Next I suggested that the piano should be tuned, but they were united in their disapproval of such a fearful extravagance. “The peeany makes a good nise. What ails it?”
Then I suggested that the children should be kept tidier, for which I was insulted by their father. I wanted them to be dressed up like swells, and if he did that he would soon be a pauper like my father. This I found was the sentiment of the whole family regarding me. I was only the daughter of old hard-up Melvyn, consequently I had little weight with the children, which made things very hard for me as a teacher.
One day at lunch I asked my mistress if she would like the children to be instructed in table-manners. “Certainly,” her husband replied, so I commenced.
“Jimmy, you must never put your knife in your mouth.”
“Pa does at any rate,” replied Jimmy.
“Yes,” said pa; “and I’m a richer man today than them as didn’t do it.”
“Liza, do not put a whole slice of bread to your mouth like that, and cram so. Cut it into small pieces.”
“Ma doesn’t,” returned Liza.
“Ye’ll have yer work cut out with ’em,” laughed Mrs M’Swat, who did not know how to correct her family herself, and was too ignorant to uphold my authority.
That was my only attempt at teaching manners there. In the face of such odds it was a bootless task, and as there were not enough knives and forks to go round, I could not inculcate the correct method of handling those implements.