Rose In Bloom √ (Project K.)

Chapter 12: Kitty's Ball

“I hope that girl knows what a treasure she has got. But I doubt if she ever fully appreciates it,” said Mrs. Jane, bringing her spectacles to bear upon Kitty as she whisked by, causing quite a gale with her flying skirts.

“I think she will, for Steve has been so well brought up, she cannot but see and feel the worth of what she has never had, and being so young she will profit by it,” answered Mrs. Jessie softly, thinking of the days when she and her Jem danced together, just betrothed.

“I’ve done my duty by both the boys, and done it thoroughly, or their father would have spoilt them, for he’s no more idea of discipline than a child.” And Aunt Jane gave her own palm a smart rap with her closed fan, emphasizing the word “thoroughly” in a most suggestive manner.

“I’ve often wished I had your firmness, Jane but after all, I’m not sure that I don’t like my own way best, at least with my boys, for plenty of love, and plenty of patience, seem to have succeeded pretty well.” And Aunt Jessie lifted the nosegay from her lap, feeling as if that unfailing love and patience were already blooming into her life as beautifully as the sweet-breathed roses given by her boy refreshed and brightened these long hours of patient waiting in a corner.

“I don’t deny that you’ve done well, Jessie, but you’ve been let alone and had no one to hold your hand or interfere. If my Mac had gone to sea as your Jem did, I never should have been as severe as I am. Men are so perverse and shortsighted, they don’t trouble about the future as long as things are quiet and comfortable in the present,” continued Mrs. Jane, quite forgetting that the shortsighted partner of the firm, physically speaking at least, was herself.

“Ah, yes! We mothers love to foresee and foretell our children’s lives even before they are born, and are very apt to be disappointed if they do not turn out as we planned. I know I am yet I really have no cause to complain and am learning to see that all we can do is to give the dear boys good principles and the best training we may, then leave them to finish what we have begun.” And Mrs. Jessie’s eye wandered away to Archie, dancing with Rose, quite unconscious what a pretty little castle in the air tumbled down when he fell in love with Phebe.

“Right, quite right on that point we agree exactly. I have spared nothing to give my boys good principles and good habits, and I am willing to trust them anywhere. Nine times did I whip my Steve to cure him of fibbing, and over and over again did Mac go without his dinner rather than wash his hands. But I whipped and starved them both into obedience, and now I have my reward,” concluded the “stern parent” with a proud wave of the fan, which looked very like a ferule, being as big, hard, and uncompromising as such an article could be.

Mrs. Jessie gave a mild murmur of assent, but could not help thinking, with a smile, that in spite of their early tribulations the sins for which the boys suffered had gotten a little mixed in their result, for fibbing Steve was now the tidy one, and careless Mac the truth teller. But such small contradictions will happen in the best-regulated families, and all perplexed parents can do is to keep up a steadfast preaching and practicing in the hope that it will bear fruit sometime, for according to an old proverb, Children pick up words as pigeons pease, To utter them again as God shall please.

“I hope they won’t dance the child to death among them, for each one seems bound to have his turn, even your sober Mac,” said Mrs. Jessie a few minutes later as she saw Archie hand Rose over to his cousin, who carried her off with an air of triumph from several other claimants.

“She’s very good to him, and her influence is excellent, for he is of an age now when a young woman’s opinion has more weight than an old one’s. Though he is always good to his mother, and I feel as if I should take great comfort in him. He’s one of the sort who will not marry till late, if ever, being fond of books and a quiet life,” responded Mrs. Jane, remembering how often her son had expressed his belief that philosophers should not marry and brought up Plato as an example of the serene wisdom to be attained only by a single man while her husband sided with Socrates, for whom he felt a profound sympathy, though he didn’t dare to own it.