little miss austin

Mr. Hastings had been in correspondence with the Austen family.A few days after Alice returned home, Mr. Hastings wrote to Pastor George, saying that Mrs. Baker had agreed to teach Alice, and asked him to send Alice to Mrs. Baker's house in March next year. He paid for the fee, and the period was three years, with two months of Christmas vacation each year. If Alice wanted to go home, she could have a maximum of two weeks of vacation, and special circumstances were calculated separately.

Mrs. Baker also wrote to Mrs. Austen, saying what Alice would be taught: necessary lady manners, literature, music, dance, painting, French, German, Italian, Latin.Alice couldn't help but click her tongue when she saw this letter: It really is hard work to become a qualified lady.Think about it, in future generations, wouldn’t you have to pay a lot of tuition fees to learn so many things, and you might not be able to tell what the teaching will be like. Now that someone pays her to study hard and improve every day, she should express her gratitude, gratitude, and touch.

As for math, Reverend George is a good teacher, he is already teaching her math, and she learns it very fast, in fact, her math level has surpassed Reverend George.

Not to mention philosophy. In current university courses, almost all majors have to study philosophy. To be a good pastor, you have to learn and apply philosophy actively, so philosophy is not a problem.

Alice grew up in such a family with a rich learning atmosphere.

Although my mother thought that a girl didn't need to study philosophy, Alice was appraised by Mrs. Baker as a talented person, so she didn't care about it.

Her way of thinking is similar to that of most women in this era. They all feel that girls need to learn more knowledge, but that is to occupy a leading position in the marriage market and find a more suitable husband.Jane is the most stubborn of the three girls. Although Alice is naughty, she is also very obedient. I think I can understand her painstaking efforts.

Wesley also wrote to her all the time, talking about some things in school, and mentioned his classmate William who lived with him a few times, but not many times. He said that when he came back from the winter vacation, he had some fun things to give to her. She, some of it was brought by William, who is a delicate player and always has a lot of new things.

Alice is looking forward to getting to December soon so her older siblings will be back and she will be turning 12 as well.

Henry bought her a pony she named "Ramesses", and when they left London, the housekeeper of Hyde Garden specially hired a donkey cart to transport the pony and saddle back to Steventon.Alice has to go out to ride a horse almost every day, and her mother is worried that she will fall off the horse—it is not limited to men and women who fall from the horse to death these days, and accidents happen frequently—she is strictly ordered not to ride the horse, but she dare not Kidding his own life, only going a little faster when riding out with the Reverend George or Mr. Lefroy.

Pastor George dotes on the youngest child very much, and he tries to satisfy her basic requirements; Mr. Lefroy thinks that Alice is more obedient and sensible than Lucy, and he likes her very much.Lucy also often comes to Steventon with her parents, but now that she feels she is an adult, she doesn't like to play with Alice, who is still a little kid.

Lucy eagerly hopes that Jane can go home as soon as possible, so that she can have a better confidant.

By the end of November, the widowed older brother James was engaged to a Miss Mary Lloyd.

The Lloyds were also friends of the Austins. Mr. Lloyd was also a pastor before his death, and he was good friends with Pastor George.Mary lives with her sister Martha and mother Mrs. Lloyd in Dean Parish near Steventon, and James is now the pastor of Dean Parish. This is probably "close to the water".

James and Mary are engaged, and the Austins are also very happy. After all, James is only 31 years old, and he is still very young. If you grow up without your mother's teaching, it will be difficult to find a suitable husband in the future. People will think that she lacks education and lacks the necessary qualities to be a bride.

Alice is also very happy that her eldest brother has found a suitable wife.Women in this era are generally virtuous and virtuous, and those like Jane are really a minority. Both Mary and Martha are girls who meet the current bride standards. Mary is 25 years old this year and is 2 years older than Cathy; Martha and James is the same age, both are 31 years old.

The Lloyd family originally had 4 children, Martha was the oldest child, and they had two younger brothers, but when the younger brothers were a few years old, a smallpox epidemic killed the two young boys prematurely, Martha, Marie also had smallpox, which left them with scars on her face, which made them lose points in appearance.

When it comes to smallpox, Alice suddenly becomes nervous: Smallpox is raging back and forth in Europe, it is highly contagious, and there are small outbreaks from time to time. Although the death rate is not as high as the Black Death before the Middle Ages, everyone has heard of it. Significant disease of discoloration.The vaccinia vaccine is still not considered a preventive method recognized by every family. People are very suspicious: how can the smallpox virus be injected to prevent smallpox?

When Edward’s brother attended Henry’s engagement banquet last time, he mentioned this matter to Pastor George, and said that when he was going back to Kent, his eldest daughter Anne would be vaccinated against vaccinia first. In the future, the other children would also be vaccinated against vaccinia when they were 3 years old. vaccine.Pastor George repeatedly confirmed that the vaccinia vaccine was indeed effective, and said that Alice should also get the vaccinia vaccine. She was supposed to go to London in August to get the vaccinia vaccine, but she was sick and couldn't make it at all. It has been delayed until now.

She plans to wait until March next year before going to Mrs. Becker's place, and make an appointment with the doctor to get the vaccinia vaccine, so as to be prepared.As for the vaccinia vaccine, there is also a one in a million chance of causing the injector to get encephalitis, which is a low probability. No one knows it yet, and she doesn't take it to heart.

December came quickly, and Henry, Cathy, and Jane returned to Steventon.

