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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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Untitled Article
departed ^ leaving no particulars as to the caused the suddeafsraiafa mons . Dr . Drennan , however , obeyed it promptly / for ^ h $ * ktte < t that his friend was in bad health . On reaching the curate ' s dwelling " , he found his worst fears realized ; the old man had been struck by paralysis , and was not expected long to sumriv ^ . Motionless , almost speechless , he lay extended upon his bed ; but
-his mind , retained by the strong power of affeotion , was still present . Life and light yet lingered in his eyes , and they took a glow af mare intense lustre as they were lifted to the face of I > r . Drennan , and then turned to a young boy who stood in tears ut the bed-side . He was the orphan grandson of the dying * maa , and scarcely seven years old . For him the spark of life tarried in that aged breast ; for him appealing light lingered in those
closing eyes . Dr . Drennan understood the mute eloquence of his expiring friend , and answered him more expressively than by words ; he took the little fellow upon his knee , and passing an arm around him , and laying a hand upon his fair-haired head , pressed him gently to his bosom , while he bent eyes , swimming with tears
and illumined by kindness , on the dying grandsire . One look , effulgent as the feelings from which it sprung—a look in , which gratitude , affection , hope , and faith were mingled , gleamed with seraphic beauty upon the boy and his protector , then the ey ^ jf , taking a yet more devotional character , were raised , glowed again intensely as before- ^ -then fixed for ever . '
In a few hours Dr . Drennan said to the boy , Harold , you must come home with me , and be unto me a 3 a son , a . nd I v ^ ili be unto you as a father . ' There was a sweetness in that fcindfy voice , now touched with an unusual tremor , that unconsciously soothed and cheered the child , who put his hand confidingly into the hand so opportunely held out to his aid , and they went / forih together .
Harold had little conception of the bereavement he had : mcstained—he was no stranger to the benevolent man he companioned , and he soon began to prattle as he was wont to do whenever a visit from Dr . Drennan had made a holiday for him : the prospetit 6 f an abode at the doctor ' s bouse awakened curiosity , expectation , and that prospect of change so pleasant to the young ; and SancHo , too , left his master ' s side , and came round to Harold ' s , as if
billing to chase away any remaining heaviness from his spirit . Wfae boy and dog soon began to sport together , and , after a time ^ tHe doctor seated himself on a honeysuckle bank to watch their gambols . ¦ * Harold / he said , when he rose again , ' yon , der , just below __ _ — ^ ^ ^__ ^ t ^ . — „ _
the hill , is my house , the one with the bow ^ -windows : play inf tBe meadows as long as you like , and then let you and Saiichp coriie home together / Again he paused to look at the ptay-feHJ 6 M ^ s ; what power , yet what gentleness in the generous ! dog ! wqa ^^ dnj ^ denceia that : generous nature about the genial child ! /* Whjrai » e
Untitled Article
Sketches of Domestic Life . 381
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1835, page 231, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2644/page/7/
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