beings are not destined to struggle for ever like beasts of prey.
Give them time; let civilization grow. You know what our poet says:
"There the common sense of most shall hold a fretful realm in awe--"'

He quoted the couplet with a subdued fervour which characterized the
man and explained his worldly lot. Elkanah Madden should never have
entered the medical profession; mere humanitarianism had prompted the
choice in his dreamy youth; he became an empiric, nothing more. 'Our
poet,' said the doctor; Clevedon was chiefly interesting to him for its
literary associations. Tennyson he worshipped; he never passed
Coleridge's cottage without bowing in spirit. From the contact of
coarse actualities his nature shrank.

When he and Alice returned from their walk it was the hour of family
tea. A guest was present this afternoon; the eight persons who sat down
to table were as many as the little parlour could comfortably contain.
Of the sisters, next in age to Alice came Virginia, a pretty but
delicate girl of seventeen. Gertrude, Martha, and Isabel, ranging from
fourteen to ten, had no physical charm but that of youthfulness; Isabel
surpassed her eldest sister in downright plainness of feature. The
youngest, Monica, was a bonny little maiden only just five years old,
dark and bright-eyed.

The parents had omitted no care in shepherding their fold. Partly at
home, and partly in local schools, the young ladies had received
instruction suitable to their breeding, and the elder ones were
disposed to better this education by private study. The atmosphere of
the house was intellectual; books, especially the poets, lay in every
room. But it never occurred to Dr. Madden that his daughters would do
well to study with a professional object. In hours of melancholy he had
of course dreaded the risks of life, and resolved, always with
postponement, to make some practical provision for his family; in
educating them as well as circumstances allowed, he conceived that he
was doing the next best thing to saving money, for, if a fatality
befell, teaching would always be their resource. The thought, however,
of his girls having to work for money was so utterly repulsive to him
that he could never seriously dwell upon it. A vague piety supported
his courage. Providence would not deal harshly with him and his dear
ones. He enjoyed excellent health; his practice decidedly improved. The
one duty clearly before him was to set an example of righteous