The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1879-11-28
A BoARD1NG SCHOOL ROMANCE,

BOARDING SCHOOL ROMANCE.
The select boarding school of which
| Miss Minerva Patterson was the head,
was very ambitious establishment, in
! deed.
Only first-claSs pupils were admitted,
! first-class teachers only were employed.
| To this seminary, Mrs. AdoIphus
| White, wealthy widow, had, after anxI-
| ously waiting for vacancy, at last sent
| her daughter Helen, a young girl of
seventeen, whose face and form were re-
markably pretty, but who was by no
means girl OF great good sense.
! at is settled at last, Charles" said Mrs.
| White to her bachelor brother, as they
sat at lunch together. Helen is with
| Miss Patterson and I'm so relieved.
| She will form her mind and manners,
and make her the sort Of Il girl l should
| bring out. I shan't do this too early. l
was married myself at her age, and l
know that one loses youth by being in
society too young"
And Mrs. White, who had no wish TO
settle into the eldery matrOn as yet, soft
slipped her chocolate.
You don't really mean to say that
you have sent Helen away from home,
sister :" said Charles. "a mother should
| never let her daughter live apart from
Miss Minerva all day, if you choose, but
have her home at night"
Its quite the thing among sensible
people to patroniZe boarding schools"
said Mrs. White, land Miss Minerva is
lady of excellent family and highly ac-
| complished."
"Of course" said uncle Charlie, land
it's all right for girls who have no homes
| or mothers but take any set of young
things you may select and put them to-
gether for awhile, and they'll hatch out
mischief. And girls are all ripe for it,
nowadays, l can tell you, in any of our
| towns"
"But by such discipline as Miss
| Minerva's," said Mrs White, "Nliss
Minerals pupils could not ge1 into mis-
chief"
| And she rose from the table.
"Ohr' said Charles. "WelI, if you're
sure of that, l might as well be silent"
Meanwhile, the first day of Helen's
attendance ut Miss Minerals school drew
to a close. Supper was over. The mu-
steal exercises came to an end.
! The evening Worship was oyer.
The whole school marched off in bat
| talions, with an inch of wax candle in a
fat candlestiok for each room.
Gas was forbidden and indeed turned
off from the dormitories.
And at last Helen, with four young
| ladies who belonged to her room, was
fairly shut into her nightly resting place.
Then came a metamOrphosis which
astonished the newcomer.
The elegance of demeanor which had
characterized her companions in the
rooms below dropped off like SO many
masks.
One of the tallest and most stately
| roIr har cniG5nrc Snf ba door in cV1oh
a manner as to form = temporary bolt,
and stopped up the keYEoIe with bit
| of wadding.
The next produced long wax candle
from her pocket, and, having lit it. flour
Ished IT aloft with the cry of "WhO cares
for old Ramrod's regulations now?'
And the third rushed to a corner of
the room, turned up the carpet, and, with
| an exclamation of !'Here are two, one
for you and one for me-" held up two
letters.
The fourth girl, with little eeslatic
shrek, caught her prize and tore il open.
And tbs young lady of the wax candle
thus addressed Miss HELEN White:
II don't suppose you'll 60 and tell old
Patterson. We shall! have to keep your
secrets after while. Biddy, the cham.
bermaid, is our postman. She'll get all
your loveletters for you, and bring them
up on the sly"
Il haven't any loye-lettera have no
lover" said Helen, blushing.
"Tour ma is strict, l suppose, said the
other "Well, you'll have plenty before
you're here six months. It's the incest
school | ever went to. Old Ramrod-
that's Miss Patterson, you know-can't
see an inch beyond her nose, and we flirt
splendidly, Miss Collins and all. Miss
20
Our FIST class has tile name of being
regular witches, all through the town
We know all tie fellows"
Helen listened with new emotions arts
ing in her breast.
She began to feel delighted with the
idea of school.
She had thought il "a duh routine o.
geography and history, music and math
ematics; but fiirtations, love-letters. and
knowledge of all the fellows brighten
ed the vista amazingly.
She listened TO the spieiles, Which he
!. companions did LOT hesitate to reaf
aloud.
She even helped one of the girls t.
answer hers, and she retired by the ligh
of the long wax candle, to read hersel
, asleep over piece of literature by sons
French author.
She awoke the next morning to hnt
the young lady in tue next bed up am
| | dressed, and to hear her declare that sh
: had been flirting out of the window 10
an hour With the Eplent:idest fellow"
/ so siawned 1. new life upon Helel
: White; a life her mother little dream
Of
Weeks passed.
She also fiir.edl <sc. ass, teceiyed love
letters HON Strangers; she also subscrii
D ed to tile library, and read BAD Frencl
r books by the score.
. She was naturally silly girl, aHd h8
no strong principles 10 sustain her.
: Guided bY her companions. and III
!. easy prey Of circumstances, she behave
most tsglISiaiy, ana forgot all ideas c
2 Prapriety which had once been he
: guide.
To one of her admirers, who sirrei
himself Carlos she w5o.e "a @gii
ought scarcely So e write 20 her betrothe
!, And she forgot how entity she wonl
once have felt had she Kept d secret fror
her mother
Mrs. White was delighted with He
ems progress.
Miss Minerva gave her yolan,
1.-The Guide to Young Ladies, as a pri7
a for tine G2sIoFtmeHt, and nobody had an
suspicion that her head was full of MOI
J. sense and her pockets full of lowell
e tiers from an utter stranger "a wlsuTn sll
had told all the paFtienlars Of her lIfi
e and the full extent of her fortune, and t
whom She had given vows of eternt
!. constaBcy; not exactly in black an
white, for black ink was voted vulgar q
T Miss Minerals, but in purple
At last the climax arrived
a Something befel her thu. had MI y
fallen any of her reeaa mass as Yet.
C.;flss s,.saESss his hand and heart, an
/. tse6gea her n elaile with him.
s She read the letter aloud to Emma
Rose, Grace and Maria, and, ali in a fla
i ter, begged their advice on the matter.
He says he's prince said Heller
! with a glow on her cheeks, land va
know, OF course, he shall invite yo1 /