THE NEW INMATE OF OAK VILLA.
And now a new sort of life began, both at Oak Villa, and at Camden
Terrace.
Mabel had promised her aunt (and she meant faithfully to fulfil that
promise) to give what portion of the time she could spare from her
attendance on mamma, to the lessons of her sister Julia, who was now far
behind Mabel, and sadly needed a preceptress.
Well and amicably the two girls worked together; though there were
trials of temper at times, when Julia did not seem to make such progress
as her youthful instructress had anticipated. This, however, was only a
trifling matter; there was peace in the house, and papa came home, not
to be burdened with complaints, by domestic irregularities, but to be
solaced by the loving attentions of his two girls, and amused by the
sententious sayings of little prudish Gertrude, or the high spirits and
happy gleefulness of Willie.
It was also a source of great comfort to him to know that Fred was in
such good keeping; he could not doubt this, when he had practical proof
before him daily, in the change that had been wrought in his eldest
daughter. But how do they get on at Oak Villa, I wonder?
Admirably, I must say, considering that this is Aunt Mary's first
attempt at taming an embryo lord of the creation. Is she very severe? By
no means! Fred finds, to his great surprise, that 'this nasty old thing'
works by love! and he is positively so full of employment and
enjoyment, that he has no time to think of himself or to give way to
evil temper. It must be owned (for there was no miracle in the case)
that kind Aunt Mary had determined to give up this week, while Clara was
away, to the instruction, amusement, and management of the Camden
Terrace rebel; and though no outward sign betrayed the good lady's
inward trials, it really was a week of trial to her. But she had
succeeded to a wonder, so far as outward appearance testified, and
worthy Bridget, who, by her good-nature helped on the reformation,
declared herself astonished to find Master Freddy such a different boy
to what she expected.
And so the weeks passed by. Fred still lived on at Oak Villa, a happy
and a loving inmate. Clara had come home, and contributed not a little
to Fred's enjoyment; they went out together to see all the poor people,
and particularly the Simmons family, who were getting on very well, now
that the father was recovered. Fred had a wheelbarrow and a nice box
that Simmons had made him, and Clara and he worked away famously in the
garden, weeding, or planting, or picking up stones. Aunt Mary says,
'This is what we have been trying to do for you, dear Freddy. Weeding
out the naughty bitter weeds, putting in seeds that we hope will spring
up, and grow to be beautiful flowers, and picking up the stones, that
the soil may look smooth, and show that it is well taken care of.'
We must not forget the visits paid to dear mamma, twice a week, when
that good lady was moved, even to tears, to see the great change, both
in appearance and manner, that had taken place in her beloved child. She
was much better, and the doctor thought that change of air would be the
very best thing to restore her to health; but there were many things to
be considered in the carrying out of such a proposal. Time may do
wonders, but that time had not yet come; and we have travelled on a
little too fast, I think, so we will go back to the first morning of
Master Freddy's advent at Oak Villa. The first bell had rung, but
Bridget was not satisfied to let the little boy's getting up depend on
that, so she went and knocked at his door, and then peeped in.
'Why, bless me, Master Fred, are you not up yet?' exclaimed the good
woman in pretended surprise. 'Why, the sun has been up a long time, and
the birds are a-singing; and the fowls I know are wanting their
breakfast, so I hope you will not keep them waiting very long. You must
wash yourself well, and dress yourself nicely, and brush your hair, for
I know your aunt can't abide to see slovenly children.'
After these instructions, Bridget made her exit; and Fred, the tiresome
Fred, who when at home would only get up when he thought proper, jumped
out of bed, put on his socks and shoes, performed his ablutions, and
finished his dressing in a most satisfactory manner. Then he went down,
and joined his aunt in the breakfast-room.
'Well, my dear Fred,' said the kind lady, taking her nephew by the hand
and kissing him, 'I hope you are no worse for your fall yesterday, and
that you have had a good night's rest?'
'Oh, I slept so well, aunt. It is such a nice little bed, I like it so
much!'
'And have you, my child,' said his aunt, 'thanked the good God who gave
you sleep, and rest, and kind friends?'
'I haven't said my prayers, aunt,' replied Freddy; 'I don't always say
them.'
'But you always wish to have kind friends, and a nice bed, and peaceful
sleep, don't you, dear Fred?' said Aunt Mary.
'Yes, aunt, I do,' replied the boy.
'And don't you think you ought to be thankful when you have them?' was
the next question.
Freddy hung down his head, but he whispered 'Yes.'
'Well, go then, my dear, and thank your heavenly Father for His
goodness, and ask Him to bless you, and keep you from all evil to-day.'
And Freddy went back to his room, and knelt beside his little bed, and
repeated the same prayer that he had said so many times before, without
thinking even of what he was saying; but this time he did think.
After breakfast Fred went to feed the fowls, though this ought to have
been done before; but this was a beginning, so it did not much matter.
At ten o'clock he was called to his books, and Aunt Mary expected a
trial, for Freddy had never been at school, and his teaching at home had
been only such as he chose to receive from his mamma or his sisters,
when he happened to be in the humour. Yet he was naturally a quick
child, and but for temper, his aunt did not at all contemplate any
difficulty; indeed, she had no reason to do so, with her method of
teaching. She was never harsh, but she was strict in discipline. She
knew, that to make children happy, it was not at all necessary that they
should have their own way, though she never contradicted them without
occasion. She, in short, treated them as reasonable creatures, as loving
creatures, who required love to draw them out; and she had seen, and
felt, the happy results of this treatment. After the first week there
was no more trouble about lessons; and with the assistance of Bridget
and Clara, who were both now really fond of the boy, and did many little
things to contribute to his pleasure, Aunt Mary found that she need no
longer have any dread of having taken into her happy domicile an
inmate, who would destroy its hitherto peaceful character; and Fred
never once expressed a wish to go and live at home again.