that some men would be
proud of having an ambitious daughter, and be glad to give her the best
advantages; that she feared the daily journeys to Edgewood were going
to be too much for her own health, and Mr. Perkins would have to hire a
boy to drive Emma Jane; and finally that when a girl had such a passion
for learning as Emma Jane, it seemed almost like wickedness to cross
her will.

Mr. Perkins bore this for several days until his temper, digestion, and
appetite were all sensibly affected; then he bowed his head to the
inevitable, and Emma Jane flew, like a captive set free, to the loved
one's bower. Neither did her courage flag, although it was put to
terrific tests when she entered the academic groves of Wareham. She
passed in only two subjects, but went cheerfully into the preparatory
department with her five "conditions," intending to let the stream of
education play gently over her mental surfaces and not get any wetter
than she could help. It is not possible to blink the truth that Emma
Jane was dull; but a dogged, unswerving loyalty, and the gift of
devoted, unselfish loving, these, after all, are talents of a sort, and
may possibly be of as much value in the world as a sense of numbers or
a faculty for languages.

Wareham was a pretty village with a broad main street shaded by great
maples and elms. It had an apothecary, a blacksmith, a plumber, several
shops of one sort and another, two churches, and many boarding-houses;
but all its interests gathered about its seminary and its academy.
These seats of learning were neither better nor worse than others of
their kind, but differed much in efficiency, according as the principal
who chanced to be at the head was a man of power and inspiration or the
reverse. There were boys and girls gathered from all parts of the
county and state, and they were of every kind and degree as to birth,
position in the world, wealth or poverty. There was an opportunity for
a deal of foolish and imprudent behavior, but on the whole surprisingly
little advantage was taken of it. Among the third and fourth year
students there was a certain amount of going to and from the trains in
couples; some carrying of heavy books up the hill by the sterner sex
for their feminine schoolmates, and occasional bursts of silliness on
the part of heedless and precocious girls, among whom was Huldah
Meserve. She was friendly enough with Emma Jane and Rebecca, but grew
less and less intimate as time w