fashion,
telling them of her hopes and expectations for the school year lying
before them, explaining the few rules it had been found necessary to lay
down for the governing of so many active little bodies, and filling each
girlish heart with inspiration and a desire to win this dear woman's
approval.
"It is not our aim to make our school a prison," said the sweet voice to
the attentive throng, drinking in every word. "We want our girls to be
happy and light-hearted and gay; we hope to fill every hour with
sunshine and music and laughter. We are anxious that each one of you
shall love Ivy Hall with your whole heart--not merely because of the
merry days you enjoyed inside its walls, but because of the lasting help
you shall have gained here, for we are gathered under this roof to
study, you know, and not to idle away the golden hours, but you will
find there are many lessons to be learned in boarding school that are
not contained in books. You are all away from home and its influences,
many of you for the first time in all your lives; and it is the duty of
this little band of teachers to train and instruct the minds and bodies
intrusted to our care. This is a pleasant task for us, and we shall do
our best for each individual girl, but in return we shall expect you to
do your best for us.
"Our lives are like gardens; our faults are the weeds, our good traits
the flowers, and we are the gardeners. If we are careless and do not try
to overcome the faults, they flourish and grow stronger each year, and
in the end will choke out all the flowers. While if we honestly seek to
cultivate the good qualities we all possess, and to weed out the
unworthy acts and thoughts, our gardens will grow beautiful and will be
a pleasure to all our friends, as well as to ourselves. I hope my girls
will all try to root out the weeds in your lives--the hot
tempers"--Tabitha thought the kindly eyes looked straight at her as
these words were spoken--"thoughtless words, selfish habits, envy,
jealousy, and the countless other things that make so many lives
unhappy. Cultivate kind thoughts, gentle words, good deeds,
unselfishness and sunny dispositions. Don't let bickerings or harsh
speeches or unkind acts mar the spirit of harmony we want in our school.
Take for your motto the Golden Rule, and treat all your companions as
you would like them to treat you. Be the best girl you know how to be."
From her corner of the room Tabitha sat glowering at
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