"It will take years, Priscilla; and in the meantime Emily will be ruined."
She answered, in a cheerful voice:
"God has given us the work, George, I would not dare to refuse it."
There were many times every day that she was ready to despair. Milly had not one idea of neatness and order, and could not be made to comprehend that it was of any consequence to put her clothes, books and toys in place. Her hat as often was tossed on a chair in the hall, her sack on the doorstep as on the hook and shelves allotted to them. In her room were a bureau and closet. Her aunt showed her Emily's clothes, hung or folded so neatly; but when she asked kindly:
"Won't you try, Milly, to keep yours in place?" the only answer was the laughing one:
"I can't bother with things. Let the servants do it."
"My poor child," said the lady tenderly, "it would be much easier for me to send Hannah to dress your bed, and make your room tidy, than to teach you to do it. But can't you understand that I do it for your good?"
"If you do not learn to be neat now, while you are young, you never will be likely to learn at all. If you have a house of your own, you will not be able to find anything. You remember what an inconvenience it is every day not to find your hat, your gloves, your jumping-rope, your hoop-stick; and how much time it takes to hunt for them, when, if you had a place for every thing, and kept every thing in its place if not in use, you would—"
"Oh!" interrupted Milly, "I say, what's the use of learning so many things, when, as soon as I'm grown, I'm going back to India to live with father. There are plenty of servants in the bungalows, and if I did the work, they would have nothing to do, but chew betel nuts, which makes them lazy."
"But, Milly, you know the Bible is God's word. God, our heavenly Father, who loves us and preserves us from harm, tells us—"