Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

one is angrily spoken to. The child in this case will be disposed to think his mother right, because he loves her best, and will directly copy her manner, pretend to scold like her, and on being removed into the arms of the same maid, will struggle, kick, beat with his little hand, and shew by all his ways, since words are denied him, that he will be able to play the tyrant and imperious master fully as well as those who have just instructed him by example. The irritated servant in return does not spare her scolding, and thus begin hatred, wrath, and insolence.

The

How different is the case with those infants who are carefully and studiously kept from scenes which may encourage the appearance of those propensities to tyrannize and domineer which, in so great a degree, are natural to man! If the mistress must reprove the maid, the infant is purposely given to somebody, or a time chosen for so doing when he is asleep. sisters and brothers are held apart on the same occasions, and no brute is ever in any way hurt, or even scolded before him. The proneness of his heart to strife, hatred, and cruelty, is thereby never afforded a single opportunity to take any shape, or gain any strength. His heart, if it was created with inclination to unfeeling hardness, is amended and softened, and the evil spirit in him subdued; and if the heart was the reverse in the birth, its tenderness, which by neglect and bad management might have been destroyed, is now fixed, and spread into a principle of active friendliness.

In all families which have originally sprung from the same stock, we must observe that the progress of

time, the march of event, the press of disaster, or the precipitance of overruling passions, has hurried one or other of the branches out of its course. Members of a family bearing the same name, shewing the same heraldic distinctions, discovering the same peculiar cast of feature, or borrowing similar turns of language with the other members, are nevertheless governed by different circumstances, worked upon by different interests, do pursue different objects, and estimate in a very different manner to others of the family, the world, and the benefits it has to bestow. One brother has been driven on through life by a gale of prosperity, which has given him possession of more than his proudest ambition dared reckon on; another broher has toiled and striven with a profession which keeps him in dependence, and holds him in a chain from which he dares never hope to escape: this one frets in despondency, whilst the first revels in the establishment of a prince. Woman's fortune is still more uncertain. She is dependent upon another, and by herself is nothing; her earthly fate is bound up in that of man, and to know what is her lot, she must ask herself what is that of her father, her guar dian, or her husband. The youngest female of a home circle will marry a man of wealth, and live in more than eastern splendour, whilst her sister will engage the affection of a worthy though poor divine, or of a merchant, who by unavoidable losses will be reduced to a state of mediocrity, in which every small expense must be calculated before it is incurred. Children are the fruit of all these marriages. Cousins, nephews, nieces spring up; claim each their ties of

consanguinity, meet, and embrace as relatives. But under what different appearances! The child of a wealthy sister rolls in a splendid equipage; the sleek horses that draw her neigh and prance in high mettle, and delight at being allowed to snuff the air, after an idleness of several days; one or two footmen spring from the stand, and knock in a furious way for admittance, and one obsequiously presents his arm that it may be ready to assist in case his lady should not step securely. The carriage either waits her orders, or is ready at the appointed time. The child, on the contrary, of the indigent sister accompanies her mother on foot, or holds the maid-servant's hand, and drawing forward her large bonnet to shade the sun's intense rays, proceeds, heated and tired, through the streets or road to her cousin's house. It rains, perhaps, and the affectionate mother has desired the maid to take a precaution that the child may not be a sufferer; they accordingly beckon to a hackney coachman, who, looking the other way, does not perceive them. He is made however to understand that he is wanted, turns heavily round, and drives up to the curb stone; in the awkward manœuvring of the poor, tired horses, the mud of a black kennel is thrown upon the little girl's new pelisse or white frock. length both child and conductress are seated in the vehicle; the wind beats in the rain on one side; they pull up a long strap, but find perhaps only a frame of wood without a glass; this evil is not to be remedied, and the whip being well applied over the horses' backs, they move on, and in time arrive at the great house. Here the man climbs down from his

At

ragged seat, and eyeing his employers, asks if he is to knock or only ring.

Not more dissimilar are the manners and habits of the cousins, than is their style of equipage. With whatever kind treatment, the poorer relatives must feel the difference. The married sisters love each other, and the cousins are pleased to be together; but as we have all some grand acquaintance, some higher one to look up to, so has also the rich relation, and she can scarcely conceal a blush at introducing a branch of poverty to notice; for it is as if she said, "All my family are not, you see, as I am." The indigent relation is invited perhaps often, but refuses, and does so from many motives. A little feeling of humiliation; a conviction of the impossibility to appear as fashion prescribes; the dread of incurring expenses, or of forming expensive acquaintances; the fear of giving her children a taste for pleasures and entertainments which, at home, they cannot have; an inclination, which grows on those who have experienced reverses, of remaining secluded and unobserved in their retirements. From which ever of these motives the refusal arises, its effect is the same, to damp an eagerness to meet; and to make a repetition of visits less frequent. Intimate intercourse between kindred of different pursuits and circumstances thus droops and pines, till at length it is only an affectionate remembrance, just kept alive by a casual meeting two or three times in a year. In the mean while, the children of the families grow up to maturity, and are nearly estranged from each other. The rich forget the poor, and the poor only remember

the rich in a moment of proud allusion, or when the honour and grandeur of the family stock are in question.

Such is the fact; that in all families there are the grand of kin to look up to, and the poor relations to shield from too keen observation. It rests with parents to consider these remarks, and to apply them as they think fit; only recollecting that the bundle of sticks, the strong as well as the weak, which are fast tied together, as a bundle, repel all efforts to break; but that each twig taken separately may soon be broken; that he who standeth should take heed lest he fall; that the tree which is poor and barren one year, may the next be strong and flourishing; and finally, that in a world where all is changing, there is more than one chance against the stability of the noblest fortune.

[ocr errors]

CHAPTER XIV.

MERCY.

66

BUT

IF HE WILL PERFORM THE PART OF A KINSMAN,-WELL; IF
NOT, I WILL DO THE PART OF A KINSMAN TO THEE,
THERE IS A FRIEND WHO IS ONLY A FRIEND IN NAME."

The next relation is that of children with friends, as they are called, and acquaintances. Here one idea presents itself. Every friend must be an acquaintance, but every acquaintance is not, cannot be

« AnteriorContinuar »