Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-06-16

IHAI V1hLs
And What Happened to Her in Boarding
OF course it was a mistake from the
very first. Our excuse was that it was
done for the best. Conscious, there
fore, that we intended to do rightly, we
all of US feel that peculiar comfort
which good actions, no matter how they
are requited, alone can confer. In all
the troubles of this world. if we are only
sure that our motives have been guided
10y the pole-star of self-sacrifce, and a
few other minor considerations, then
some time or other the heaven of conso
lation must be reached.
feel no end OF relief in expressing
myself In this way, for if the object OF
all our kindness and self had
been present now, and I had read my
first paragraph to her, that girl would
have laughed over the sentence. She
always had peculiar way of laughing,
which was distressing to degree. My
respected mother and myself, the former
the principal, the latter the assistant
principal of our school, never could
exactly understand that girl. Of course
anything beyond title never was al
lowed within the precincts of our estab-
ishment. When that girl was little we
did try SO hard to quench vulgarity in
her, but there was a way Winnefred had
of laughing with her eyes which would
not be put down. That girls eyes were
like wells, deep and sombre at times;
but then, though she would purse up
her mouth, her eyes would smile and
laugh, even in boisterous manner.
Mother and I, to employ the express
sion, used to throw stones on stones
into those tigurative eye-wells, to see if
we could entirely fill up and choke the
ripples we saw there. Sometimes, it is
true, we made her cry, but that girl, [
think, was quite callous and underhand,
and would not come to the surface, and
when we thought cure was effected,
when we least expected it, that girls
eyes would beam and look unutterable
things. I do not mean to say that there
was anything inherently bad about
Winnifred. [ am proud to say that any
girl, no matter what might have been
her social position, whether she paid
our highest rates for instruction or had
certain deductions made quarterly, no
girl, [ repeat, could have existed under
mothers influences without having the
highest moral and mental excellence
instilled into her. Winnifred never
paid for what she received in the way
of tuition after the first eighteen
months or so, and even then it was
taken out I'M beef. [ am forced to de-
clare that Winnifred's father was a
butcher. When mother first opened our
school it was a model establishment,
and although Twas SO young then as
to have almost forgotten it, I think we
had to scrape along In a most economi-
cal way. Meat being an object, and
the butcher being right around
ness of heart, agreed to barter
Winnifred's tuition against chops,
steaks and sirloins. There was care
full agreement drawn up that Winnifred
must always be dressed in certain way,
and there was some minor stipulations
entered into limiting, very properly,
the exact number of times in quarter
that the girl should see her father. The
butcher must say to his credit-kept
his promise quite we'll for a time.
Whether he lost money by it I am not
prepared to say. I think mother, who
is the soul of honor, said that Wilkins,
the butcher, informed her on several
occasions that he had. Anyhow, one
day the mans shop was found closed
up. This we only learned when we
sent around for knuckle of veal, when
we discovered that, being short and
obsese person, be had died of apoplexy,
and we could get no meat. Winnifred
was then twelve years old. 1 was about
twenty-five then; consequently that girl
has been in our hands fully seven
Gears. Mother was, as she always is,
quite strong minded when certain emer-
gencies occur. In a straightforward.
practical way, adapted to the social
stutus. of that girl and the condition OF
affairs, cutting from a newspaper,
where her parents sudden death was
heralded In the accidents and casual.
ties, was inclosed to me, according to
my mothers instructions, between the
leaves OF The First Rudiments of Bot
any, and handed to that girl. I men
lion the book particularly, in order to
show that the style of education
she was receiving was of the high
est character. Nothing could have
been kinder than our clergyman, who,
when the girl was i'll just then, used to