Straight Forward by Lucy Ellen Guernsey

AS we have before remarked, Emily had always been kept in a state of the most entire dependence, especially in money matters. She had hardly ever in her life known what it was to have fifty cents of her own, and it was not at all strange, that the four five dollar bills which her father had put into her hands at his departure, should appear an inexhaustible mine of wealth to her inexperienced eyes, or that this wealth should be spent very freely so long as it lasted.

The shops in M. were remarkably good for a place of the size, and the bookstores and confectioners' shops furnished irresistible temptations to Emily, who was equally fond of story books, and of bonbons, both of which she had been hitherto unable to procure, except by stealth, and in the most limited quantities.

Every one knows how soon a five dollar bill vanishes when it is once changed. Quarters seem to take to themselves wings, and dimes to vanish into thin air, and unless one is in the habit of keeping a cash account, it is very difficult to know what becomes of it all. So it was with Emily, especially after the advent of Miss Mason.

Delia was well supplied with money by her father, and her store was largely increased by her aunts, whose eyes were completely blinded to her true character by the prejudice they had conceived against her step-mother. She began her school career with some fifty dollars in her pocket, and a tolerable certainty that when that was gone, she should have little difficulty in obtaining more from the same source. She was therefore not apt to deny herself anything that she fancied, though it must be allowed that her purchases were usually made with considerable taste and judgment.

"Come, Emily, here is something that you want," she would often say, when they were out together. "This is just the thing for you."

And Emily, so long as the money lasted, was always ready to purchase. It was with great astonishment and dismay, that on taking out her purse one day to pay for something, she found that she had only a single dollar remaining. It was not more than half as much as she wanted, but the article was already cut off and put up. She thought she could not possibly refuse to take it, and thus was contracted her first debt,-the first link of a chain by which she was to be bound and led away, she knew not whither.

The first step being taken, the next was of course much easier; self-denial was a virtue she had never learned, and it was by no means easy to practice in the company of one who seemed to have no idea of it. She hardly ever went out without buying something, and thus at the time our story commences, she had run up two or three considerable bills.

Emily dropped her mental calculation of the amount of these bills, as she walked homeward, and tried to turn her thoughts to something else, but the uneasy feeling at her heart still remained, and she fully resolved that she would never buy another article till she could pay for it. But even if she had adhered to this resolution, it would not have discharged the debts already contracted, and as it happened, she was to be more than ever tempted by circumstances.

The school always broke up for the holidays three days before Christmas, and the day after its close, a grand Christmas tree was planted in the school-room, upon which were placed innumerable gifts, from teachers to scholars, from scholars to teachers, and from the girls to each other. This wonderful tree was lighted up in the evening, when the presents were distributed, and the boarders and day scholars were entertained by Mrs. Pomeroy.

Of course, all spare moments, and perhaps some that could not well be spared, were devoted by the girls to the preparation of their gifts. Great was the consumption of Chipland, Berlin and split zephyr, silver braid and embroidery silk, and all other working materials and numerous the enquiries for netting, knitting and crotchet needles, at old Mr. Barton's, who had kept a toy shop in M. from time immemorial, and who now filled his shelves with an immense variety of articles, useful, beautiful, and comical, each individual thing, according to his own account, being sold for just exactly what he gave for it.

Deeply did Emily regret the extravagance into which she had been betrayed, and which left her at this critical juncture, entirely without funds. Thanks to her aunt's training, she excelled in every species of work, both plain and ornamental, and she had made great calculations as to what she was going to do; but the best seamstress in the world cannot work without thread, nor the most expert knitter dispense with her wool and needles.

Emily saw no resource but to plunge deeper and deeper into debt, which she did with a recklessness which astonished herself, and induced Delia to give her a caution one day when she was more profuse than usual.

"You had better reckon up what you have bought already, Emily," said she, as her friend gave an order for a large quantity of Berlin wool. "Worsted amounts up faster than one thinks."

"I know it," said Emily, "but I must finish up what I have begun, and, as Almira says, I may as well die for a sheep as for a lamb."

"You are doing a great deal of work, Emily," remarked Mrs. Pomeroy to her the same evening, as she sat at work in the sitting room. "You seem to be especially fond of knitting."

"Yes, ma'am," said Emily. "It gets on so fast, and does not try my eyes in the evening like fine sewing. I think, too, it pays, when it is done, better than any other kind of work."

"As to that, I cannot say," replied Mrs. Pomeroy, smiling. "It is rather expensive, I think, though I must allow that yours is very beautiful. I should like to have you give Kitty some lessons, as it is work very well suited to her state of health."