iningly even, and at such times would sink
into moods of the blackest gloom, like those of an old, gouty subject.
Hypochondria, baby as he was, seemed already to have fixed his fangs
upon him. He had days of profound melancholy, when nothing provoked a
smile, and others of bitter, silent fretting, inconceivably distressing;
again there were periods of the wildest joy, only restrained by that
reticence which had become habitual, from positive boisterousness.

All this I could have compelled into subservience, of course, by
substituting fear for affection. It is not a difficult matter for the
strong and cunning to cow and crush the spirit of a little child; no
great achievement, after all, nor proof of power, though many boast of
it as such. Strength and hardness of heart are all one requires for
this external victory; but human souls are not to be so governed (God be
praised for this!), and love and respect are not to be compelled.

It is the error of all errors to suppose that, because a child has a
sickly frame or imperfect animal organization, it is just or profitable
to give it over to its own devices, and consign it to indolence and
ignorance. Alas! the vacancy that begets fretfulness, and crude,
capricious desires, the confusion of images that arises from partial
understanding, are far more wearing to the nerves of an intelligent
infant than the small labor the brain undertakes, if any, indeed, be
needed, in mastering ideas properly presented, and suitable to the
condition of the sufferer. One might as well forbid the hand to grasp,
the eye to see, nay, more, it will not do to confound the child of
genius with the fool, or to suppose that the one needs not a mental
aliment of which the other is incapable. Feed well the hungry mind, lest
it perish of inanition. It is a sponge in infancy that imbibes ideas
without an effort; it is a safety-valve through which fancy and poetry
conduct away foul vapors; it is an alembic, retaining only the pure and
valuable of all that is poured into it, to be stored for future use. It
is a lightning-rod that conducts away from the body all superfluous
electricity. It does not harm a sensible child to put it to study early,
but it destroys a dull one. Let your poor soil lie fallow, but harvest
your rich mould, and you shall be repaid, without harm to its fertility.

Ideas were balm to Ernie, even as regarded his physical suffering. His
enthusiasm rose above it and carried him to other