"
"So you said of her mother, Captain Whitmore, yet she lost her life by
obstinately persisting in what she was pleased to call _her duty_."
"If the good ship sunk while endeavoring to save the drowning crew of
another," said the poor Captain, wiping the dew from his spectacles,
"she went down in a good cause, and a blessing has descended from above
upon her child."
One day, when Anthony had been remonstrating with Juliet for incurring
so much danger while visiting the poor during a period of epidemic
sickness, she replied, with her usual frankness,
"This from you, Mr. Anthony, who have devoted yourself to be an
instructor of the poor, a friend of the friendless, a minister of
Christ!--how can I better employ my time than in striving to alleviate
the sorrows that I cannot cure? To tell you the truth, I cannot yield
more to pleasure without spoiling my heart. It is not that I am averse
to innocent amusements, for no person enjoys them more. But were I
constantly to gratify my own selfish inclinations, I should soon lose my
peace of mind, that dew of the soul, which is so soon absorbed in the
heated atmosphere of the world."
"If such devotion is what the worldly term enthusiasm, may its blessed
inspiration ever continue to influence your actions!"
"Enthusiasm!" repeated the girl. "Oh that I could convey to you in words
what I feel to be the true definition of that much abused term.
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