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till last night , and there is not another man within these walls that I would trust him with ; but I am sure , Sir , you will teach him nothing wrong / ' ' Helmer looked wistfully from his little companion to the volume which he was unwilling to close , but remembering how many hours of solitude remained , he held out his hand to the child . The boy was somewhat afraid of him at first , but soon grew familiar . Helmer questioned the
child on every conceivable subject of mutual interest , ( and on many of which it was impossible that his little guest could know any thing , ) till symptoms of weariness were very visible . Fearing that the boy might not be inclined to repeat the visit , unless better entertained , Helmer took him to the battlement , shewed him the swallows' nest , and learned a great deal about the surrounding country , and the habitations concerning whose inmates he had loDged to know something .
" This will be a memorable day to me as long as I live , " thought be , as his little guest left him . ' * I have long ago settled in my mind what are the best purposes of life . This day has been appointed for the first attempt towards the accomplishment of one of them . This day may prove the beginning ; of a new life . " He paced ~ rTis ~ ceiHong that night , forming plans which might be executed ,
and cherishing hopes which might prove not altogether visionary : —a bliss now rare , a luxury long untasted . At length he sunk down almost exhausted , thinking , " I wish I were asleep , for I am weary and bewildered . " But he was too full of busy thoughts and stirring affections to find repose . No contests for college honours , no national rejoicings , no events of domestic interest , had ever excited his mind like the conversation of this
child . It was an excitement and pleasure daily renewed ; but it was made sub * servient to higher purposes than selfish gratification . Helmer watched over the child with such a love as might be expected from its concentration on one object . He taught him his own language , and by much patience succeeded in making him read from his Bible . He corrected his errors , developed his faculties , enlarged his views , and did all that a matured can do for a young mind , and all that a powerful intellect can effect for the improvement of a weak one . He smiled when he reflected how he should , but a
few months ago , have despised his present favourite object ; how irksome would have been the necessary exercise of patience and condescension . But he had himself undergone a somewhat analogous , though more exalted discipline , and while he became submissive to learn , he became also patient to teach . Every hour when he was not teaching , he was learning . His BibJe was
his continual study , and be read it differently as his views changed . The leading point now seemed to be the benevolence which afforded a clue to every intricacy , stamped a celestial character on every dispensation , and beamed with a glowing radiance through the lives of prophets and apostles , up to the self-denying benignity of Christ , and , above all , to the unclouded , all-pervading love of the Universal Father .
When , after nine years of captivity , Helmer ' s release was obtained , he re-entered the world cfiaunge ^ f In « threspects , but especially io the spirit with which he regarded the constitution and destination of society . His sister mourned over his altered appearance , and his bosom friend watched the gradual tranquillizatioo of his spirits ; but they knew nothing of the renova tion within , till the truth was gradually revealed by facts . " 1 suppose , ' * said his friend to him one day , " that you bare a horror
Untitled Article
Solitude and Society : < i Tale . 447
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1830, page 447, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2586/page/15/
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