Children of clergy -- Fiction; Christian fiction; Fathers and daughters -- Fiction; Scotland -- Fiction
"'Tis but again a foolish fancy
To picture the countenance so.
Which is shining in all our spirits,
Making them white as snow.
Come to me, shine in me, Master,
And I care not for river or tree,--
Care for no sorrow or crying,
If only thou shine in me.
"I would lie on my bed for ages,
Looking out on the dusty street,
Where whisper nor leaves nor waters,
Nor any thing cool and sweet;
At my heart this ghastly fainting,
And this burning in my blood,--
If only I knew thou wast with me,--
Wast with me and making me good."
When she rose from the piano, Mrs. Cromwell stretched out her hand for
hers, and held it some time, unable to speak. Then she said,--
"That has done me good, I hope. I will try to be more patient, for I think
He _is_ teaching me."
She died, at length, in my arms. I cannot linger over that last time. She
suffered a good deal, but dying people are generally patient. She went
without a struggle. The last words I heard her utter were, "Yes, Lord;"
after which she breathed but once. A half-smile came over her face, which
froze upon it, and remained, until the coffin-lid covered it. But I shall
see it, I trust, a whole smile some day.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
ANCESTRAL WISDOM.
I did think of having a chapter about children before finishing my book;
but this is not going to be the kind of chapter I thought of. Like most
mothers, I suppose, I think myself an authority on the subject; and, which
is to me more assuring than any judgment of my own, my father says that I
have been in a measure successful in bringing mine up,--only they're not
brought up very far yet. Hence arose the temptation to lay down a few
practical rules I had proved and found answer. But, as soon as I began to
contemplate the writing of them down, I began to imagine So-and-so and
So-and-so attempting to carry them out, and saw what a dreadful muddle they
would make of it, and what mischief would thence lie at my door. Only one
thing can be worse than the attempt to carry out rules whose principles
are not understood; and that is the neglect of those which are understood,
and seen to be right. Suppose, for instance, I were to say that corporal
punishment was wholesome, involving less suffering than most other
punishments, more effectual in the result, and leaving no sting or sense
of unkindness; whereas mental punishment, considered by many to be more
refined, and therefore less degrading, was often cruel to a sensitive
child, and deadening to a stubborn one: suppose I said this, and a woman
like my Aunt Millicent were to take it up: _her_ whippings would have
no more effect than if her rod were made of butterflies' feathers; they
would be a mockery to her children, and bring law into contempt; while if
a certain father I know were to be convinced by my arguments, he would
fill his children with terror of him now, and with hatred afterwards. Of
the last-mentioned result of severity, I know at least one instance. At
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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