the girls have been singing, 'Home, sweet home.' To-morrow, I shall again see my parents. Is papa as iron as ever, and is mamma as much like a weeping willow? I suppose so, for the learned man who lectured last week at the Lyceum, remarked that people's characters seldom experience any decided change after the age of forty. Well, as Eleanor would say, 'there is no help for it.' We must return home." CHAPTER VII. "Hence, loathed Melancholy, Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born, MILTON. ELEANOR TO JEANNETTE. "MERTONVILLE, May 12, 18-. I am half sorry, dear Jeannette, that I promised to write, for this letter, at least, will contain naught which is enlivening, or even encouraging. I told you that I would send a faithful account of my reception. My father at first looked upon me with something like kindness, but the former aspect of things soon returned, and with it my sense of loneliness and desolation. Jeannette, I am not always the stoic which my appearance indicates. I was not designed for a philosopher of that school; circumstances compelled me to wear its robes, and to become a candidate for its degree, and well do I usually succeed in passing for one of its accomplished graduates. Occasionally, however, the susceptible frame of mind natural to me prevails; where then is my hardihood? where is my stern endurance? where are my declarations that it is folly to bewail the inevitable? "About a week after my return, I sought an interview with my father; never in my life had I ventured to do this. I presume that he was amazed by my audacity; but he closed the library door, bade me be seated, and said: "I am ready to hear you, Eleanor, what is your request?' "Jeannette, at that moment I felt slightly dizzy; I experienced a sense of suffocation; I wondered that I had dared to enter his presence unsummoned, and wished that I were again safe within the precincts of my own apartment. I soon rallied, thinking that my feelings were all very foolish. Had I not a right to speak to my own father, without being overwhelmed by awe and dread? I took courage, and said: "Sir, you have kindly given me the advantage of books and teachers for three long years. I am truly grateful. Although as I advance I see that new elevations are continually appearing upon the hill of knowledge, and that the summit is unattainable, I know that I am much farther from the base than thousands of my fellow-beings who are yet groping along the lowlands of ignorance. I wish to be useful while upon the earth, to live so that when my God calls for an account of my stewardship, I need not be obliged to say that I buried in the ground the talent entrusted to my charge. May I go to the West as a teacher, or to the East as a missionary?' 66 Jeannette, I know not whence came the courage with which I uttered all this, more than I had ever before spoken at one time in the presence of my father. He had sat with his terrorinspiring eyes riveted upon my crimsoned visage. "Is this all?' he asked, with a sardonic smile, while his brow was strangely contorted. "Yes, sir.' "Well, Eleanor, know now that you must never again address me upon the subject. I give you a negative answer, and I shall endure no solicitation. You must not be a teacher, but must remain under my roof, as is the duty of a daughter of mine. Do not interrupt. I will no more consent to your teaching at home than abroad; you must not entertain such a thought. I will also tell you that the spirit of fanaticism which you have just evinced is intolerable, and that quiet deference and submission are the feelings which should influence a young lady. It is not the duty of any girl to go forth into the world as a herald of truth; your place, for the present, is that of a daughter in her father's house; I hope that, by and by, it will be that of a wife in her husband's. I allow that I see not much prospect of so favorable an occurrence as your marriage, but I may be so happy at some time not far distant. You are not without your good qualities. Understand me, you must never again allude to the subject which you have this morning introduced. It is enough that I have a homely, unlovely daughter; I would not own an aspiring fanatic. Remember. ' "At the close of this harangue, my stately father opened the door for my departure. I courtsied, and withdrew to my room in silence, there to meditate on what I had heard. "The idea of teaching must then be abandoned. I earnestly wish to be useful. What can I do? Must I live, perchance to the age of three score and ten, in this useless, monotonous manner? My father cruelly alluded to the small prospect of my marriage. Does he know that I would never consent to be any man's wife? As I have firmly resolved not to marry, why cannot I be allowed to follow some useful mode of life? What have I to do at home? If my father would give me books and money, I would continue the student's life which I began at school. While engaged in study, I am not only improving my own mind, but am also preparing for future usefulness. I know |