Page:A happy half-century and other essays.djvu/233

 OUR ACCOMPLISHED GREAT-GRANDMOTHER

of Dickens (which ought to mean all men and women who have mastered the English alphabet) will remember how that estimable schoolmistress, Miss Monflathers, elucidated Dr. Watts's masterpiece, which had been quoted somewhat rashly by a teacher. "'The little busy bee,'" said Miss Monflathers, drawing herself up, "is applicable only to genteel children.

is quite right as far as they are concerned; and the work means painting on velvet, fancy needlework, or embroidery."

It also meant, in the good Miss Monflathers's day, making filigree baskets that would not hold anything, Ionic temples of Bristol-board, shell flowers, and paper landscapes. It meant pricking pictures with pins, taking