. SOMERVILLE. II 



wives and mothers. If we judge by this account 

 which Mrs. Somerville has given, the school girls of 

 former times had their trials, while the results ob- 

 tained were not at all satisfactory. 



Nor must we imagine that Mrs. Somerville had 

 an experience uncommon in those days. Miss 

 Edgeworth lived at the same time as Mrs. Somer- 

 ville, and in her life we read that, being sent to a 

 certain fashionable establishment, "she underwent 

 all the usual tortures of back-boards, iron collars 

 and dumbs, and also (because she was always a very 

 tiny person) the unusual one of being hung by the 

 neck to draw out the muscles and increase the growth 

 a signal failure in her case." 



But the trying ordeal of school-life for Mary 

 only lasted a year. At the end of that time she 

 returned home, but she was woefully ignorant. 

 According to her own confession, her writing was as 

 bad as possible. When called upon to write a short 

 reply to a letter, she could neither compose the 

 answer nor spell the words. Very naturally, her 

 mother was exceedingly dissatisfied. She said that 

 she would have been contented if Mary had only 

 learnt to write well and keep accounts, which was 

 all that a woman was expected to know. 



But, notwithstanding her deficiencies, it was 

 decided that Mary should remain at home for 

 good, " and it was arranged that a large portion of 

 her time should be devoted to domestic concerns." 



