The Young Girl kept her eye closely applied to the eye-piece of the
telescope a very long time, it seemed to me. Those double stars
interested her a good deal, no doubt. When she looked off from the glass
I thought both her eyes appeared very much as if they had been a little
strained, for they were suffused and glistening. It may be that she
pitied the lonely young man.
I know nothing in the world tenderer than the pity that a kind-hearted
young girl has for a young man who feels lonely. It is true that these
dear creatures are all compassion for every form of human woe, and
anxious to alleviate all human misfortunes. They will go to
Sunday-schools through storms their brothers are afraid of, to teach the
most unpleasant and intractable classes of little children the age of
Methuselah and the dimensions of Og the King of Bashan's bedstead. They
will stand behind a table at a fair all day until they are ready to drop,
dressed in their prettiest clothes and their sweetest smiles, and lay
hands upon you, like--so many Lady Potiphars,--perfectly correct ones, of
course,--to make you buy what you do not want, at prices which you cannot
afford; all this as cheerfully as if it were not martyrdom to them as
well as to you. Such is their love for all good objects, such their
eagerness to sympathize with all their suffering fellow-creatures! But
there is nothing they pity as they pity a lonely young man.
Pages:
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178