nted nor needed by anybody,
and conscious herself of her own dead value. It would not bear
thinking of.

But still her dogged pride held its own. She might be
defiled, she might be a corpse that should never be loved, she
might be a core-rotten stalk living upon the food that others
provided; yet she would give in to nobody.

Gradually she became conscious that she could not go on
living at home as she was doing, without place or meaning or
worth. The very children that went to school held her
uselessness in contempt. She must do something.

Her father said she had plenty to do to help her mother. From
her parents she would never get more than a hit in the face. She
was not a practical person. She thought of wild things, of
running away and becoming a domestic servant, of asking some man
to take her.

She wrote to the mistress of the High School for advice.

"I cannot see very clearly what you should do, Ursula," came
the reply, "unless you are willing to become an elementary
school teacher. You have matriculated, and that qualifies you to
take a post as uncertificated teacher in any school, at a salary
of about fifty pounds a year.

"I cannot tell you how deeply I sympathize with you in your
desire to do something. You will learn that mankind is a great
body of which you are one useful member, you will take your own
place at the great task which humanity is trying to fulfil. That
will give you a satisfaction and a self-respect which nothing
else could give."

Ursula's heart sank. It was a cold, dreary satisfaction to
think of. Yet her cold will acquiesced. This was what she
wanted.

"You have an emotional nature," the letter went on, "a quick
natural response. If only you could learn patience and
self-discipline, I do not see why you should not make a good
teacher. The least you could do is to try. You need only serve a
year, or perhaps two years, as uncertificated teacher. Then you
would go to one of the training colleges, where I hope you would
take your degree. I most strongly urge and advise you to keep up
your studies always with the intention of taking a degree. That
will give you a qualification and a position in the world, and
will give you more scope to choose your own way.

"I shall be proud to see one of my girls win her own
economical independence, which means so much more than it seems.
I shall be glad indeed to know that one more of my girls has
provided for herself the means of freedom to