Aunt Mary (Paperback)

Excerpt: ...no authority to be questioned; and with hardly suppressed passion and tears, the vanquished girl quitted the room with her sister and cousin. 'And now, my dear Ada, ' said Miss Livesay to her sister, 'see what are the fruits of your over-indulgence, or want of firmness They are not very lovely, are they? Will you not take your good husband's advice, and strive against this constitutional weakness, which is so detri Pg 86 mental to your happiness, to your husband's comfort, and to your children's welfare?' 'I can't be always scolding the children, Mary, ' replied Mrs. Ellis, peevishly. 'It isn't my fault, surely, that Mabel is so ill-tempered and disobedient, and yet you and Arthur just talk to me as if it were.' 'And in a great measure, I think, it is your fault, my sister, ' said the kind monitor. 'Children should be watched from infancy; tenderly cared for in mind as well as body. Good seed must be sown then, and the little weeds which we are apt to disregard, or what is worse, cherish, in our folly, must be rooted out while the soil is moist, and the root is not deep in the ground. Never laugh at childish exhibitions of temper, nor for the sake of peace give way to the doctrine of expediency, injurious alike to nations and to families.' Here poor Mrs. Ellis interposed; she could never sit out a long sermon, especially one that she really could not understand. So she interrupted Aunt Mary's profitable discourse by promising to try, when Mabel had gone away, to be more careful for the future, though she candidly admitted that she did not know how to begin to make any change, as Mabel was the only one of the children who gave her any trouble. And yet the weeds were growing up thick and strong in Pg 87 Master Freddy, who just then put his head in at the door, the little ones being behind him, and all running to salute their aunt, and receiving from her a loving embrace, as well as the very pretty playthings which were spread out on the table for their...