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a woman's fen. ,257
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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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.
40o The Chester And Hereford Railway Pas...
" Precisely so . But tliey who affect to good , a multiplicity of mental volitions , a mass of liuman causations , must serve tne great
end of utility in a far higher degree , than those whose effects are more concentrated . Apart from this , and recurring again to the
assisting principle itself , has it never occurred to you tnat an endowment , a sort of noble charity for the old age of literary
women , would be of benefit . An endowment , which like the college of Tennyson ' s Princess , would be -high in kind , and high in
purpose . I mention this matter , because a very wealthy lady of one of the northern counties , has some such , scheme floating in her
brain . " . " Indeed ! Yet I think not . I think that looking at the matter
in the abstract , the age for such institutions is past ; that the evils begot by their existence are worse than the evils which they cured ;
and that the political economists are quite right , when they assert _* as the most advanced of tliem do , that persons must look to
prudential action rather than to charity , as an ultimatum . An endowment like a poor-law , is at best but an expedient . Moreover ,
however much combination may be productive of results in material affairs , I do not think that the congregation of a large mass of
strangers under one roof , liowever allied hy profession and raised by cultivation , would be productive of Happiness to the individual .
I speak for myself when I say that I would rather have twenty pounds yearly to spend in privacy with those endeared to me , than
many times that sum in a palace as rich , as Chatsworth , were the condition that of living amidst a throng of strangers . I think too
that the idiosyncrasy of the literary mind is such , that fifteen out of twenty would share my opinion . Thus thinking , Life Assurance
would seem to meet the two needs of provision for old age , and concession to individual feeling . "
Diverging hence to other topics , they talk unreservedly together till the evening is far advanced ; Lydia making coffee , and bringing
it in , and little Mary returning , listens to what the stranger says . But never once has he an opportunity of uttering the words which
lie ; upon his lips ; so noble is the aged woman ' s self-reverence ; so just her sense of independence ; so full of truth her humility and
patient faith . But this good and generous man is not to be diverted from his
worthy purpose . This very night in his room at the " Jolly Anglers" he writes her a letter , which in the morning he sends by
Ms youngest son . It is characteristic of him ; short , sententious , to the point ; in a spirit of humility he sues for pardon , though
asking to bestow . lie intreats her to let him settle an annuity of £ 150 per annum upon her , with remainder for the life of the child ,
even for the sake of peace to his own soul . The reply comes quicklyand is faithful to the honor of the pen which wrote it . It
thanks him , gratefully , but steadily refuses all acceptance of that which
he offers ; But it asks him , even as he acknowledges some good
A Woman's Fen. ,257
a woman ' s fen . , 257
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1858, page 257, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061858/page/41/
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