d for every one
who came within its influence. Mrs. Brown loved young people, and in
fact human creatures in general, above plates and linen. They were
more like a lot of elder children than servants, and felt to her more
as a mother or aunt than as a mistress.

[4] #Functionary#: one charged with the performance of a duty.

[5] #Scatter-brain#: thoughtless.

[6] #N[)o]table#: industrious, smart.

Tom's nurse was one who took in her instruction very slowly,--she
seemed to have two left hands and no head; and so Mrs. Brown kept her
on longer than usual that she might expend her awkwardness and
forgetfulness upon those who would not judge and punish her too
strictly for them.

Charity Lamb was her name. It had been the immemorial habit of the
village to christen children either by Bible names, or by those of the
cardinal[7] and other virtues; so that one was forever hearing in the
village street, or on the green, shrill sounds of "Prudence! Prudence!
thee cum' out o' the gutter"; or "Mercy! drat[8] the girl, what
bist[9] thee a doin' wi' little Faith?" and there were Ruths, Rachels,
Keziahs, in every corner. The same with the boys; they were Benjamins,
Jacobs, Noahs, Enochs. I suppose the custom has come down from
puritan[10] times--there it is, at any rate, very strong still in
the Vale.

[7] #Cardinal#: chief.

[8] #Drat#: plague take.

[9] #Bist#: art.

[10] #Puritan#: the Puritans were those who were dissatisfied
with the English Church and wished to _purify_ it, as they
said, from certain ceremonies. They quite generally gave their
children Bible names.

TOM BROWN'S FIRST REBELLION.

Well, from early morn till dewy eve, when she had it out of him in
the cold tub before putting him to bed, Charity and Tom were pitted
against one another. Physical power was as yet on the side of Charity,
but she hadn't a chance with him wherever head-work was wanted. This
war of independence began every morning before breakfast, when Charity
escorted her charge to a neighboring farm-house which supplied the
Browns, and where by his mother's wish, Master Tom went to drink
whey,[11] before breakfast. Tom had no sort of objection to whey,
but he had a decided liking for curds, which were forbidden as
unwholesome, and there was seldom a morning that he did not manage
to secure a handful of hard curds, in defiance of Charity and the
farmer's wife. The latter good soul was a gaunt ang