CHOOSING A PROFESSION.
There was one peculiarity of Montrose Academy that had been slow to
recommend itself to the parents of its pupils. That was the elective
system, which was adopted after much controversy on the part of the
Board of Trustees.
The more conservative insisted that the prosperity of the past had
shown the wisdom of keeping strictly to a curriculum that did not
allow individual choice of studies. The newer element in the Board
were equally sure that to oblige a girl to go through a course of
Latin and Greek, of higher mathematics, of logic and geology, who, on
leaving school, would never have the slightest use for them, was
simply a waste of time. A compromise was made at length, by which, for
five years, the elective system should be practised, it being claimed
that no shorter time could fairly prove its success or its failure;
and during this period certain studies of the old course should be
insisted upon. First and foremost the Bible, the others chosen to
depend upon the class.
The year of Marion's entering the school was the second of the
experiment; and, after joining the middle class and having her
regular lessons assigned to her, she was not a little surprised, and
in truth confused, by Miss Ashton asking her, as if it was a matter of
course, "What do you intend to _do_ in the future?" as if she expected
her to have her future all mapped out, and was to begin at once her
preparation for it. Miss Ashton saw her embarrassment, and helped her
by saying,--
"Many of the young ladies come here with very definite plans; for
instance, your room-mate Dorothy is fitting for a teacher, and a very
fine one she will make! Gladys is making special study of everything
pertaining to natural science,--geology, botany, physics, and
chemistry. She intends when she goes back to Florida to become an
agriculturist. I dare say you have already heard her talk of the
wonderful possibilities to be found there. Her father is an enthusiast
in the work, and she means to fit herself to be his able assistant.
Susan wants to be a banker, and avails herself of every help she can
find toward it.
"You see our little lame girl Helen! She is to be an artist, and
devotes all her spare time to courses in art. She is in the second
year, and has made wonderful progress in shading in charcoal from
casts and models. She uses paints, both oils and watercolors, but
those do not come in our regular course.
"If we see any special talent in a pupil in any line, we do not
confine ourselves to what we can do for her, but we call in extra help
from abroad.
"Kate Underwood is to be a lawyer. Mamie Smythe has a new chosen
profession for every new year, but as she is an only child, and her
mother is wealthy, she will never enter one.
"I might go on through perhaps an eighth of the school, and point out
to you girls who are studying with an aim. For the greater number,
they are content to go on with the regular curriculum; as their only
object, and that of their parents for them, seems to be to secure
sufficient education to make them pass creditably through the common
life of ordinary women.
"I thought you might have a definite object in view; and as you are
now fairly started in your classes, and, as your teachers tell me, are
doing very well, if you had a plan, you could find time to choose such
other studies as would help you."
This was new to Marion; she asked for time to think it over, which
Miss Ashton gladly allowed her.
She had in her heart made her choice, but that, with all the other
advantages offered, she could do anything except in a general way to
help this choice forward, she had never dreamed. Her room-mates
noticed how silent and thoughtful she was after her talk with Miss
Ashton, and wondered what could be the cause, surely she was too
faithful and far too good a scholar for any remissness that would have
to be rebuked; but no one asked her a question.
It was after two days that Marion wrote her mother, and her letter
caused a great surprise in the Western parsonage. This is in part what
she wrote:--
"Miss Ashton has asked me what I am to _do_ in the future. It
seems they not only give you the regular curriculum, but are
ready to allow you elective studies, by which you can fit
yourself for your particular future.
"I wonder if you will think me a foolish girl when I write you
that, if you both approve, I should like to be a doctor! Don't
laugh! I have seen so much sickness that there was no really
educated physician to relieve, and am, as you have so often
called me, 'a regular born nurse,' that the profession, if a
profession I am capable of acquiring, seems very tempting to me.
There is no hurry in the decision, only please think it over,
and write me your advice."
It was not long before an answer came:--
"You are quite capable of choosing for yourself; and if you turn
naturally to the medical profession, you will have our full
approval of your choice."
When Marion read this, she felt as if she had grown suddenly many
years older. She looked carefully over the list of studies, to see
from which she could gain the greatest help, and in a short time after
her conversation with Miss Ashton she reported herself as a future
M.D.
This was not a rare profession for a young girl to choose. Miss Ashton
knew that already there were a number with that in view. What she
doubted was, whether a quarter of them would ever carry out their
intention; and this was one thing which, favoring on the whole as she
did the elective system, she could but acknowledge told against
it,--the uncertainty which their youth, and the natural tendency of a
girl's mind to change, gave. She had known them in one year, or even a
shorter time, an enthusiast in one profession, then, becoming tired of
it, and sure another was more suited to their abilities, turn to the
new choice.
One thing, however, was certain: she comforted herself by remembering,
that the mental discipline which they had acquired would stay with
them, even after the whim of the time had ceased to influence them.
There was an immediate effect, however, which Marion's decision had
upon her. It interested her in those of her schoolmates who were
looking forward to a definite and useful future. She could recall now
how often her room-mates had spoken of what they intended to do, but
she had only listened to it as she had to what they said about their
homes and their friends.
How it became known to them that she, too, had made her choice for the
future, she wondered over; but it was not long before they began to
call her "Dr!" as if she had already earned the title.
Nellie Blair Gorham she had from the first of her entering the school
taken a deep interest in. The small, deformed, pale girl had a pathos
in her whole appearance that touched deeply Marion's sympathies. They
were in different classes, and, so far, had come little in contact;
but now she felt irresistibly drawn to the art studio during the hours
when Helen was there, and, standing near, watched her as she worked.
Helen had all the shrinking sensitiveness which her misfortunes and
her poverty--for she was poor--would naturally give her. Marion was
strong of body, and strong of mind, with a gentle, loving,
sympathetic nature speaking from every look and action; the one, the
counterpart of the other.
Marion made an immediate choice, under Miss Ashton's instruction, of
the studies that would help her in the future; and so, with redoubled
interest in this school-life, she bent to her work, learning day by
day the value of trying to fasten her mind upon that, and that alone.