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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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book , ( which it did perforce , ) resting with love , and care , and tenderness upon tjse . different objects around her . "Next in the group was Allan * in countenance like Mary , Dot possessing far higher claims to beauty . There was evidently more of getuus in his character ; while he wanted the strength of mind , the firmness and stability of his sister . He was one of those fair and delicately-mouKteo creatures who make us tremble for their after lot ; and even while the
sun is upon their shining hair , and the light of early life beams from their fc pure clear eyes , ' we involuntarily mark out for them a path of sorrow and suffering , which we would almost rather occupy ourselves than see them doomed to tread . Yet why these gloomy comments upon Allan Grey , who looked up with rosy cheek and dimpling smiles , as soon as the sharp rebuke was ended , or the tear was wiped away ?
" Mary had usually found it necessary to separate Allan from the little mischievous , rebellious Harriet , but on the present occasion they sat together ; and whatever might have been Allan ' s wish , it was impossible to yield to any kind of composing influence , so long as Harriet , with her curly head and laughing eyes , sat mimicking in dumb show all the animals that ' went up into the ark , ' or alternately stretching * h *» r arm to its utmost length , in order to accomplish a sly prick at Georjre , or twitching Allan ' s waving curls , and then , in an instant , looking gravely up at her father , as if drinking in the wisdom of Solomon .
" There was no genius in Harriet s countenance , and little beauty besides that of extreme vivacity . Her features , when in motion ( and that was almost always , ) indicated the most inveterate love of fun ; . but when at rest , they were marked by a strong will , the cause of many a desperate struggle in the nursery , and of the infliction of corporal punishment , so frequent as to harden the feelings it was meant to subdue . " Ellen , the youngest child , more commonly called by the undiscriminati on title of ' baby , ' not yet old enough to be admitted on these solemn occasions , remained in the nursery with her too indulgent mother , whose rapidly-increasing weakness rendered her less capable than ever of exercising the authority of a parent . "—Vol . i . p . 27 .
We have found it impossible to omit a line of this masterly description , of which not a line is superfluous ; but the picture is incomplete without the figure of the father . u Stephen Grey was a man who gravely and thoughtfully studied the laws of his country , its politics , and the religion of his forefathers ; he had even obtained a smattering of philosophy under some of it * most
practical forms ; but of the study of the human heart he had scarotly condescended so much as to think . He loved his children , because they were his own ; he determined to make them good citizens , because it , WMS decent and politic to be so ; and good Christians , let us hope for a ^ bfttyer reason . In business , his alacrity , promptness , and ability were such as to render his influence extensive ; while in his household the will © f the
master was law . Whatever he chose to plan or put in execution p # fl £$ d without question or comment , unless behind the scenes ; for , J&t j ^ l " staff , he refused to tell hie reasons on compulsion , and was equally , iwpprvioub to every other raode of attack . If in this respect , bowftSftfe ^ he resembled the jolly knight , it mu » t be acknowledged that tb » iojfcfnce
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Home , or > The Iron JRule . 485
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1836, page 485, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2660/page/25/
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