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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
f ** I * loyai « t as aa occasional servant , as a laundress , or a neeclleworoaji , Her hostess liuighed , and went forth to her daily toil * having given Dorcas permission to remain a day or two in her lowly abode .
This was the first day of hope , of peace , of liberty , of affection that Dorcas had long known ; and , notwithstanding limited resources and precarious prospects , her heart kept holiday . Her little companion appeared to be little more than two years old ; he was able to tell her that his name was Arthur . She had made
his toilet with all the care she could ; had bestowed no small degree of attention on his curly hair ; had about noon provided him with a bowl qf bread and milk , with which she was feeding him with tender and expressive pleasure , when the door of the novel Qpejvejii and a young , pale , graceful woman darted into the place , attended bthe laundress The child clamoured
y . upon recognising his mother , and the dream which Dorcas had indulged was dissi ~ patecL But her heart was soon awakened to new feelings , as Mrs . Moreton , Arthur ' s mother , thanked her again and again for her tenderness to her child , which his appearance , and the manner in which Dorcas was found engaged , sufficiently attested .
The result of this event was that Dorcas was received as a servant into the family of Mrs . Moreton . She saw with intuitive penetration the poor girl ' s deficiencies , but she saw also her capabilities ; besides which Mrs . Moreton was not one of those persons who expect ' perfection for ten pounds a year . ' Dorcas , to secure this desirable situation , deemed it necessary to tell a falsehood . She concealed the circumstance of her first
servitude , and easily persuaded her family and the laundress to support her in her statements . Mrs . Moreton was one of those women to whom a great and indescribable power is given : this power was analogous to the power of a fine climate , in which everything unconsciously grows fair and sweet ; even the rough natives of rude climes , transplanted
to the sphere of its influence , put forth leaves of a brighter bloom , a softer texture , and a sweeter fragrance . Mrs . Moreton ' * voice , her smile , her manner , her idiomatic , pregnant , yet unobtrusive eloquence , her very tread , everything in her and about her wan an emanation of love in its divine&t sense : it raised the low ; it recalled the erring ; it confirmed and animated every noble purpose . Much was effected before her agency was perceived , and with
many it escaped observation altogether ; it was a sort of moral magnetism , as unobtrusive as it was effective . One day Mrs , Moreton said to Dorcas , soou after her admission to the family , * I shall be alone this evening , Dorcas . Place a cup and saucer for yourself , when you bring the tea-thiugs into the p arlour , and take your tea with me . ' Dorcas was aurpriaed ; ahe h ** l gradually become accustomed to the kind , cordial , opeu , unaffected manner of Mrs- Moreton * or such a oontrait to thu * poor
Untitled Article
Sfefcta of Dometiw LUk . * # »
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1835, page 403, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2646/page/39/
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