whole school. Suddenly his eye gave a blink, as if it had met something that either dazzled or shocked its pupil; turning, he said in more rapid accents than he had hitherto used:

5 "Miss Temple, Miss Temple, what- what is that girl with curled hair? Red hair, ma'am, curled - curled all over?" And extending his cane he pointed to the awful object, his hand shaking as he did so.

"It is Julia Severn," replied Miss Temple, very 10 quietly.

"Julia Severn, ma'am! And why has she, or any other, curled hair? Why, in defiance of every precept and principle of this house, does she conform to the world, so openly here in an evangelical, charitable 15 establishment as to wear her hair one mass of curls?" "Julia's hair curls naturally," returned Miss Temple, still more quietly.

66

'Naturally! Yes, but we are not to conform to nature: I wish these girls to be the children of Grace: and why 20 that abundance? I have again and again intimated that I desire the hair to be arranged closely, modestly, plainly. Miss Temple, that girl's hair must be cut off entirely; I will send a barber to-morrow: and I see others who have far too much of the excrescence - that 25 tall girl, tell her to turn round. Tell all the first form to rise up and direct their faces to the wall."

Miss Temple passed her handkerchief over her lips, as if to smooth away the involuntary smile that curled them; she gave the order, however, and when the first 30 class could take in what was required of them, they

obeyed. Leaning a little back on my bench, I could see
the looks and grimaces with which they commented on
this maneuver: it was a pity Mr. Brocklehurst could not
see them too; he would perhaps have felt that, whatever
he might do with the outside of the cup and platter, 5
the inside was further beyond his interference than he
imagined.

These words He scrutinized the reverse of these living medals some five minutes, then pronounced sentence.

fell like the knell of doom:

"All those topknots must be cut off."

Miss Temple seemed to remonstrate.

10

"Madam," he pursued, "I have a Master to serve whose kingdom is not of this world: my mission is to mortify in these girls the lusts of the flesh; to teach 15 them to clothe themselves with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with braided hair and costly apparel; and each of the young persons before us has a string of hair twisted in plaits which vanity itself might have woven: these, I repeat, must be cut off; think of the time wasted, 20 of-"

Mr. Brocklehurst was here interrupted: three other visitors, ladies, now entered the room. They ought to have come a little sooner to have heard his lecture on dress, for they were splendidly attired in velvet, silk, 25 and furs. The two younger of the trio (fine girls of sixteen and seventeen) had gray beaver hats, then in fashion, shaded with ostrich plumes, and from under the brim of this graceful headdress fell a profusion of light tresses, elaborately curled; the elderly lady was enveloped 30

in a costly velvet shawl, trimmed with ermine, and she wore a false front of French curls.

These ladies were deferentially received by Miss Temple as Mrs. and the Misses Brocklehurst, and con5 ducted to seats of honor at the top of the room. It seems they had come in the carriage with their reverend relative, and had been conducting a rummaging scrutiny of the rooms upstairs, while he transacted business with the housekeeper, questioned the laundress, and lectured 10 the superintendent. They now proceeded to address divers remarks and reproofs to Miss Smith, who was charged with the care of the linen and the inspection of the dormitories: but I had no time to listen to what they said; other matters called off and enchained my attention.

15 This extract is from "Jane Eyre," a novel written by Charlotte Brontë and first published in 1847. William Makepeace Thackeray, to whom the book is dedicated, pronounced it "the first social regenerator of the day." Miss Brontë's family was very poor, and she and her sis20 ters were educated at a private school in Yorkshire, where the discipline was of the severest character. The ill usage which the girls received there, the desolation and unhappiness which they experienced, are described in " Jane Eyre" in a manner which is at once both pleasing and painful. 25 The Lowood Institution" has been identified with a school established by the Rev. W. Carus Wilson near Leeds. The story of "Jane Eyre," although it has lost much of its early popularity, still ranks among the greatest works of fiction written in the nineteenth century.

66

THANATOPSIS.

To him who, in the love of Nature, holds
Communion with her visible forms, she speaks
A various language: for his gayer hours
She has a voice of gladness, and a smile
And eloquence of beauty; and she glides
Into his darker musings with a mild
And healing sympathy, that steals away
Their sharpness ere he is aware.

When thoughts

Of the last bitter hour come like a blight

Over thy spirit, and sad images

Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall,

And breathless darkness, and the narrow house,
Make thee to shudder and grow sick at heart,
Go forth under the open sky, and list
To Nature's teachings, while from all around-
Earth and her waters, and the depths of air-
Comes a still voice:- Yet a few days, and thee
The all-beholding sun shall see no more
In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground,
Where thy pale form was laid with many tears,
Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist
Thy image.

Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim
Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again;
And, lost each human trace, surrendering up
Thine individual being, shalt thou go