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246 THE, PORTRAIT.
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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.
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+ -A^ Ghaptek V. It Lias "Been Affirmed ...
ordinary mortal part : we must have a certain degree of interest in what seems measured out for Us to do , else we labor not in a
healthy , but in a sickly fashion : therefore I hold that although the interests of this life are as nothing * when compared with those of
eternity , yet , with reference to us and our life on earth , they are of importance , and ought to be energetically entered upon . Those
moralists or religionists who make so desperate a gap and division between this life and the next are ' not wise , as such dislocation
. tends rather to depress than elevate the human being . If earth and heaven are so wide apart , how can the kingdom of the latter
ever be within us ? _, My fever took with it , in its departureall my grievances . With
, renewed health came renewed spirits , and a keen sense of the blessings given me made me accuse myself of ingratitude , because
not having had precisely all I wished , I had murmured and been cast down . I wept tears of delight as once more I wandered by
the river side , traversed the green meadow , and basked in the sunshine of another spring . e fAh ! " I said , half reproachfully , is this
not a thousand times more charming than were even the gardens of the Tuilleries ? " _'
" When do you think you will be able to go so far as Weston Park ? " said kind Dr . Osmond to me one day , after he had
pronounced me well enough to exert myself . _" There is a friend of mine there at present wlio is anxious to make your acquaintance . "
" Who may that be ? " I asked , rather flurried at the thought of meeting a stranger ; for small matters still agitated me .
"A very pleasant person , I assure you , and I shall take you to see her to-morrow . "
The next day the Doctor took me with him to Weston Park , and there I was introduced to Mrs . Martyn .
In the _apjDearaiiee of this new friend of the Doctor there was nothing very striking or remarkable ; nothing , in shortto warn
, weak-minded people that they looked on a woman of genius . Her eyes were neither veiled and dreamy , nor flashing light on
the beholder , neither did they seem , when their owner was silent , much unlike the eyes of other people nor did I remark the ample ,
lofty forehead insisted on as a mark of _ailtra wisdom . Such signsas well as many others said to be . indicative of high
intel-, lectual power , were not apparent in that first glance at the somewhat stout , neatly dressed , elderly lady who bore the plain
name of Mrs . Martyn . Yet it turned out that Mrs . Martyn was a somebodyand of no small importance ; a " femme celebre " of the
, sound sense school , waging fierce war against those of her sex who were content to sip rose-water and affect a sentimentality and
ultra softness not in them ., simply to gratify the folly of mediocre , half-educated men , who prefer lisping * baby women in -white muslin
and blue ribbons to self-sustaining and self-supporting * ones , who
perchance make them feel less certain of their dignity , strength of
246 The, Portrait.
246 THE , PORTRAIT .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1861, page 246, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061861/page/30/
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