Page 67 (1/1)
In returning to the Lodge I felt very happy, and thanked God that I had now so to dwell on as a relief froery, of my present life: for I WAS lonely Never, fro my brief intervals of rest at home, did I see one creature to whohts with any hope of sympathy, or even comprehension: never one, unless it were poor Nancy Brohole moment of real social intercourse, or whose conversation was calculated to render me better, wiser, or happier than before; or who, as far as I could see, could be greatly benefited by norant, wrong- headed girls; fro folly, unbroken solitude was often a relief most earnestly desired and dearly prized But to be restricted to such associates was a serious evil, both in its immediate effects and the consequences that were likely to ensue Never a new idea or stirring thought came to me from without; and such as rose within me were, for the most part, miserably crushed at once, or dooht
Habitual associates are known to exercise a great influence over each other's minds and manners Those whose actions are for ever before our eyes, whose words are ever in our ears, will naturally lead us, albeit against our will, slowly, gradually, imperceptibly, perhaps, to act and speak as they do I will not presume to say how far this irresistible power of assimilation extends; but if one civilised man were dooes, unless he had power to ireatly question whether, at the close of that period, he would not have become, at least, a barbarian hi coly that they would s, habits, capacities, to the level of their oithout, however, ihtheartedness and cheerful vivacity
Already, I see, ; and I trembled lest my very moral perceptions should beco confounded, and all my better faculties be sunk, at last, beneath the baneful influence of such aaroundin upon th uponstar in my horizon, to save me from the fear of utter darkness; and I rejoiced that I had now a subject for contelad to see that all the world was not made up of Bloomfields, Murrays, Hatfields, Ashbys, &c; and that huination When we hear a little good and no harine hts; but Sunday was now becoht to me (I was now ale), for I liked to hear hih I kneas not handsoreeable, in outward aspect; but, certainly, he was not ugly