s authority with impunity. He _could_ scold, and then his voice
thundered and reverberated in the ears of the pale delinquent in such a
storm-peal as was never heard before--and he _could_ chastise the
obstinate offender, when reason could not control, most tremendously.
That long, black ruler--what a wand it was! Whenever he was about to use
it as an instrument of punishment, he had a peculiar way of handling it,
which soon taught them to tremble. He would feel the whole length of it
very slowly and carefully as if it were the edge of a razor--then raise
it parallel with the eyes, and closing one, looked at it steadily with
the other. Then lifting it suddenly above his head, he would extend his
broad, left palm, and give himself a blow that would make them all start
from their seats. Of all crimes or vices, none excited his indignation
so much as laziness. It was with him the unpardonable sin. There was
toleration, forgiveness for every one but the _sluggard_. He said
Solomon's description of the slothful should be written in letters of
gold on the walls of the understanding. He explained it to them as a
metaphor, and made them to understand that the field of the sluggard,
overgrown with thorns and nettles, was only an image of the neglected
and uncultivated mind. He gave them Doctor Watts' versification of it to
commit to memory, and repeated it with them in concert. It is not
strange that Mittie, who never came to him with a neglected or imperfect
lesson, should be a great favorite with him, and that he should make her
the _star pupil_ of the school.

Mittie was not afraid of being eclipsed by Helen, in the new sphere on
which she had entered. At home the latter was more petted and caressed,
the object of deeper tenderness, but there she reigned supreme, and the
pet of the household would find herself nothing more than a cipher. She
was mistaken. It was impossible to look upon Helen without interest, and
Master Hightower seemed especially drawn towards her. He bent down till
he overshadowed her with his loftiness, then smiling at the quick
withdrawal of her soft, wild, shy glances, he took her up in his lap as
if she were a plaything, sent for his amusement.

Mittie was not pleased at this, for though she thought herself entirely
too much of a woman to be treated with such endearing familiarity, she
could not bear to see such caresses bestowed on another.

"I wonder," she said to herself, with a darkening countenanc