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EVEEY-DAY GHOSTS, 39
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
There Are Some Shadows Which, Like Gout,...
throug sisters h , and that did phase not , do of me scepticism more harm which than terrifie many d another my mother juvenile and
gentlemen disease , —long , where before I profanel even I y had , not been to say at that sacrileg seminary iously , for occup young ied
the time of divine service in scratching the pew-door with a pin , — reading else that the was marriage inappropriate service — or and the in thirt . doing y-nine my articles best , to or m any ak thing e my
certain schoolfellows atticused laugh as . a Oh lumber , long -room before for that old , books I used and to seated creep into on the a
floor , pore over , some quaint , ill-printed , religious , volumes , of which all I now rememberis the peculiar smell of—I suppose bad—paste
earl with y which martyrs they , which were , , one bound by , one and , the used strange to pass serap before hic my visions entranced of the
soul . And as surelas I now take up a book which has that peculiar
y surel smell , do which I feel —luckil a sudden y , or stirring it may be of unluckil the old y childish —rarely faith happens , the , old so y
the long sli ing ghtest for the doubt crown as of to martyrdom my own strength , which under was utt torture erly unalloyed . I like b to y
feel it even for a moment , though if in sober seriousness I now recur myself to the old pouring days libations of catacombs with and the persecutions meanest alacrity what on do heathen I see ? altars I see ,
any basel not thing y volunteering done in short all these to to escape things worshi the p in Jup our unp iter real leasant , kneeling modern alternative days to Augustus with . _Nay no , doing stake have
we or knife or barrel of spikes awaiting our refusal ? , But I neither knew nor doubted myself or human nature thenand I liked to dwell
, on all the horrors of torture with _tlie simple barbarous relish of childhood .
that and gas Do p odour hasten ipe you in like with the your the street gratification steps smell , you . of cover I gas ; do for ? not your when Perhaps . face I I rather sm with when ell it your loiter you , I feel handkerchief , pass and my an inhale heart open ,
dance within me , —I feel a flutter of delight , utterly unsuitable to my age elf or the going general to the sobriety lay ; I of am my walking demeanor down . the And corridor why ? of I feel the
theatre mys . I acknowled p ge with a thrill of ecstacy that my overpowering fear that the world would come to an end , or at the very least the
theatre be burnt down before this special evening , was a vain dread . which Mingling my with hair the was gas shining is the so smell resplendentl of that y jasmine and which which pomatum had aided adorned with in
the elaboration of those multitudinous plaited tails the heads of my sisters whom I was following . To -morrow ! What was to-morrow ? Imagination could not grasp the idea . Apres
nous le deluge . But why will not the smell of gas bring up those have many since wearisome spentlistening evenings to ( they dreary are tragedies the deluge or still perhaps drearier ) which farces I ?
I do not know . , Perhaps gas was more strictly confined to theatres
in my youthful days ; perhaps it was less well managed , and escaped
Eveey-Day Ghosts, 39
EVEEY-DAY GHOSTS , 39
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), March 1, 1860, page 39, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01031860/page/39/
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