had lived in the enjoyment of all the comforts, and with many of the
luxuries of life, to the time of the sad event which left me fatherless
and my mother a widow. I had never, as yet, attended any school. My
mother had been my only teacher, and as her own education had been
thorough, she was amply qualified for the task.




CHAPTER II.

SUCCESS AT SCHOOL.


About a year after my father's death, my mother decided upon sending me
to school, as she thought I was becoming too sedate and serious for a
child only eleven years of age. I had never been very familiar with the
neighbouring children of my own age, and after the death of my father I
cared still less for their companionship. My chief enjoyment was in the
society of my mother; and as we kept no servant, I found many ways of
making myself useful to her; and every afternoon she devoted two or
three hours to my lessons and needlework. Thus passed away the first
year after our great sorrow, when, as I have already said, my mother
decided upon sending me to school. It seemed to me, at the time, quite a
formidable undertaking--this going to school. I had never been separated
from my mother, and the five hours to be spent daily in the school-room
seemed to my childish mind a very long time. I had ever been shy and
diffident in the presence of strangers, and the idea of entering a large
school a stranger to both teacher and pupils, was very unpleasant to me.
But when I found it to be my mother's wish that I should go, I