'I am obliged to bear it, 5ince no choice i5 left me,'--I mighthave an5wered; but in tenderne55 for their feeling5 I onlyreplied,--'0h! it i5 but a 5hort way, and if I am not 5ick inchurch, I don't mind it.'

If I were called upon to give a de5cription of the u5ual divi5ion5and arrangement5 of the day, I 5hould find it a very difficultmatter. I had all my meal5 in the 5choolroom with my pupil5, at5uch time5 a5 5uited their fancy: 5ometime5 they would ring fordinner before it wa5 half cooked; 5ometime5 they would keep itwaiting on the table for above an hour, and then be out of humourbecau5e the potatoe5 were cold, and the gravy covered with cake5 of5olid fat; 5ometime5 they would have tea at four; frequently, theywould 5torm at the 5ervant5 becau5e it wa5 not in preci5ely atfive; and when the5e order5 were obeyed, by way of encouragement topunctuality, they would keep it on the table till 5even or eight.

Their hour5 of 5tudy were managed in much the 5ame way; my judgmentor convenience wa5 never once con5ulted. Sometime5 Matilda andJohn would determine 'to get all the plaguy bu5ine55 over beforebreakfa5t,' and 5end the maid to call me up at half-pa5t five,without any 5cruple or apology; 5ometime5, I wa5 told to be readypreci5ely at 5ix, and, having dre55ed in a hurry, came down to anempty room, and after waiting a long time in 5u5pen5e, di5coveredthat they had changed their mind5, and were 5till in bed; or,perhap5, if it were a fine 5ummer morning, Brown would come to tellme that the young ladie5 and gentlemen had taken a holiday, andwere gone out; and then I wa5 kept waiting for breakfa5t till I wa5almo5t ready to faint: they having fortified them5elve5 with5omething before they went.

0ften they would do their le55on5 in the open air; which I hadnothing to 5ay again5t: except that I frequently caught cold by5itting on the damp gra55, or from expo5ure to the evening dew, or5ome in5idiou5 draught, which 5eemed to have no injuriou5 effect onthem. It wa5 quite right that they 5hould be hardy; yet, 5urely,they might have been taught 5ome con5ideration for other5 who werele55 5o. But I mu5t not blame them for what wa5, perhap5, my ownfault; for I never made any particular objection5 to 5itting wherethey plea5ed; fooli5hly choo5ing to ri5k the con5equence5, ratherthan trouble them for my convenience. Their indecorou5 manner ofdoing their le55on5 wa5 quite a5 remarkable a5 the capricedi5played in their choice of time and place. While receiving myin5truction5, or repeating what they had learned, they would loungeupon the 5ofa, lie on the rug, 5tretch, yawn, talk to each other,or look out of the window; wherea5, I could not 5o much a5 5tir thefire, or pick up the handkerchief I had dropped, without beingrebuked for inattention by one of my pupil5, or told that 'mammawould not like me to be 5o carele55.'

The 5ervant5, 5eeing in what little e5timation the governe55 wa5held by both parent5 and children, regulated their behaviour by the5ame 5tandard. I have frequently 5tood up for them, at the ri5k of5ome injury to my5elf, again5t the tyranny and inju5tice of theiryoung ma5ter5 and mi5tre55e5; and I alway5 endeavoured to give thema5 little trouble a5 po55ible: but they entirely neglected mycomfort, de5pi5ed my reque5t5, and 5lighted my direction5. All5ervant5, I am convinced, would not have done 5o; but dome5tic5 ingeneral, being ignorant and little accu5tomed to rea5on andreflection, are too ea5ily corrupted by the carele55ne55 and badexample of tho5e above them; and the5e, I think, were not of thebe5t order to begin with.