The Literary echo, and Pawcatuck advertiser. [volume] (Westerly, R.I.) 1851-1854, 1854-04-20
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now her all that death had spared. Jen
ME had been tepderfy nurtured and cx
pensively educated, and so smooth,
had her way been paved to womanhoo(
that nothing remained to call forth tn,
hidden resource of her own mind. No
having been taught to depend upon her
self, or to find interest in the quiet ant
retiring duties of home, she though
pleasure and happiness existed only il
excitement and the novelty of change
Being naturally gay and fond of amuse
ment she had at school closely attached
herself to that very class of lawless girl
against whom her mother warned her
and already had she, with them, INDUCED
in many forbidden pleasures, the detcc.
ton of which would have shocked hel
mothers sense of right, and brought
merited punishment from her teachers
Prevarication, deception, and actual
falsehood, ever the result of deliberate
wrong doing, alone prevented such detec.
ton. - .. .
Mrs. Allison could not avoid being
grieved when she acknowledged to her.
self how little happiness Jennie's society
afforded her now that she was with her
but she at first was willing to attribute
the discomfort she witnessed to the fac
her daughter had so recently mingled
with large family of young persons,
and she fondly hoped to see her grow
reconciled to her home, and ready tc
enjoy the really refined and select society
of her native town. But, alas Jennie
had small taste for intellectual inter-
course. She greatly preferred a mid
night revel with the hoydenish daugh-
ters and spendthrift sons of the citizens
of B. and its vicinity.
The two seminaries, male and female,
located in the town of b, though com
paratively new institutions, had existed
long enough to SOW seed of corruption
and dissension in once pure and peace
full place. The young lady who could
boast having enjoyed, even for few
months, the advantages of the boarding
school, held her head high above her
poorer neighbor who had graduated at
the old academy. She sbandons the
dairy and the kitchen, leaving ma to
perform all the drudgery of the house
hold, while pa is sent off to the city to
purchase, with the proceeds of last
years crops, sofas, carpets, chairs, and
other new fixtures for the parlor.
The young gentleman, taken from the
field or workshop, after spending six
months or a year in the high-school,
almost invariably came forth with a
supreme contempt for his labor, and
warm love for money and mischief. He
would set himself up for gallant, and
spend his time driving about the country,
breaking carriages, injuring valuable
horses, and enticing young ladies to set
aside the rules of parents and teachers.
The locality and social regulations of
the schools afforded many fecilities for
the practice of intrigue. The boardcrs
were allowed to visit freely among the
scholars resident in the neighborhood
whose parents were regarded as worthy
and conscientious people; but often
while the teachers thought them safe in
some quiet farm house, and while the
Did farmer supposed them equally safe
back to the village, or in another farm
house in an opposite district, the young
ieceivers were ten or twelve miles away
slipping lemonade between the sets of the
merry dance. In all these stolen plea
sures Jennie Allison had become a
Savorite and leader during her last
year at school, while her doting mother
remained unsuspicious, and her teachers
gnorant of the truth. The letter she
'eceived contained few lines from Miss
Wesley, inviting her to B, but the
chief portion of it was written by one of
,er gay associates, who gave glowing
picture of plans in progress for several
A week after Jennie left home, her
mother was stricken down with sudden
md alarming illness. The physician at
'nce declared it his opinion that she
'ould not recover, and said her death !
night occur at any moment. Without
iclay carriage vas dispatched for Jen-