Collections and RecollectionsRussell, George William Erskine
History
Collections and Recollections
Russell, George William Erskine
England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
Under another face, marked by a more spiritual grace, I find written
_Requiescat_. None who ever knew them will forget that bright and pure
beauty, those eyes of strange, supernatural light, that voice which
thrilled and vibrated with an unearthly charm. All who were his
contemporaries remember that dauntless courage, that heroic virtue, that
stainless purity of thought and speech, before which all evil things
seemed to shrink away abashed. We remember how the outward beauty of
body seemed only the visible symbol of a goodness which dwelt within,
and how moral and intellectual excellence grew up together, blending
into a perfect whole. We remember the School Concert, and the enchanting
voice, and the words of the song which afterwards sounded like a warning
prophecy, and the last walk together in the gloaming of a June holiday,
and the loving, trusting companionship, and the tender talk of home. And
then for a day or two we missed the accustomed presence, and dimly
caught a word of dangerous illness; and then came the agony of the
parting scene, and the clear, hard, pitiless school bell, cutting on our
hearts the sense of an irreparable loss, as it thrilled through the
sultry darkness of the summer night.
Here I shut the book. And with the memories which that picture called up
I may well bring these Recollections to a close. It is something to
remember, amid the bustle and bitterness of active life, that one once
had youth, and hope, and eagerness, and large opportunities, and
generous friends. A tender and regretful sentiment seems to cling to the
very walls and trees among which one cherished such bright ambitions and
felt the passionate sympathy of such loving hearts. The innocence and
the confidence of boyhood pass away soon enough, and thrice happy is he
who has contrived to keep
"The young lamb's heart amid the full-grown flocks."
FOOTNOTES:
[38] In _School and Home Life,_ by T.G. Rooper, M.A.
[39] In _Eric_, by F.W. Farrar, D.D.
TRAITS DE MOEURS ANGLAISES.
JEAN LA FRETTE.
De ce côté de la Manche nous avons une spécialité de souvenirs
militaires, et le public paraît prendre goût à ce genre de lectures. De
l'autre côté, les souvenirs sont plutôt d'ordre politique ou littéraire.
Ils n'en sont pas moins intéressants. Après tout, les récits de
massacres et de saccages se ressemblent beaucoup, qu'ils soient
d'Hérodote ou de Canrobert: et même il ne semble pas que le genre soit
en progrès, si l'on compare les termes extrêmes de la série. Car
Hérodote vit autre chose que les tueries, et il l'en faut féliciter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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