The Young Step-Mother; Or, A Chronicle of MistakesYonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
General
The Young Step-Mother; Or, A Chronicle of Mistakes
Yonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
Domestic fiction; England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Stepmothers -- Fiction
There are some characters so constituted, that of them the old proverb,
that Love is blind, is perfectly true; they can see no imperfection in
the mind or body of those dear to them. There are others in whom the
strongest affections do not destroy clearness of vision, who see their
friends on all sides, and perceive their faults and foibles, without
loving them the less.
Albinia Kendal was a person of the latter description. It might almost
be called her temptation, that her mind beheld all that came before it
in a clear, and a humorous light, such as only a disposition overflowing
with warm affection and with the energy of kindness, could have
prevented from bordering upon censoriousness. She had imagination, but
it was not such as to make an illusion of the present, or to interfere
with her almost satirical good sense. Happily, religion and its earthly
manifestation--charity regulated her, taught her to fear to judge lest
she should be judged, strengthened her naturally fond affections, and
tempered the keenness that disappointment might soon have turned to
sourness. The tongue, the temper, and the judgment knew their own
tendencies, and a guard was set over them; and if the sentinel were ever
torpid or deceived, repentance paid the penalty.
She had not long seen her husband at home before she had involuntarily
completed her view of his character. Nature must have designed him for
a fellow of a college, where, apart from all cares, he might have
collected fragments of forgotten authors, and immortalized his name by
some edition of a Greek Lyric poet, known by four poems and a half,
and two-thirds of a line quoted somewhere else. In such a controversy,
lightened by perpetually polished poems, by a fair amount of modern
literature, select college friendships, and methodical habits, Edmund
Kendal would have been in his congenial element, lived and died, and had
his portrait hung up as one of the glories of his college.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account