The brothers and sisters came back, and the house suddenly became lively.The dinner in the Austin family is usually eaten between 3 and 4 in the afternoon. After the dinner, the mother and sisters usually do handicrafts. Henry plays whist with Pastor George for a while, and usually takes Alice with him. I like embroidery and sewing clothes too much, I think it takes too much time, and I always find excuses to slip away.

It would be even better if the Lefroys came to visit, and Lucy and Jane went off for girly whispers, and Alice slipped out to play.

It’s getting cold, and it’s snowing in Steventon at the end of November. It’s okay after snowing but it hasn’t melted yet. The roads are at best difficult to walk on. After the snow melts, it becomes muddy and dirty everywhere. Xi's.Women's shoes are very thin, and even calfskin boots cannot withstand being stepped on in snow and mud, so they need to wear overshoes. Overshoes, this year Mum bought Alice a new pair of pattens so she could wear them over her boots when she was out.

No one wants to play outside with her in winter, only brother George can accompany her, brother George is not afraid of the cold.

The fields in Steventon are very bleak in winter, but there are many trees, and the air is very cold, but it is also very refreshing.

While Alice was "talking" to brother George, she was thinking about what Lucy said just now that Tom would come to stay for a month when he was on vacation.Lucy is really a naive girl, she knows that Tom likes Jane, but this does not hinder her friendship with Jane.In fact, she doesn't have a deep understanding of what "marriage" is. It's just the girl's first love, and she thinks that the young, beautiful and playful Tom is a good companion.

Mrs. Lefroy is also very interesting. She didn't hinder Lucy's unrealistic girlish feelings. She probably thought she was just a momentary crush.After all, Tom has no money, and Lucy will have an annuity in the future, but of course, this annuity is not enough to support the couple and their future children, so there is no possibility between them.When Lucy was two years older and knew a few more suitable men, she would stop thinking about Tom.

And Wesley, who is coming back soon.

After the first snow fell this year, Alice did not go to Gresham Manor again. The main reason was that Reverend George was worried that the road would be difficult and carriage accidents were frequent. Don’t forget that their cousin Jane Cooper died when the carriage overturned. .

Mrs. Gresham said nothing, but asked if she would come after Christmas.She was already used to Alice's company.Alice is very good at talking, sweet-mouthed, good at coaxing people, innocent like a child, but not naughty-no matter how naughty Alice is at home, Mrs. Gresham doesn't know.

After Wesley came back, Gresham Manor would be able to hold this year's winter ball.Lucy's visit this time will probably mainly discuss with Jane what dress to wear to the winter ball.Alice considered whether to lend Jane the pearl necklace in the lace box that Wesley had given her. She was too young to wear such a fine pearl necklace. There is such a string of fine pearls in the bag, if you give it to her, it is hers, and she can lend it to anyone she wants.

At the winter ball, Wesley introduced three Miss Austins to his classmate William.

William was a handsome young man with a bit of frivolity, but there was no problem with etiquette. He bowed to Miss Austin one by one, and the three Austin sisters also curtseyed back.

William immediately invited Cathy to dance, and Cathy was a little hesitant, but William was very witty, and immediately signaled Wesley to invite Jane, thus forming a group of dance partners, and Cathy had no reason to refuse.

Tom formed a dance partner with Lucy and two others.

The social dance that is popular in Hampshire at present is quite beautiful. The men and women stand side by side and turn around each other with small steps. When you meet the kind of light-footed people, you will think: Oh, this dance is really beautiful!For example, Jane, Henry, Tom, and William all dance very beautifully, Cathy and Lucy are much worse, and Wesley is still quite clumsy, but compared to the summer ball, the improvement can be said to be huge.

Probably he is too tall, so he always has some uncoordinated hands and feet.

Fortunately, not the tall and strong kind, but still so thin.If he is standing or walking quietly, his defects are not obvious, and he is even quite graceful, but when he is in the dance hall, the contrast with those master dancers is too tragic.

William was talking nonsense, and kept talking to Cathy, until Cathy deliberately put the hand with the engagement ring in a prominent place, and William shut up.Alice had been keeping an eye on the sisters and their dancing partners, thinking that if William thought the country vicar's daughter could make a hook, she would make sure Henry would blow his head off.

But it seems that William is just a habitual flirt, and once he finds out that Cathy is engaged, he will be much more honest.

Alice guessed that this was because Wesley would not talk to him about other people's affairs. It was impossible for William to ask, and it was certainly impossible for Wesley to tell him that Cathy was engaged.

Wesley is a typical gentry that is common in the countryside, cautious, conservative, boring, kind, not much talk, not much.William is a playboy in a big city, good at eating, drinking and having fun.They can actually play together, this may be a complementary effect.

At last nothing happened at the dance. After the dance, the Austins went home in a carriage.

The author has something to say:

*At this time, the UK had just started to promote vaccinia vaccine, and Edward's family was one of the first families in Kent to vaccinate their children.

*After the smallpox recovery, it will leave acne marks on the face, and Queen Elizabeth I has pockmarks on her face.In addition, Kangxi in our country also recovered from smallpox, so he was also called "Kang Mazi".The Lloyd sisters could not find a suitable husband because of smallpox scars and lack of money.

*New characters (including characters whose names are mentioned without dialogue)

Mary Lloyd: Second wife of eldest brother James.

Martha Lloyd: Mary's older sister.

Edward Cooper: Aunt's cousin.

Jane Cooper: Aunt's cousin, deceased.

William: Wesley's classmate. (imaginary)

Mrs Baker: Alice's future teacher. (imaginary)