Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1898-02-26
short
Z ",

"YoU ARE GOING TO SPOIL Ply LIFE"
Two days had passed since Miss Hastings
arrival. On a beautiful morning, when the
sun was shining and the birds were singing
in the trees, she sat in tho study with an ex-
preston OF deepest anxiety, of deepest
thought on her face. Pauline, with a smile
on her lips, sat opposite to her, and there
was profound silence. Miss Darrell was the
first to break 1t.
well" she asked, la~ughingly, 'what is
your verdict, Miss Hastlngsr'
The elder lady looked up with a long,
desp-drawn sigh.
IL have never been so completely puzzled
In all my life" she replied. my dear Pau.
line, you are the ~stranEest mixture OF igno-
rance and knowledge that ] nave ever met.
You know a great dea,, but it is all of the
wrong kind; you ought TO unlearn all that
you have learned"
you admit then that | know something"
"Yes; but it would be almost better, per
haps, If you did not. | will tell you how I
feel, Pauline. know nothing Of building.
but | feel as though l had been placed before
a heap of marble, porphyry, and granite, Of
wood, glass, and iron, and then told from
those materials 10 shape a magnificent palace.
] am al a loss what to DO"
Miss Darrell laughed with the glee Of q
child. Her governess, REFRESHING her sur
prise, continued:
You know more in some respects than
most educated women; In other and equally
essential matters you know less than a child.
Iou speak French fluently, perfectly, you
have read a large number Of books In the
French language-good, bad, and Indifferent,
it appears to me; yet you have no more idea
OF French grammar or of the idiom or con-
struction of the language than a child"
That, indeed, l have not; l consider
grammar the most stupid Of all human in
yeptionS."
Miss Hastings offered no comment.
Again" she continued, you speak good
English, but your spelling is bad, and your
writing worse. You are better acquainted
with English literature than | am-that Is,
you have read more. You have read indis-
criminately; even the titles of some Of the
books you have read are not admissible"
The dark eyes flashed, and the pale, grand
face was stirred a. though by some sudden
emotion.
There was a large library in the house
where W. lived" she explained, hurriedly,
'and | read every book In 1t. / read from
early morning until late Mt night, and some
times from night until morning; there was
no one to tell me what was right and what
was wrong, Miss Hastings"
Then continued the governess, you
have written a spirited poem on Anne Bo-
leyn, but you know nothing OF English his
tory-neither the dates nor the incidents Of
a single reign. You have written the half
Of q story the scene of which is laid In the
tropics, yet Of geography you have not the
faintest notion. or matters such as every
girl has ono idea of-of biography, Of bota-
ny, Of astronomy-you have not even a glim-
mer. The chances are that il you engaged
in conversation with any sensible person,
you would equally astonish. first by tho clev-
er things you would utter, and then by the
utter ignorance you would display"
II cannot be fattered, Miss Hastings"
Pauline put in, because you humiliate me;
nor can | be Inundated, because you iiatter
me-"
But Miss Hastings pursued her criticisms
steadily.
Continued Next Weekly