Prudence and Practicality by C J Hill

Author:C J Hill [Hill, C J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: C. J. Hill
Published: 2012-12-26T05:00:00+00:00

XXI

Further to her plans to educate the village children, Charlotte had lost no time in preparing some lessons with which she would introduce some of them to the alphabet for the first time in their short lives. Although never intending to be a teacher as a vocation, she had frequently been the assistant to her brothers when they were still being educated at home and required some extra help with understanding a passage of literature or some such thing; as their eldest sister and generally deemed to be rather learned and bookish for a female, they always felt more at ease asking for her help rather than from their father, who tended to talk rather too much and never actually to gain the point.

From the insight into the content of her brothers’ education, Charlotte had added all that they were learning to her self-imposed study, and as a consequence became rather well-read and with opinions that quite set her apart from other ladies in the village, excepting that of Elizabeth and Jane Bennet who also felt the same hunger for knowledge; none would admit they were seeking to become as agile of mind as the men of their acquaintance, but all agreed that there was no reason they should not extend their brain past the usual confines of female thinking.

Eventually, to the despair of their respective mothers that their eldest daughters were spending too much of their free time becoming educated under their own exertions, and, truth to tell, with more efficacy than was being shown by their sons or other young males, both Mr. Bennet and Sir William independently decided to assist the ladies with suggestions and reasoned discussions to augment their understanding of authors’ points.

Although now much concerned with the running of her new household and the matters of the village, while awaiting the arrival of her guests, Charlotte felt well prepared to undertake this new venture. Before long she had drawn up a plan of study that she believed would suffice without over-extending the children, and which would not cause any disapprobation from Lady Catherine as being too instructive.

Within a few days she had spoken with her husband, who agreed wholeheartedly with the entire plan, so long as Lady Catherine did, and had informed Lady Catherine and Anne over afternoon tea where she had not only gained the former’s condescending agreement to the idea but had also been made the generous offer of Anne’s help after morning church services had been attended. Charlotte was extremely pleased and gratified by the generosity of spirit Lady Catherine displayed and tried to make it known to her on her second visit after broaching her plan.

“Lady Catherine. I should so like to express my gratitude for your dedication to the people of the village – first the Betts’ cottage and now the school! Miss de Bourgh will be of great assistance to me when I begin; I already have got the agreement of six families to send their children to the school every Sunday and I shall need some help with organisation and deciding what their needs are.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.