Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1853-04-27

through the green meadows, and where the
birds sing all day in the trees
why, la, me! How the dear child talks
What has come over you, Miss Laura 81
You surprise me. Suppose some person did
say some ugly things, why should you care
when you know every body else loves you,
and is kind to you!'
Nobody is kind to me Nobody loves
me any moro. Ever mamma
Laura checked herself quickly and burst
into passionate tears. Nancy, who could not
appreciate the delicate sensibilities of noble
nature, told her she was unreasonable and
ungrateful to talk SO and pointed, as proof
of her words, to the comfort and luxuries that
surrounded her in her magnificent home.
/ don't want any of these fine things.
don't care for them. If | talk to them they
can't answer me; if l love them they can't
love me back again; what then are they
worth to mel
WELL replied the nurse, dryly, as she
fastened the elaborately frilled night-dresS Of
her yonng charge, perhaps it will not be
long before YOU find yourseIfin place where
the fine things you despise will not be in the
way to trouble you. All | thought could
bring you to yourself You look surprised,
and want to ask me what | mean. Well
you've got to know soon, so you may as well
know first as last. | have heard your moth
er say good many times lately thatyou are
to 90 away, ever so far, to boarding-school,
and | guess you'll find it different from the
home, you've got now. You are to go in
the spring, and that will soon be here
Laura took in every word Of this speech.
When it was concluded, the bright color had
left her cheeks, her eyes fell to the carpet,
and slowly turning away, she crept into her
dainty and luxurious bed, and, crouching
down in heap, she lay motionless and still
though she was near sufocating with the wild
emotions that agitated her bosom. 1t was
not the dread of the boarding school that ef
fected her; but the feeling that she was slight
ed and neglected had been gaining strength
gradually, and this last piece Of information,
coming at the moment it did, seemed to her
excited mind a sure evidence that her moth
er no longer loved her, but was anxious to
get rid Of her presence.
It'll do no good to pout, child; know
your mama is in earnest, and she is going
to send you from home partly TO cure you ot
the Sulky and sullen ways you're getting in
to- was the consolng remark Of Nancy.
Poor Laura! The big sob sweled up in
her throat, but she choked them back with
an effort, for her pride was aroused. "Sul
ky, and sullen !" Child as she was, she fell
the charge to be unjust, though, in the vo
cabulary Of her young thoughts, she fount
no words in which to explain the causes o
, her taciturnitv, and no name offeelings whicl
seemed peculiar to herself. Had not he
artless notions and pure impulses been slight
ed, ridiculed or opposed in the hackneye'
circle where her lot was cast And if sh
I had, at length, learned to lock them in he
y own sensitive heart, was it right TO accus
her Of acting in spirit so unloseIy and s
near akin to anger! Such thoughts tlitte
\ through her brain, but SO dim and confuse
Y she could not shape them to expression.
Long did her heart ache and trouble wit
|. the burden of her grief; but the storm di
: subside at length, and her thoughts turned t
n the information she had received. Yer
r soon her vivid imagination was busy picturin
= scenes Of beauty ard happiness, and pIannin
n acts of love and kindness in and about th
;. new home she was told she must soon occu
d py. Thus. while new hopes and aspiration
n sprang to life in her breast, her recent tro'
/ bIes were almost forgotten, and she longe
r for the morrow to come that she might gi,
e vent to her feelings, and ascertain how far he
e speculative views of boarding schools wei
# correct.
Such rapid transitions from one state
d feeling to another, are natural to chiIdre
!. but many Of maturer years are conscious
= the same.