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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Whipping and abuse are like laudanum; you have to double the dose as the sensi- bilities decline. I saw this very early when I became an owner; and I resolved never to begin, because I did not know when I should stop,- and I resolved, at least, to protect my own moral nature. The consequence is, that my servants act like spoiled children; but I think that better than for us both to be brutalized to- gether. You have talked a great deal about our responsibilities in educating, cousin. I really wanted you to try with one child who is a specimen of thousands among us. “It is your system makes such children,” said Miss Ophelia. “I know it; but they are made,- they exist,- and what is to be done with them?” “Well, I can’t say I thank you for the experiment. But, then, as it appears to be a duty, I shall persevere and try, and do the best I can,” said Miss Ophelia; and Miss Ophelia, after this, did labor, with a commendable degree of zeal and en- ergy, on her new subject. She instituted regular hours and employments for her, and undertook to teach her to read and to sew. In the former art, the child was quick enough. She learned her letters as if by magic, and was very soon able to read plain reading; but the sewing was a more difficult matter. The creature was as lithe as a cat, and as active as a monkey, and the confinement of sewing was her abomination; so she broke her needles, threw them slyly out of windows, or down in chinks of the walls; she tangled, broke, and dirtied her thread, or, with a sly movement, would throw a spool away alto- gether. Her motions were almost as quick as those of a practised conjurer, and her |
