Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1872-08-21
Selfish Lizzie.
PART FIRST

L canti"
90, Lizzie how can you ask such thing
this year. when you know all the losses your
father has met with ?" said Mrs. Harrison,
grievcd to think that her daughter had so
little feeling fVr hvr haId-wUrAiug father.
But, mother, father might sell some Of
his land just as well as not he'd have enough
left to work on then"
Lizzie was a bright girl Of thirteen, the
only daughter of Oliver Harrison, a farmer
residing in pretty village on the sea.coast.
The white house in which he lived had been
the home of his grandfather, and had come
down TO him, together with the acres that lay
between the village street and the sea. Mr..
Harrison had farmers love for every foot
Of land that he titled. He had toiled over
the. brown burrows so long that he could not
bear to part from any one Of them. More
than ALL he held fast to them because they
had been toiled over in the same way by his
father and his fathers father. That night
Mr.. Harrison and his wife had little talk
together. There was one field, on the very
edge Of the sea, that Mrs. Harrison owned
She proposed to her husband to sell it, and
with the proceeds send Lizzie to school. "She
is our only daughter, and think we ought
to give her the best advantages we cam She
urged.
For while the father shook his head, but
before fortnight passed the purchaser came,
and seaside field " belonged to another
There were busy times in the old white
house for two months or more. New clothes
seemed to fill every ROOM and the delighted
Lizzie fully believed that her outfit was per-
feet in every respect. Working up to the
last moment, that everything might be in
order, Mrs. Harrison had no time to tell
what was in her heart to say to Lizzie on the
morning she went. Somehow she could only
put her arms about Lizzie's neck and say,
40 Lizzie! | hope you will be very happy,
but we shall be SO lonely without you"
/" L will write to you every week, mother,
and tell you all about it, and the holidays
will be here in little while. Good-by,
father good-by, mother! don't cry" and
then Lizzie Harrison was parted from parents
and home.
Lizzie had thought herself almost grown
up" until she was ushered into the breakfast
room of the boardng-school the morning after
her arrival, and found herself one Of the two
little girls of the school,
However, she had not much time to think,
for the girl sitting next to her said, " It's
good long while to dinner, and you'll only get
crackers for lunch, so you'd better hurry and
cat your breakfast, or you'll get alfm
hungry"
Lizzie's face grew very red. She didn't
know what to say. At home she had always
been warned not to eat too fast, but, fright
ened with the idea of starvation, she began to
eat with rapidity.
Better stop now, They're all waiting for
you to get through for prayers" whispered
the voice at her side.
Lizzie dropped her knife and fork so sud
denly that everybody gave a nervous start
Breakfast was over then, and prayers began,
after which Lizzie was marshaled away by
teacher and put through a long list Of ques-
tons. She was asked e" how far she had
gone" in certain textbooks, and how much
she knew about many things.
Poor Lizzie At home she had thought
that her teacher was no longer capable of
instructing her, but here she was put into the
lowest grade Of scholarship, That night she
wrote to her mother letter filled with her
dislikes and discomforts. She wanted to be
taken right away and sent to the school in
Philadelphia, where Lucy Brinsmade was"
1t was a miserable letter for a girl to send
home to loving mother, but Lizzie never
wish her mother to be as disconnected as
herself
my poor child | cannot make her
happy, after all, " thought Mrs Harrison that
night, and in silence she let the tears fall in
the darkness, that her husband might not
know how vany she had made the effort for
her daughters advancement.
In the next letter Lizzie wrote that she
was sick 81 never felt so bad in all my
life before" she said and you must send
somebody to fetch me home right away"
Mrs. Harrison read the letter, while her
husband was looking at another one.
"Oh, dear !" she exclaimed, you will
have to leave everything and 60 for Lizzie
tomorrow. The poor child is very ill., |
fear"
Nothing but a fit of inconsistencies, the
principal writes. He says all school girls
have it once, and then are as happy as ever.
He says we mustn't mind what she writes (;
that if she is really ill he will send word at
once; so guess we'd better wait Bit"
AT any rate" said Mrs. Harrison, 81 am
just going up to see the darling with my own
eyes, and she went, spending thereby the
money she had slowly saved, through much
butter-making, to buy herself new cloak.
Arrived at the very door of the school, she
encountered throng of girls returning from
walk.
al wonder who that woman is, standing
on the steps !" exclaimed one of the girls.
Lizzie was just behind the speaker, and,
looking up, saw her own mother.
at looks for all the world like the nurse
we used to have here, only there is no use in
her coming" Nobody sick here now" said
another. And all the while Mrs Harrison
~ was standing waiting to be let in. She did
not see that her daughter was of the number
Of the girls who went around the corner to
! their own entrance. Lizzie was ashamed to
speak to her mother before the girls.
AS soon as the door was opened, Mrs, Har.
rison asked to see Lizzie Harrison, thinking
with trembling, of how she should be taken
up TO her child's room and find her in rag
ing fever Instead Of that she was shown
into small reception-room, to await Lizzie
who presently bounded in.
"Mother!" she exclaimed, what made
you Gomez"
"Why, Lizzie, you wrote that you were
i'll, and knew you were all alone among
strangers What has been the matter child
Did you have a doctor 2"
Now, Lizzie had almost forgotten having
written the letter that caused all this trouble
She wrote Just as she f6lt at the moment, re-
CARELESS Of the bitter pangs it would cause in
her home. She was obliged to confess that
she had not had a doctor at ALL" and thai
she had not been in bed, except at night, ant
that she was and had been very we'll, except
q little homesick. Mrs. Harrison was SC
clad IN find her child wall that she never