life is about as varied
and pleasant as that of a churn-dog; that is, if the dog were kept
churning all day. The balancing of accounts with them, and the
making out of the bills for the patrons, are certainly 'under the
immediate supervision of the principal.' These bills, which fond
parents suppose amount to $--, have a rat-like appendage (excuse
the expression) of 'incidentals,' that wasn't drawn into the
_modest_ 'terms' of the circular. I nearly forgot her Friday
afternoon lectures, for which she sometimes substitutes _Hannah
More_, and the _Young Ladies' Own Book_. These lectures are as
commonplace as expatiations on the importance of cultivating the
mind and heart, interspersed with 'hence the necessity,' and
'highly essential,' can mate them. Last Friday, as she was
enlarging on the advantage of having had our birth in an
enlightened, Christian land, Jenny Dean wrote on a slip of paper,
and poked it over to me,'not _have_ our _berth_ in a Christian
land.' Mrs. Smith saw her, confiscated the paper, and gave her a
severe reprimand, for evincing such a disposition to trifle with
serious things. Jenny was right; if ours is a Christian berth,
commend me to heathendom. Mrs. Smith neglected to mention in her
circular the instruction in _entomology_ her pupils receive;
probably because they are, as 'the Autocrat' says every traveler
is, _self-taught_. I wish she would omit a few lessons in the 'Use
of the Globes,' and teach the servants the use of hot water,
corrosive sublimate, and roach-poison.

'I begin to understand why it is called a _finishing_ school. Don't
tell mother, or she will have me put in quarantine when I return.
But, really, I'm getting quite thin; the demand made on my system
being greater than the supply of 'plain wholesome food.' Now, I'm
not going to complain of this 'plain wholesome,' though the butter
is sometimes strong, the lamb (?) ditto, (see circular in regard to
home comforts.) But I wish you would suggest to mother the
propriety of sending me another box; the last we finished in short
metre. You know this is a _finishing_ school. Only one of the girls
of our hall is too mean to _treat_, and she gets _lots of things_
from home. Yesterday, she brought a beautiful basket of apples to
my room, just to show me how nice