Bessie at school

by Joanna H. Mathews

"And what does my Bessie say?" asked Mrs. Bradford.

Bessie had quite as much to say in praise of the new school, and the little tongues ran on till mamma had been told of all they had heard and seen that morning.

"And, mamma," said Maggie, "I've found out that something was true that grandmamma told me the other day. She said my shyness might stand in the way of my being of good to others; and this morning I found how it could be. There was a little girl whose mother was dead, and she was shy too, and felt very sad; and I wanted to say a kind thing to her, but somehow I couldn't. But Bessie went and spoke to her, and was of great comfort to her; and so I saw what grandmamma meant, and why I ought to try and cure myself of being shy."

"My dear little girl!" said her mother tenderly; and in her heart she thanked God that her child was so ready to take to heart and learn the lesson she needed.

Then she asked about the little one who had lost her dear mother; and when she heard that her name was Belle Powers, she said that, when she was a young lady, she had a very intimate friend who had married a gentleman named Powers, and moved away to the South; but for many years she had heard nothing of her; and she now wondered if she might not have been Belle's mother. What made her think so was, that her friend's own name had been Belle. If it were really so, she would like to be kind to the little child for her mother's sake, as well as her own.

Bessie told her that Belle had no brothers or sisters; and how Miss Ashton had said that her papa had sent her to school thinking that it might do her good, and make her forget her grief, to be with other children; and that they must all remember that she was lonely and sorrowful, and be very kind to her.

Mrs. Bradford was very sorry for little Belle, and she said the children might tell her to ask her father to let her come home with them some day after school, and have a good play in their merry, happy nursery. Of course, Maggie and Bessie immediately became anxious to have the day fixed, and mamma said if they were to do a kind thing it might as well be done at once; so they could ask Belle for the next day but one.

Bessie told her mother of the mistake she had made, and how Miss Ashton had explained it to her; and mamma said their teacher was quite right, and that she should herself have made Bessie understand more plainly what she wished her to do.

"But, mamma," said the little girl, "there was one thing that was very strange. Those young ladies in Mrs. Ashton's class seemed to think it was very surprising that I told her what I thought you meant me to do, and I almost think they would not have told her themselves; and they troubled me so about minding you that I hardly knew how it was. I think they might have been doing something better; don't you, mamma?"

Mrs. Bradford asked what she meant, and Bessie told all that had passed between herself and the girls.