A Yankee Girl at Fort Sumter

								

themselves.
As they walked along they could look out across the blue harbor, and
see sailing vessels and rowboats coming and going. In the distance were
the three forts whose historic names were known to every child in
Charleston. Grace never failed to point them out to the little northern
girl, and to repeat their names:
"Castle Pinckney," she would say, pointing to the one nearest the city,
and then to the long dark forts at the mouth of the harbor, "Fort
Sumter, and Fort Moultrie."
"Don't stop to tell me the names of those old forts this morning," said
Sylvia. "I know just as much about them now as you do. We shall be late
if we don't hurry."
Miss Patten's house stood in a big garden which ran nearly to the
water's edge. The schoolroom opened on each side to broad piazzas, and
there was always the pleasant fragrance of flowers in the big airy
room. Sylvia was sure that no one could be more beautiful than Miss
Patten. "She looks just like one of the ladies in your 'Godey's
Magazine,'" she had told her mother, on returning home from her first
day at school.
And with her pretty soft black curls, her rosy cheeks and pleasant
voice, no one could imagine a more desirable teacher than Miss Rosalie
Pattten. There were just twelve little girls in her school. There were
never ten, or fourteen. Miss Patten would never engage to take more
than twelve pupils; and the twelve always came. Mrs. Waite, Grace's
mother, had told Mrs. Fulton that Sylvia was very fortunate to attend
the school.
School had opened the previous week, and Sylvia had begun to feel quite
at home with her new schoolmates. The winter before, Mrs. Fulton had
taught her little daughter at home; so this was her first term at Miss
Patten's.
Miss Patten always stood near the schoolroom door until all her pupils
had arrived. As each girl entered the room she made a curtsey to the
pretty teacher, and then said "good-morning" to the pupils who had
already arrived, and took her seat. When the clock struck nine Miss
Rosalie would take her place behind the desk on the platform at the
further end of the room, and say a little prayer. Then the pupils were
ready for their lessons.
"Isn't Miss Rosalie lovely," Sylvia whispered as she and Grace moved to
their seats, "and doesn't she wear pretty clothes?"
Grace nodded. She had been to Miss Rosalie's school for three years,
and she wondered a little at Sylvia's admiration for their teacher,
although she too thought Miss Patten looked exactly like a fashion
plate.
Grace was eager to get to her desk. From where she sat she could see
the grim lines of the distant forts; and this morning they had a new
value and interest for her; for at breakfast she had heard her father
say that, although the forts were occupied by the soldiers of the
United States Government, it was only justice that South Carolina
should control them, and if the State seceded from the Union Charleston
must take possession of the forts. With the consent of the United