FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80  
81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   >>   >|  
and cruelty with which the old will ever mock the ear and dull the heart of the confiding and the young. How willing I felt to love, and how gay a place was earth, with her constant sun, and overflowing lap, and her thousand joys, for man! And how intense was the fire of _hope_ that burned within me--fed with new fuel every passing hour, and how abiding and how beautiful _the future_! THE FUTURE! and it was here--a nothing--a dream--a melancholy phantasm! There are seasons of adversity, in which the mind, plunged in despondency and gloom, is startled and distressed by pictures of a happier time, that travel far to fool and tantalize the suffering heart. I sat with the child, and gazing full upon him, beheld him not, but--a vision of my father's house. There sits the good old man, and at his side--ah, how seldom were they apart!--my mother. And there, too, is the clergyman, my first instructor. Every well-remembered piece of furniture is there. The chair, sacred to my sire, and venerated by me for its age, and for our long intimacy. I have known it since first I knew myself. The antique bookcase--the solid chest of drawers--the solemn sofa, all substantial as ever, and looking, as at first, the immoveable and natural properties of the domestic parlour. My mother has her eyes upon me, and they are full of tears. My father and the minister are building up my fortunes, are fixing in the sandy basis of futurity an edifice formed of glittering words, incorporeal as the breath that rears it. And the feelings of that hour come back upon me. I glow with animation, confidence, and love. I have the strong delight that beats within the bosom of the boy who has the parents' trusty smile for ever on him. I dream of pouring happiness into those fond hearts--of growing up to be their prop and staff in their decline. I pierce into the future, and behold myself the esteemed and honoured amongst men--the patient, well-rewarded scholar--the cherished and the cherisher of the dear authors of my life--all brightness--all glory--all unsullied joy. The child touches my wet cheek, and asks me why I weep?--why?--why? He knows not of the early wreck that has annihilated the unhappy teacher's peace. We were still engaged upon our lesson, when John Thompson interrupted the proceeding, by entering the apartment in great haste, and placing in my hands a newspaper. "He had been searching," he said, "for one whole fortnight, to find a situation that
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80  
81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

future

 

father

 

mother

 
edifice
 
hearts
 

formed

 
growing
 

futurity

 

fortunes

 

fixing


glittering
 

happiness

 

animation

 

parents

 

strong

 
decline
 

confidence

 

breath

 

delight

 
incorporeal

pouring

 
trusty
 

feelings

 

authors

 

interrupted

 

Thompson

 

proceeding

 
entering
 

apartment

 

engaged


lesson

 

placing

 

fortnight

 

situation

 

newspaper

 

searching

 

teacher

 

unhappy

 

cherished

 

scholar


cherisher

 

building

 

rewarded

 

patient

 

esteemed

 

behold

 
honoured
 

brightness

 

annihilated

 

unsullied