“It is your system makes such children,” said... “It is your system makes such children,” said Miss Ophelia
“I know it; but they are made,—they exist,—and what is to be done with them?”
“Well, I can’t say I thank you for the experimentBut, then, as it appears to be a duty, I shall persevere and try, and do the best I can,” said Miss Ophelia; and Miss Ophelia, after this, did labor, with a commendable degree of zeal and energy, on her new subjectShe instituted regular hours and employments for her, and undertook to teach her to read and sew
In the former art, the child was quick enoughShe learned her letters as if by magic, and was very soon able to read plain reading; but the sewing was a more difficult matterThe creature was as lithe as a cat, and as active as a monkey, and the confinement of sewing was her abomination; so she broke her needles, threw them slyly out of the window, or down in chinks of the walls; she tangled, broke, and dirtied her thread, or, with a sly movement, would throw a spool away altogetherHer motions were almost as quick as those of a practised conjurer, and her command of her face quite as great; and though Miss Ophelia could not help feeling that so many accidents could not possibly happen in succession, yet she could not, without a watchfulness which would leave her no time for anything else, detect her
Topsy was soon a noted character in the establishmentHer talent for every species of drollery, grimace, and mimicry,—for dancing, tumbling, climbing, singing, whistling, imitating every sound that hit her fancy,—seemed inexhaustibleIn her play-hours, she invariably had every child in the establishment at her heels, open-mouthed with admiration and wonder,—not excepting Miss Eva, who appeared to be fascinated by her wild diablerie, as a dove is sometimes charmed by a glittering serpentMiss Ophelia was uneasy that Eva should fancy Topsy’s society so much, and implored St
“Poh! let the child alone,” said St“Topsy will do her good
“But so depraved a child,—are you not afraid she will teach her some mischief?”
“She can’t teach her mischief; she might teach it to some children, but evil rolls off Eva’s mind like dew off a cabbage-leaf,—not a drop sinks in
“Don’t be too sure,” said Miss Ophelia“I know I’d never let a child of mine play with Topsy
“Well, your children needn’t,” said StClare, “but mine may; if Eva could have been spoiled, it would have been done years ago
Topsy was at first despised and contemned by the upper servantsThey soon found reason to alter their opinionIt was very soon discovered that whoever cast an indignity on Topsy was sure to meet with some inconvenient accident shortly after;—either a pair of ear-rings or some cherished trinket would be missing, or an article of dress would be suddenly found utterly ruined, or the person would stumble accidently into a pail of hot water, or a libation of dirty slop would unaccountably deluge them from above when in full gala dress;-and on all these occasions, when investigation was made, there was nobody found to stand sponsor for the indignityTopsy was cited, and had up before all the domestic judicatories, time and again; but always sustained her examinations with most edifying innocence and gravity of appearanceNobody in the world ever doubted who did the things; but not a scrap of any direct evidence could be found to establish the suppositions, and Miss Ophelia was too just to feel at liberty to proceed to any length without it
The mischiefs done were always so nicely timed, also, as further to shelter the aggressorThus, the times for revenge on Rosa and Jane, the two chamber maids, were always chosen in those seasons when (as not unfrequently happened) they were in disgrace with their mistress, when any complaint from them would of course meet with no sympathyIn short, Topsy soon made the household understand the propriety of letting her alone; and she was let alone, accordingly
Topsy was smart and energetic in all manual operations, learning everything that was taught her with surprising quicknessWith a few lessons, she had learned to do the proprieties of Miss Ophelia’s chamber in a way with which even that particular lady could find no faultMortal hands could not lay spread smoother, adjust pillows more accurately, sweep and dust and arrange more perfectly, than Topsy, when she chose,—but she didn’t very often chooseIf Miss Ophelia, after three or four days of careful patient supervision, was so sanguine as to suppose that Topsy had at last fallen into her way, could do without over-looking, and so go off and busy herself about something else, Topsy would hold a perfect carnival of confusion, for some one or two hoursInstead of making the bed, she would amuse herself with pulling off the pillowcases, butting her woolly head among the pillows, till it would sometimes be grotesquely ornamented with feathers sticking out in various directions; she would climb the posts, and hang head downward from the tops; flourish the sheets and spreads all over the apartment; dress the bolster up in Miss Ophelia’s night-clothes, and enact various performances with that,—singing and whistling, and making grimaces at herself in the looking-glass; in short, as Miss Ophelia phrased it, “raising Cain” generally
On one occasion, Miss Ophelia found Topsy with her very best scarlet India Canton crape shawl wound round her head for a turban, going on with her rehearsals before the glass in great style,—Miss Ophelia having, with carelessness most unheard-of in her, left the key for once in her drawer
“Topsy!” she would say, when at the end of all patience, “what does make you act so?”
“Dunno, Missis,—I spects cause I ’s so wicked!”
“I don’t know anything what I shall do with you, Topsy
“Law, Missis, you must whip me; my old Missis allers whipped meI an’t used to workin’ unless I gets whipped
“Why, Topsy, I don’t want to whip youYou can do well, if you’ve a mind to; what is the reason you won’t?”
“Laws, Missis, I ’s used to whippin’; I spects it’s good for me
Miss Ophelia tried the recipe, and Topsy invariably made a terrible commotion, screaming, groaning and imploring, though half an hour afterwards, when roosted on some projection of the balcony, and surrounded by a flock of admiring “young uns,” she would express the utmost contempt of the whole affair
“Law, Miss Feely whip!—wouldn’t kill a skeeter, her
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