“I will endure this no longer. Henceforth I will ‘try to be somebody,’ if I never have tried before; not in the foolish sense that Abby Leonard meant, but in a higher and nobler one. Her taunt shall furnish me with a motto and a spur. I will show to her and all my acquaintances that I have no ambition to become a fine lady, or to affect gentility, or to pass for what I am not. I will show to them that even a poor girl may aspire to something better than these. The ‘somebody’ that I try to be, shall possess a pure heart and a spotless character. She shall, if possible, reach an honorable, independent and useful position. She shall make her influence felt in the world for good. She shall win the love and respect of those who know her. The poor, the suffering and the erring shall always find in her a friend. But whether she succeeds in all these things or not, her life shall be strictly governed by christian principles, and she shall always patiently submit to the will of God;” and Jessie concluded her soliloquy with a silent prayer that no unworthy motive might mingle with the purpose she had formed, and that she might be enabled to adhere to her resolution through life.
From that hour, “Try to be somebody” was Jessie’s motto. The sting was at once withdrawn from her wounded spirit, and the ogre was suddenly transformed into an angel of light. The weeks of the academical term flew swiftly by, but ere half of them had sped, the aristocratic Miss Leonard manifested not only a willingness but a desire to associate with “that drunken Hapley’s daughter,” little suspecting that her thoughtless and cruel remark on the first day of the term had ever reached the ears of Jessie.
The first record Jessie was called to make in her journal was a very sad one. On the afternoon of New-Year’s day, her youngest brother, Benjamin, fell asleep in the arms of his mother, never more to awake in this world, until the dead shall arise from their graves. For a day or two, all thoughts of the journal vanished from her mind; but when the first outburst of grief was past, she found a melancholy satisfaction in recording the incidents of Benny’s sickness and death, and from that time she continued her daily entries without intermission.
In the remarks which Mr. Upton made to his scholars on keeping journals, he said there were several ways of doing this. The diaries of some people, he said, were merely a very brief and dry record of events. Supposing one of his scholars to keep a diary after this style, he said something like the following would be a fair specimen of its pages:
SPECIMEN OF A DIARY—IN DRY MEASURE
“Monday, Dec. 20.—Cloudy and cold. Attended academy all day. Studied in the evening.
“Tuesday, Dec. 21.—Pleasant, but very cold. Attended the academy, as usual. Went over to Sarah Cobb’s and spent the evening.
“Wednesday, Dec. 22.—It snowed a little in the forenoon. I studied an hour in the morning, and then went to school. In the afternoon pa carried us to ride. Got a lesson in the evening, and then read till bed-time.”
Mr. Upton, who was in a rather funny mood, said this might be called a diary in dry measure. Another method of keeping a journal he illustrated somewhat after this fashion, denominating it a