Sunday morning I took Mama's ragged riotous class afearful set, impudent and rude. I hope I did their little souls good but I'm sure I did mine harm, feeling in a paroxysm of rage the whole hour and a half.

In the 19th century it was common for the daughters of well-to-do families to teach in Sunday schools, particularly the daughters of clergy families. In the days before compulsory schooling, there were many large Sunday schools with high attendance rates. Isabella Short, middle daughter of the first Anglican Bishop of Adelaide, wrote regularly to her sister Millicent Glen at Mayurra, and refers more than once to the classes she and her mother taught at Christ Church, North Adelaide.