The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1880-04-07
RATHER ROMANTIC.

White, wealthy widow, had, after
anxious waiting for a vacancy, at last
sent her daughter Helen, 4 Young girl
Of seventeen, whose face and form were
remarkably pretty, but who was by no
means a girl Of great good sense.
1T 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 50 relieved.
She viii form her mind and manners,
and make her the sort of girl | should
bring out | shan't do this too early
was married myself at her age, and |
know that one loses youth by being in
society to young
And Mrs. White, who had no wish to
settle into the elderly matron as yet,
softly 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 her, if she can avoid it. Send her
/ to 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
a lady of excellent family and highly ac-
complished."
'.Of course, said uncle Charles, ''and
| its 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, / can tell you, in any of our
towns"
But by such discipline as Miss Min
erva's," said Mrs. White, Miss Miner
vas pupils could not get into mischief"
And she arose from the table
"Oh - said Charles" ''Well, if
you're sure of that | might as well be
silent"
Meanwhile, the first day of Helens
attendance at Miss Minerals school
drew TO a close Supper was over The
musical exercises came to an end.
The evening worship was over.
The whole school marched off in bat
allions, with an inch Of wax candle in
fiat candle-stick for each room.
Gas was forbidden and indeed turned
off from the dormitories
And ut last Helen, with four young
ladies who belonged to her room, was
fairly shut into her nightly resting-place.
Then came metamorphosis which as
tonished the newcomer.
The elegance OF demeanor which had
characterized her companions in the
rooms below dropped off like so many
masks,
One, the tallest and most stately,
wedged her cissors into the door in such
manner as to form a temporary bolt,
and stopped up the keyhole with bit
Of wadding.
The next produced long wax candle
from her pocket, and, having lit it,
fourished it aloft, with a cry of:
"Who cares for Old Ramrod's regula-
tions now
And the third rushed to a corner of
tho 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 eestatic
shrek, caught her prize and tore it
open.
And the young lady of the wax-can-
die thus addressed Hiss Helen White
II don't suppose you'll 90 and tell
old Patterson We shall have to keep
your secrets after awhile. Biddy, the
chamber-maid, is our postman. She'll
get all your love-letters for you, and
bring them up on the sly
Il haven't any love-Ietters. | have
no lover, said Helen, blushing.
Your ma Is strict, | suppose, said
the other. We'll, you'll have plenty
before you've been 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 firt spledidly, Miss
Collins and all. Miss Collins is an as
sistant when we promenade. Our first
class has the name OF being regular
witches, all through the town. We
know ali the fellows"
Helen listened with new emotions
rising in her breast.
She began to feel delighted with the
idea Of school
She had thought Of dull routine
Of geography and history, music and
mathematics; but firtations, love-let-
tiers, and knowledge of all the fellows
Frightened the vista amazingly.
She listened 10 the epistles, which
her companions did not hesitate to read
aloud.
She even helped one of the girls to
answer hers, and she retired by the
light Of the long wax candle, to read
herself asleep over a piece Of literature
by some French author.
She awoke the next morning to find
the young lady III the next bed up and
dressed, and TO hear her declare that she
had been flirting out Of the window for
an hour with the splendidest fellow"
- dawned 4 new life upon Helen
White life her mother little dreamt
Of
Weeks passed.
She also firted she also received
love-letterS from strangers she also
subscribed 10 the library, aud read bad
Fench books by the score
She was naturally a silly girl, and
hal no strong principle to sustain her.
Guided by her companions, and the |
easy pIey Il circumstances, she behaved |
most fo6lish!g, and forgot all the old |
ideas of propriety which had once been |
her guide.
To one Of her admirers who signed
himself Carlos, she wrote as a girl |
ought scarcely to write to her betrothed |
lover.
And she forgot how guilty she would
once have felt had she kept secret
from her mother.
Mrs. White was delighted with
Helen's progress.
Miss Minerva gave her a volume,
''The Guide to Young Ladies" as a
prize for fine department, and nobody
had any suspicion that her head was
full of nonsense and her pockets full of
love letters from an utter stranger, to
whom she had told all the particulars
of her life, and the full extent of her |