then she kissed them, and, telling them she hoped to see them at school on the next Monday, she went away; and the children ran back to their mother's room to make very sure that the good news was true.

"Yes," mamma said, "it had all been arranged." Miss Ashton was very kind, and said she would give Bessie lessons by herself, if she were not able to keep up with the rest of the class, and she might amuse herself quietly during the rest of the time; and nothing now remained but to hear what papa thought of this new plan. Only one promise mamma said she would require; and that was, that when the weather was such that she did not think it best for Bessie to go out, Maggie should go alone cheerfully. Maggie readily agreed, and when papa came home and said, since mamma and Miss Ashton thought it would do, he should make no objection, the two little sisters were so happy in the arrangement which kept them together, that even Maggie had no room for dread of the new school and new faces.

So, on the next Monday morning, there were two serious, but not sad, little damsels who stood one on each side of mamma, ready hatted and cloaked, waiting till papa should give the word to start for school. Serious, for this was a grave and important matter to them—quite a new step in life, and to Maggie a very trying one. Still, Bessie was with her, so she could bear it.

Mr. Bradford gave the word, and their mother was hugged and kissed, as though the parting were to be for a month instead of three hours, and they went away. Mamma had bidden them good-bye very cheerily, and it was as well they did not see the tear or two that rolled down her pale cheek, or how sorrowfully she looked after them, as she thought how she should miss their sweet company during those morning hours when they had been accustomed to be with her. But she knew it was best; and so, after the way of dear mammas, would not let them see her own regret, lest it should add to their trouble.

Mrs. and Miss Ashton lived but a short distance from Mrs. Bradford, and in a curious, old-fashioned house that was very different from most city houses. It was only two storeys high, but very wide and deep, and away at the back stretched a garden as old-fashioned as the house, with stiff box hedges, gravel walks bordered with white pebbles, a fountain in the centre, and at the farther end two old summer-houses covered with grape-vines. The two sides which bordered on the street were guarded by a high picket-fence, the third by a low stone wall beyond which were half a dozen vacant lots; while on the opposite corner, at right angles with Miss Ashton's house, lived Mr. Peters, who kept the school which Harry and Fred attended, and his boys were accustomed to use these lots as their ball-ground.

Maggie and Bessie thought it a very remarkable and pleasant circumstance that these two houses, standing thus by themselves on one square, should be occupied by the two schools, and it gave them a more homelike feeling to know that their brothers were so near.

Mr. Bradford asked for Miss Ashton, and when the young lady came down, he said a few words to her, and then, kissing his two little daughters, left them in her care. Miss Ashton talked very pleasantly and kindly to them as she led them up-stairs, followed by Jane, who had also come to take off the children's hats and cloaks; but they both felt very homesick as papa walked away, and had no heart to answer her. It seemed worse still when their walking-things were taken off, and Jane went away, looking very unwilling to leave them. Maggie's eyes were full of tears, and Bessie only kept hers back by the help of a feeling that she was there to be a comfort to her sister, and so must not give way.

But things appeared brighter when Miss Ashton took them into the large, pleasant front room where the rest of the class were assembled. Here were seven little girls, and among them were Lily Norris, Gracie Howard, and Nellie and Carrie Ransom,—all looking very happy, and very much pleased to see Maggie and Bessie, and not at all as though school were a thing to be dreaded.