The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1875-11-11


nervous" replied Mrs. AliertJD, vino
was very uniavOrAbly impressed by
her new acquaintance 81 meant
merely to cau your attention to the
fact that they are Of 4 nervous tenn
permanent, and should be favored with
greater indulgence Of q certain kind
than" l-40o GL4
"Permit me. TO differ with you
said Miss Ennerby. my decided
opinion Is that they should be harden
. ed before this tendency becomes a
radical evil" -L
. As Mrs. AllertOn regarded the light
cold eyes, the short lashes, the thin
lips and square Jaw OF the woman be.
fore her, her hexFt misgave her, and
she trembled for the happiness of heT
little nieces but il was now too late
to 10 aught but wait, ana hope, and
, pray. Miss Eunerby had been rec
, commended by neighbOr, and Mr..
Larrantree had met her once or twice
at this neighbor's house, but that was
all. He had not observed her sur
fciently to form any clear impression
OF her character, and his mind was
now in q state of such depression that
he accepted st once the aid first offer
ed, and hsd employed Miss Ennerby
In the confidence based upon his
neighbours judgment
Unfortunately, as she feared, for the
matrimonial designs with which
Miss Ennerby entered upon her
duties, Mr.. Lsrrsntree was called
away on business the day after her
arrival, and she had only time TO
ascertain that he agreed with her fully
on one point children should be
taught to be self-reliant and induced
to develop their moral muscle. She
had, therefore, no doubt Of his appro-
baton when she commenced the
hardening process by commanding
Nanny, after the children were
undressed, to put out the light
and leave them 70 60 10 sleep by
themselves.
To great many gOod-hearted and
Intelligent tpeople--peOple who honest
ly desire to be kind and reasonable
It were vain to portray the agony Of
some children on being left alone in
the dark, the unreasOning, uncon-
troiIable terror Of that something
which by its very la0k of form, its
vagueness and indeanitepess, be-
comes 80 awful, so dreadful, SO in
definitely horrible, that tae anguish
of substantial torture cauuOt be COM
pared with 1t. The child's whoIs soul
is pervaded by terror which cannot
be shaken OFF BY any effort OF the
chiId's own will. Its entire being is
the subject OF q terror which it has no
power to subdue, and its whole nerv-
Ouos system lies at the mercy Of this
shspeless, shsdoWy Zoe 1t is reeling
and staggering and fzinting, and
suffering q shock which will tell in
after-life as surely as 3 shot in the eye
or cut on the brow. On, why is
there no Mr.. Bergh who can prevent
cruelty TO children ?----.--..---
A great many excellent persons
without nerves fail to appreciate this
state of feeling, and Miss Ennerby
was not only without nerves, but by
no means an excellent person. She
was cold and hard and cruel, and full
Of vindicitive feeling toward those
above her, which she could gratify
only by grinding those whom Prov
idence placed temporarily under her
heel. Nanny, with unerFing in
stinct, at once discovered that Miss
Eansrby was q "poor whiten-that is,
that she had not bad a crowd of
negroes at her command, and ridden
about in her own carriage-lnd, with
the aristoeratic tendency of her class,
despised her accordingly. The old
woman knew her place too well to
make any Intentional display Of con-
tempt, but she conducted herself with |
dignified formality, more Extensively |
suggestive than the most elaborate |
impertinence, and Miss Ennerby felt |
it with a keenness she could not dis |
guise from herself.
The qualification of the latter could |
he measured only by Mammy's dis. \
may st the order to leave the children |
alone and indeed 50 great was the |
panic created IN the nursery, that even |
Miss EnnerDy would have made 3 |
temporary compromise hsd4t not in /
volved triumph for Nanny. AS il |
wss, she persisted in the enforcement |
of her order, and it was with grim
satisfaction that after the first two |
nights she observed, the light having
been extinguished and Nanny gone
downstairs, that the children seemed |
to resign themselves to their fate and |
quietly 60 to sleep. She did not know |
that Nanny stole Immediately back |
and was at her post, with her arm
around her bantlings, nor how, as
Miss Ennerby's step was EeRrd, Nam
my would throw herself on the flOOr /
behind the bed, and the little ones,
taking their first lesson in deception,
would shut their eyes and feign sleep
till she had retreated, satisfied with i
them and her System"
But one night they failed to hear
her coming, and she stood q moment
listening. Nanny was saying, "Au'
Jack, he were in lob wild de Kings
dorter, an were always a-cassIn'
sheep's eyes at her but de King, he
didn't want Jack to hab bis dorter, so
he guv q gret bail an axed everybody
but Jack. So the ole bar (he were y
gret friend nv Jack)--de ole bar, he
say, Pm gwine ter roll In de ashes,
Jack. and den Pll go in the ballroom
an shake myse' fam make such dus'
dat de King can't hardly see an
while his eyes is full o. dus' you kin
run away wild his dorter.' 80 ole Mr..
Bar, he went AM laid down in de
chimbly, an got hisse'f full o. ashes,
an while dey was a-dancin' he went
and shuk hisse'f, AM"
"Aunt Maria !" Miss Ennerby
opened the door.
No answer. Miss Ennerby ad-
vsnced "Grace !"
"Ma'am p" answered. the child
family.
: "Who was that talking ?n
No answer. They were truthful
children.
"Aunt Maria !" again called Miss
Ennerby.
"Msrm ?" said Nanny with an un-
steady voice.
"Go down this moment"
Four little hands clutched Nam ny |
silently, but con7ulsively, and she re.
piled by condescending to beg humbly
for permission to remSin, but 1t was
OF no avail she was sent downstairs,
the door locked, aud two little mother
less babies were left to cling to each /
other in an agony OF terror, foolish
and wild and groundless, of course,
but so real to them, and so inexpressi-
bly, horrible that few grown
persons ever have sn experience ap-
preaching it.
The next day Nanny petted aud
caressed them even more thSu usual,
and took them out under the trees,
and then she said tD them: "Nebber /
mind, chiIlun. Don'. you all be
skeered tonight, 'cOs Nanny gwine
to be right at de do, Nanny gwine
to lay down right close outside de do
ef Miss Edner locks it an ef you all |
gits 'fraid, you jes' say Nanny
kind o. easy, an Nanny she gwine
ter say Meow, neowp like twAre
cat meowin'."
"What you goin' to say 'me0w' for,
Nanny ?n asked Nelly.
"Cos kysrnt arnser no oder way, |
honey" said Nanny. "Ef was to |
talk human, course Miss E liner |
would eotch me. Cord bless my ba-
bies Now don't you all be skeered,
Zoos dsr amt muffin to be skeered |
bout, nohOw de good LIrd Is
watchin' Nv you night an day, an
holcin' Nv you in de hoiler Nv His |
han; an MSmmy's gwine ter roll yo' |
bed close side de do an den she |
gwine ter lay right down by it an
stay dar tell spang day."
Sure enough, the door was again !
locked and Nanny sent downstairs. |
Presently there arose little soft, hesi- |
49,