[Sidenote: Mimicry of Speech]
Miss Burch was from Massachusetts, and had an exquisitely soft voice and
unimpeachable pronunciation. She came to Peoria, Illinois, to teach in
the public schools, and found these two assets very much in the way.
Mabel Gulliver, a little girl whose cleverness was largely the product
of much running of streets, turned both to account in a series of
imitations that “delighted crowded houses” whenever she chose to hold
forth. As she did this frequently, poor Miss Burch soon found herself
helpless and ridiculous in her own school-room.
“Authah, will you ausk the janitah to give us a little moah heat?” Mabel
would flute, with inimitable saccharinity. “And I want you all to cease
lawfing at once, foah this is the clauss in correct pronunciation, and
if youah to be cleavah like me you’ll learn how to do it properly.” Miss
Burch’s manner was the perfection of simplicity, but in Mabel’s
imitation it appeared with a simpering ingenuousness both funny and
untrue.
Miss Burch realized the situation and wept over it. She did not know
what to do. Realizing she was the subject of ridicule, she became
self-conscious and timid, and her discipline grew worse and worse.