The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1859-02-24
A WELL ORDERED FAMILY.

once spent week IN one Of these well
ordered families it was great punish
ment to me; hope, also, in some degree,
to my entertainers. The iron rule Of that
house was, "a place for everything and eve
rything in its place wasn't. The dis
grace my somewhat vagrant habits led mo
into there was dreadful. The very first
morning, | opened Paterfamilias's newspa-
per, which was always laid in ono familiar
spot upon the breakfast table, never to be
violated by any hand but his. There |
stood, with my back to the fire, coming the
outspread sheets, and nodded II cheerful
good morning to my host, when he enter.
cd. had tho l,nrlihoud even to read to
him tout Of his own paper y tho last In
dian d'srach---vcry politely. as thought
an! 10 request his assistance to levipher
the possible place intended hy Il dozen let
ter: "h't! the telegraph clerk appeared to
have $ti|t,ti i: random. 10 10 him Jus
:;tc. le bore :i,'> ;nrr:,d on his rights with
tr'1ra!'v ru;wa,,! coupoSure: but | WAS
trF';,' y made aware. wi the first opportu
~. ty MIS-. rrt the outrage had commit
tel. ari made 70 feel rs uncomfortably as
deserved. Then | lett my handkerchief on
the drawing room floor, one glove on the
library table, another i'll the governcss' par
asoI, (Which, certainly, WAS not tho place
for ii, and how it got there have no con,
cep'lon,) and was formally presented with
each article separately, and an account Of
its discovery, in the presence Of the whole
family assembled for dinner.
One day, the whole family was under
strict cross s-examination as to who had come
into the drawing room with dirty shoes.
was the cul lprit, of course, but was too
great coward to confess; besides, the lady
knew perfectly well who it was, but was
polite enough to entertain the fiction that
such conduct was impossible in any well
bred person it must have been one of the
children or the houscmaids, Of course; and
the whole investigation was intended for
my solemn warning and improvement, just
as they used to whip little boy vicariousv
TO strike terror into misbchaying little prin-
ccs.
Then the terrible punctuality which made
slaves of us all, and kept me always look
ing at my watch, and always afraid of be.
ing late for something, as indeed 1 was
once for dinner, in spite Of all precautions
four minutes and a half exactly. Shall 7
ever forget it9 If they only had had the
charity to sit down quietly without me-if
they only had put me off with no soup,
cold fish, and the last ragged cut of the
mutton-if they had sent me to bed with
out any dinner at all, as once happened to
me when was a little boy, or inflicted up.
on me any reasonal le and humane form
OF punishment-but no; there they were,
all waiting for me in the drawing room, all
standing up, the door set wide open, and
the head of the family opening ire upon
mo at once, before was well inside it, with
"Now Mr.. -, will you take in Mrs. P. 2,
OF course, l hammered and stammered
over an arology-"quite unintentional
DC. "Oh, of course, they knew it must be
quito unntentional-onlv"- "-in a semi
whispcr-"Mr. p. did notlike waiting for
his dinncr!"
There was an abominable child, too, in
that family, the very incarnation of prema- |
ture method and order. All the other chill.
drcn had reaeeming points of carelessness
and destructiveness about them; and we
soon established sort Of free masonry
among ourselves as fellow culprits, trying
to keep each other ont of scrapes as much
as possible; they conveying private warn,
'nGs as to how soon the prayer bell would
ring in the morning, and furnishing me
with much valuable intelligence as to the
encmy's weak points, and the inlcrpreta-
tion Of the laws Of the Medes and Pcrsians,
to'whom | was in captivity; and l finding
substitutes for impounded pencils, mending
a broken Cupid, who carried the wax
matches in his culver, brushing the boys
clothes after bird nesting, "before mamma
saw them,' and actually cutting up the rib.
boh of my eye-glass into shoe strings, for
one young lady WHO was generally in
trouble OH that score. But as to the imp
speak of, he was irreproachable. If I left
the door open, lie got up and shut it-not
quietly you understand, but ofliciously and
reproachfully. If took down youmc
from its shelf, and it left my hand for one
moment, if he could get at it, it was up in
its place again before knew what had be.
come Of it.
took courage one cold morning, there
being no one but he and in the room, to
stir the fire, and put the poker, when had
done with it, under the CRATE (which take
TO be the natural place for poker,) when
nm 1umna tkip ,uatl bol, E.I.