Alice and Beatrice by Grandmamma - HTML preview

CHAPTER XVII.
 PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE MAKE ALL THINGS EASY.

WHEN will Christmas come?’ asked Alice one morning, instead of attending to her sum.

‘Christmas will come very soon, Alice, but you must think of your sum now,’ said grandmamma. ‘I cannot talk to you about anything till your lessons are over.’

‘Please, grandmamma, tell me first how many weeks there are till Christmas?’ asked Alice.

‘Attend to your sum, Alice,’ repeated her grandmamma. But Alice instead of obeying began to cry, and said—

‘I cannot do this sum, it is so difficult.’

‘Bring your slate here;’ and Alice did so, and grandmamma said, ‘What is difficult?—show me.’

‘I do not know what nine times seven are?’

‘Not know what nine times seven are? Think a little, dear child; you know it well, because you said your multiplication of nine to me only yesterday. What is seven times nine?’

‘Seven times nine are sixty-three; but I want to know what nine times seven are?’

‘The same thing—sixty-three!’

‘So it is;’ and Alice laughed, but soon began to cry again; and when grandmamma asked her what was the matter now, she only sobbed the more, and could not speak at first. At last she said with many a sob,’ I cannot learn this long piece of poetry, and do these three sums, and learn my spelling, in time to go out with you this morning.’

‘Why not, my little girl?’ said grandmamma, gently. ‘I have never seen you shed a tear over your lessons before.’

‘Because—because—’ and Alice began to cry again.

‘Crying will not help you, Alice; wipe away those naughty tears and listen to me.

‘I know that you did not begin your lessons when I told you, for you remained talking to your parrot, and lost some time. But if you make haste and begin, and if you do not cry, you will do them easily. Look at the clock; you see that you have two hours, for I am not going out till twelve; now try and waste no more time.

‘But you must not try to do all at once, or even to think of all at once; begin and do each in its turn. Learn your piece of poetry first, and think only of that; and when you know it, look at the clock, but not before, and see how long you have been, then take your two other sums, and do them without looking off your slate. Your spelling will not take you long.

‘Try and do exactly as I tell you, and let no tears fall on your book or slate.’

Alice smiled, and giving grandmamma a kiss, sat down with her book in hand, and in less than half an hour she had learnt three verses of her piece of poetry by heart. She then took her slate, saying to herself, ‘I like to do sums, and so does grandmamma,’ and one by one she did them, then proved them right, all but one figure in the last, it was always wrong. ‘I shall never be ready,’ said the little girl again; but on second thoughts she resolved to try, and in a few minutes she found out her mistake, and now all the sums were right.

Her spelling was quite easy; she had only to read the words over twice, and she knew them all. And when she looked at the clock, Alice saw that she had been but little more than one hour; and taking her books and slate, she ran full of joy to her grandmamma.

‘I am ready, grandmamma; I have finished everything. I know my lessons; may I say them to you now? I am so glad I did as you told me.’

‘I too am very glad, my dear child,’ said her grandmamma, kissing her tenderly.

Alice then said her lessons extremely well, and her sums were praised. Then her grandmamma said, ‘You must never think of how much you have to do, without remembering how much time you have to do it in.’

From this time little occurred to tell of; but the little girls were very happy, and liked to stay with their grandmamma in the country still, although the storms of autumn had stripped the trees of their leaves, and the winter was coming on, and the garden had no flowers or fruit.

The sun, however, still shone bright, and the weather still was very mild; and they were able, nearly daily, to take longer walks than in the summer, and go much farther among the pretty valleys and high hills of Devonshire, and they learned to love their grandmamma’s pretty home more and more.

The two little girls looked forward to Christmas with great delight, for it was to bring their dear mamma to them.

Alice and Beatrice bid their little readers now good-bye, wishing them as happy a Christmas as they hope to have themselves.