The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1880-08-19
A SCHOOLGIRLS STRATAGEM.

A SCHOOLGIRLS STRATAGEM.
Almost all boys and girls regard com
position writing as the bete HOire OF
school life. They will 90 through the
daily routine of grammar, geography,
history and arithmetic lessons without
complaint, and as a matter of course:
but when the hated literary exercises
occur. they feel like fercely rebelling
at a rule that compels them to read
aloud their ideas of a given topic ex-
pressed in their own language.
The young ladies and misses con-
nected with the little boarding-school
at Geneva were no exception to this
rule. Usually studious and obedient in
all other particulars, it required con-
slant urging, accompanied by frequent
severe reprimands from the good old
Doctor down to the under-teachers to
make this important exercise a part of
the curriculum of the Geneva Female
Seminary.
In vain were rigid laws laid down. in
vain were rigid penalties threatened;
somehow the girls managed to shirk the
duty in spite of everything. Very en-
barrassing it frequently was, too, for
the faculty, consisting of DR.. Stone and
two assistants, to have strangers drop
in to visit the school on the unlucky
Wednesday mornings appointed for the
reading of ESSAYS. The number of pu-
pills who came prepared on these occa-
sions was so ludicrousl Y small as to make
the whole thing appear farcical, and Of
these few the major portion had hur-
riedly scrubbed a few lines at the last
moment, only because they could de-
wise no plan for getting out of it.
Wednesday mornings always devel-
oped an alarming number of headaches,
toothaches, and various other ills, which
made it utterly impossible for their suf-
fering owners to be present at the eXer-
cises in question. Strong, robust, rosy
girls, who had exhibited excellent appe-
tites at the breakfast table, were sud-
denly taken i'll when the ringing of the
bell announced that the hour had ar
rived to read an unwritten composition.
Wemust own that their sudden recovery,
snd astonishing ability to stow away
large quantities of the roast beef and
dried apples that usually composed the
seminary dinner, gave a colorlng to the
suspicion which the preceptress, Miss
Pincer, had been pouring into the ear
of DIR. Stone for some time past, name
", to use the spinster's vigorous eX-
preston, =" Girls who could gOrmandize
as those girls did were only sham
ming
Indeed, Miss Pincer had been often
heard to declare that DIR. Stone was too
easy with the giddy, headstrong young
creatures committed to his charge, and
that if she could have her way she
would make every girl in that school
write a composition twice week, if for
no other purpose than to punish her.
The reader will notice from Miss Pin
GERS use of the word " composition"
that the events we are describing took
place before that word had been con-
verted into the more dignified one of
essay. As may be imagined, Miss Pin
Ger was not a favOrite with the young
ladies of the Seminary. All their school
troubles were attributed to her. If the
usually kind Doctor frowned his dis
pleasure at some of their pranks, they
felt sure that "Old Pincher had been tell
ing him something" or, if denied a COW
eted holiday, they were confident she
was at the bottom of it; and they were
equally certain that if it were not for
her interference they might succeed in
abolishing compositions from the school
entirely. Whether in reality this might
have been accomplished we hardly dare
affirm, but Just at the time when the
weekly exercise had grown so very
weakly indeed that it was a thing only
in name, and when the forbearance of
the faculty was almost exhausted and
new rule had been framed declaring
that any pupil suffering from the usual
Wednesday maladies could not be eX-
cused from duty unless reported i'll by
the physician-just at this juncture the
advent of a new pupil, who entered at
the middle of the term, gave a new turn
to affairs.
Nell Thorpe was a bright, clever Great
ure. to whom study was easy, and of
that generous, sympathetic type which
soon wins and retains friends. Her SUI
perior abilities soon placed her at the
head of her classes, which made her the
pronounced favorite of the teachers,
and, contrary to the usual rule in such
cases, it was not long before her genial.
accommodating ways won over the pu-
pills as well. If Miss Thorpe's quickness
was a subject Of favorable comment
among the teachers, how much more
were thew delighted when they discov-
cred her rare talent for composition!
Her crisp articles displayed an original
ity hitherto unknown at the Seminary
and won the admiration of all. The
ease and rapidity, too, with which Miss
Nell dashed off these spicy effusions
quite amazed the young Misses who
were accustomed to shirking, for it re-
ally seemed incredible to them that any
one could possibly like such a stupid,
tiresOme task.
1t was not long before the inspiring
influence Of Nelrs good example began
TO be felt in the school. The number