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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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Untitled Article
lence , and at length dunking himself to death at the news of an jheir feeing boxv \ to his brother . Nothi ^ can be bette r described tha , $ the uncle and his family , by whom the boy was then € i taken ip . " The absence qf the dread of personal violence , and of the sight of intemperate excesses ; together with the order and comfort of the household , at first making his new
home appear a sort of paradise ; but very soon the " cold and rigid atmosphere " that surrounded the nephew , there only on " sufference , " with the " rules of the house " enforced upon him , rousing him first to a consciousness of neglect and unkindness , then to a spirit of recklessness and disobedience , till he was declared tl utterly intolerable , and sent to school ;" where , in his own hearing , he was made over to the
master as " a little blackguard , quite irreclaimable , and only to be kept in order by brute force ; " on which he became really all that he had been painted , and i € declared war with his whole soul against the world ;"—the re-awakening of its natural power of love and sympathy in the boy ' s heart ; are all
beautifully described . He had determined to run away , careless of what his fate might be , when one day the master told him that a letter was come from a relation , inviting him to spend the day ; and granted a lordly permission to go" for this once /* though he " deserved no indulgence : "—
" I was sauntering back to the prison yard , which , they called a playground , when I was told that there was a pony-chaise at the door ready to take me . My heart leaped at the word ; I fancied that * by means of this conveyance , I could proceed on the first stage of flight The ponycarriage was of the humblest description ; an old man drove . I got in , and away we trotted , the little cob that drew it going much faster than his looks gave warrant . The driver was deaf—I was sullen—toot
a word did we exchange . My plan was , that he should take m £ to the farthest point he intended , and then that I should leap out and take to my heels . As we proceeded , however , my rebel fit somewhat subsided . We quitted the town in which the school was situated , and the dreary dusty roads I was accustomed to perambulate under the superintendence of the ushers . We entered shady lanes and umbrageous groves ; we perceived extensive prospects , and saw the winding of romantic Etreams ; a curtain seemed drawn from before the scenes of
nature ; and my spirits rose as I gazed on new objects , and saw earth spread wide and free around . At first this only animated me to a keener resolVe to fly ; but as we went on , a vague sentiment possessed my' soul . The sky-larks winged up to heaven , and the swallows skimmed the geeen earth ; I felt happy because nature was gay , and all things tree and at peace . We turned from a lane , redolent w , ith
honeysuckle * into a little wood , whose short , thick turf , was interspersed wit& moss , and starred with flowers . Just as we emerged , I saw a little railing , a rustic green gate , and a cottage clustered over with woodbine and jessamine , standing secluded among , yet peeping out from , £ he over > 8 hadowing trees , A little peasant boy threw < ipen the gate , and we drove up to the cottage door .
Untitled Article
Falkner . 231
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 1, 1837, page 231, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1830/page/41/
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