CARPENTER. 89 



Carpenter found much more satisfaction in teaching 

 boys than girls. With the boys, she said, she found 

 little or no difficulty. They were sure to be interested 

 in the lessons ; their wits were active enough, though 

 their ignorance of common every-day matters 

 frequently amazed her. They were quick to receive 

 the facts of natural history, and readily applied the 

 principles underlying the incidents of history to their 

 own circumstances. But the girls were most stolid, 

 and they often listened to her teaching with a 

 stupidity that almost made her desperate. 



When teaching these poor children, Miss Car- 

 penter was accustomed to pay special attention to the 

 Scripture lessons. In every way that it was possible 

 she tried to make her pupils understand the story of 

 the life of Jesus, and never wearied of unfolding to 

 them the beauties of the Gospel narrative. When first 

 they attended the school they were so wild and 

 unruly that there was scarcely one of them to whom 

 she could venture to read the Bible, while numbers 

 had never seen or heard of the book. But the teacher 

 was not dismayed ; very patiently she set to work, 

 first with very short lessons, which were afterwards 

 extended as the pupils showed signs of intciv-t. 

 Pictures, also, and any curiosities that could be 

 obtained, either from her own cabinets or the 

 collections of her friends, were freely employed for 

 illustration, and no pains were spared to rouse the 

 interest of the cl. i 



