Ellen and Sarah OR The Sampler - 4
Jan. 20th, 2007 09:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seminaristBut we must now hear what Ellen said when she got home. She found her mother busy finishing some work that was to be taken home the next day; but not too busy to look at the sampler, and hear of Mrs. and Miss Stanley's kindness.
"I wonder what the prize will be, mother," said Ellen; "one thing I am sure of, that I shall get it, whatever it may be."
"Why?" asked the widow.
"Because I do not think any of the girls mark half as well as I do; and then, as they are to mark the verse of a hymn, I do not believe they will be able to spell it right."
"Who are the other girls?" inquired her mother.
"Sarah is the one, and you know she cannot read at all well; then there is Anne Roberts, she perhaps may go near to get the prize; and Martha Phillips works pretty well, but her sister can mark but very little; no more can Jane and Mary Price, nor the three Longs."
"I thought," answered Mrs. Jones, "that Margaret Long could work very neatly and read very well. It is not long ago that her aunt, who keeps the dry-goods store, said that she would take her to live with her, to help keep her accounts and look after the store, only she wished her to write a little better first."
"Yes, so she did," said Ellen; "but still I think I shall get the prize."
"I am afraid, Ellen," said her mother, "that you have too high thoughts of what you can do. By what you say of yourself, one would think you could do everything better than any one else, instead of being a little girl who has much to learn, and who cannot yet to anything well. Ellen, your vanity will lead you into trouble."
"But indeed, mother, I am not vain."
"What is it but vanity, when I see you every day looking in the glass first this way, then that? What but vanity makes you ask continually for gay ribbons and fine dresses, which are quite unsuited to your station? What but vanity makes you think yourself so much above Sarah? And what but vanity now makes you feel so sure of doing better than anybody else? Ellen, Ellen, look at your action, and you will soon see that there is a great deal of vanity in your heart."
Ellen was vexed. She did not like to be told of her faults, even by her mother; but she could not help feeling that there was truth in what her mother had said; and that evening, when, after reading a chapter of the Bible, Mrs. Jones talked to her of the sin of vanity, and how hateful it is in the sight of God, the little girl resolved to try and overcome this great fault. Alas! She forgot her own weakness, and forgot, also to ask God, for Jesus Christ's sake, to help her; therefore, as we shall see, she failed; and her vanity led her into more sorrow than it had yet done.
to be continued
"I wonder what the prize will be, mother," said Ellen; "one thing I am sure of, that I shall get it, whatever it may be."
"Why?" asked the widow.
"Because I do not think any of the girls mark half as well as I do; and then, as they are to mark the verse of a hymn, I do not believe they will be able to spell it right."
"Who are the other girls?" inquired her mother.
"Sarah is the one, and you know she cannot read at all well; then there is Anne Roberts, she perhaps may go near to get the prize; and Martha Phillips works pretty well, but her sister can mark but very little; no more can Jane and Mary Price, nor the three Longs."
"I thought," answered Mrs. Jones, "that Margaret Long could work very neatly and read very well. It is not long ago that her aunt, who keeps the dry-goods store, said that she would take her to live with her, to help keep her accounts and look after the store, only she wished her to write a little better first."
"Yes, so she did," said Ellen; "but still I think I shall get the prize."
"I am afraid, Ellen," said her mother, "that you have too high thoughts of what you can do. By what you say of yourself, one would think you could do everything better than any one else, instead of being a little girl who has much to learn, and who cannot yet to anything well. Ellen, your vanity will lead you into trouble."
"But indeed, mother, I am not vain."
"What is it but vanity, when I see you every day looking in the glass first this way, then that? What but vanity makes you ask continually for gay ribbons and fine dresses, which are quite unsuited to your station? What but vanity makes you think yourself so much above Sarah? And what but vanity now makes you feel so sure of doing better than anybody else? Ellen, Ellen, look at your action, and you will soon see that there is a great deal of vanity in your heart."
Ellen was vexed. She did not like to be told of her faults, even by her mother; but she could not help feeling that there was truth in what her mother had said; and that evening, when, after reading a chapter of the Bible, Mrs. Jones talked to her of the sin of vanity, and how hateful it is in the sight of God, the little girl resolved to try and overcome this great fault. Alas! She forgot her own weakness, and forgot, also to ask God, for Jesus Christ's sake, to help her; therefore, as we shall see, she failed; and her vanity led her into more sorrow than it had yet done.
to be continued
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no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 03:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 05:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 07:09 pm (UTC)Sampler story
Date: 2007-01-21 03:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-21 04:02 am (UTC)Ellen and Sarah; or The Samplers.
And other Stories.
New York:
Phillips & Hunt.
Cincinnati:
Hitchcock & Walden.
It has no publication date, but by the looks of it I would roughly date it about 3rd quarter of the 19th century. I could find it neither in Abebooks nor in Alibris; even the Library of Congress catalog does not list it.
It is obviously a childrens' book, printed in 24mo, with a few engravings. Judging by the list of other Phillips & Hunt publications, it was a religious publishing house, mostly printing pious tracts with such names as 'Living Waters for Daily Use' and 'The Converted Collier', as well as 'Fletcher's Check to Antinomianism'
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Date: 2007-01-29 04:15 am (UTC)