Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1857-1865, 1858-06-25

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ton for the moral and intellectual super
structure Accordingly, Helen was sub
jected to few Of those foolish restraints, SO
rigidly imposed upon daughters for fear
that exercise in the open air may impair
the symmetry Of their forms, and the
delicacy of their compilations. This mis-
chievous mistake formed no part of Mr..
Berne's system, and he suffered his daugh-
ter to follow the bent Of her inclinations ;
and, Of course, she almost lived in the
open air, and might have been seen, any
brightday, romping with the house-dog be-
fore the door, or chasing the poultry, or,
with sleeves rolled up to her shoulders,
dabbling in the brook that ran through the
yard.
But, in common with the great majority,
Mr.. Berne gave to education no broader
meaning, or more general scope, than is
embraced in the usual routine of scholastic
exercise, and believed that he would have
faithfully discharged his duty, in this re-
spect, when he had placed within his
daughters reach, those literary attain
ments which constitute education in its
too restricted sense.
In her ninth year, and much against
her will, Helen was required to quit home,
and exchange her childish sports, in the
open air, for the duties and confinement
of the school l-room She was taken to
Staunton-amodest, retiring villae which,
to avoid being too conspicuous, had seated
itself in sort of basin formed by sur
rounding hills. A few buildings were
erected on the SUBMITS of those hills, as
outposts, perhaps, to guard it against the
incursions of those who sought to invade
it for the purpose of revelling in the
luxury of its charming society. Here
Helen was destined to pass eight years of
her life in one of those nurseries of mixed
good and evil, where much that is frivolous
is styled accomplishment, and much that
is hurtful, education. Let us not be un-
derstood as speaking with direct reference
to the school at Staunton, which, we know,
was then vastly superior to many of equal
celebrity. The remark is general, and is
just as applicable to the schools of the
present day, as to those, Of the period of
(which we write. Be this as it may, how
ever, the eight years which Helen passed
under the pupilage of the one here spoken
of, developed some traits of character
neither dignifed aor amiable.
We say developed, because, by nature,
she was gentle and benevolent, and had a
proper direction been given to those feel
ings, Helen would have been as remarkable
for her moral attributes as she certainly
was for intellectual power and personal
charms. But deprived of mothers foster
ing care, at time when the moral feelings
begin to take their bias, her fathers
solicitude, during his frequent, but short
visits, could not detect nor counteavail
thoseinAuences that were slowly and surely
working out their results. That we are
not mistaken in her natural disposition is
proven by the fact, that her sweet temper
and readiness to oblige, made her uni
versal favorite in the school; but as her
actions, at that time, were, guided by no
fixed convictions of right and wrong
being purely the offspring of impulse
there was no sufficient guarantee for the
propriety of her conduct whenever a
change of circumstances might give birth
to different motives of action.
BY the time she had reached her six
teenth year, Helen's beauty and accom-
/ plishments were the subject of common
remark throughout the surrounding coun-
try and it was at this critical period that
the defects in her training began to mani
fest themselves. 1t was then that vanity
exhibited an undue supremacy over self
respect and led TO the adoption of that line
of conduct which, in after times, drew
from their hidden source many burning
tear as memory retraced the events of the
two successive years, from that date
Listening to stereotyped praises of hei
beauty from the lips Of the bearded and
beardless aspirants for her hand, she wa'
taught to attach to it an Importance it car
never merit, and believing it sufficient t.
secure for her the greatest amount of hap
piness, it became the idol of her soul, ant
the admiration of others, the incence offer
ed upon its alter.
Helen's most intimate friend, at school
was her cousin, Jane Estelle, who, though
a year younger, was formidable rival