The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Anne BrontĂ« (librera reader .txt) đ
- Author: Anne Brontë
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âI beg your pardon, Mrs. Grahamâ âbut you get on too fast. I have not yet said that a boy should be taught to rush into the snares of lifeâ âor even wilfully to seek temptation for the sake of exercising his virtue by overcoming it;â âI only say that it is better to arm and strengthen your hero, than to disarm and enfeeble the foe;â âand if you were to rear an oak sapling in a hothouse, tending it carefully night and day, and shielding it from every breath of wind, you could not expect it to become a hardy tree, like that which has grown up on the mountainside, exposed to all the action of the elements, and not even sheltered from the shock of the tempest.â
âGranted;â âbut would you use the same argument with regard to a girl?â
âCertainly not.â
âNo; you would have her to be tenderly and delicately nurtured, like a hothouse plantâ âtaught to cling to others for direction and support, and guarded, as much as possible, from the very knowledge of evil. But will you be so good as to inform me why you make this distinction? Is it that you think she has no virtue?â
âAssuredly not.â
âWell, but you affirm that virtue is only elicited by temptation;â âand you think that a woman cannot be too little exposed to temptation, or too little acquainted with vice, or anything connected therewith. It must be either that you think she is essentially so vicious, or so feebleminded, that she cannot withstand temptationâ âand though she may be pure and innocent as long as she is kept in ignorance and restraint, yet, being destitute of real virtue, to teach her how to sin is at once to make her a sinner, and the greater her knowledge, the wider her liberty, the deeper will be her depravityâ âwhereas, in the nobler sex, there is a natural tendency to goodness, guarded by a superior fortitude, which, the more it is exercised by trials and dangers, is only the further developedâ ââ
âHeaven forbid that I should think so!â I interrupted her at last.
âWell, then, it must be that you think they are both weak and prone to err, and the slightest error, the merest shadow of pollution, will ruin the one, while the character of the other will be strengthened and embellishedâ âhis education properly finished by a little practical acquaintance with forbidden things. Such experience, to him (to use a trite simile), will be like the storm to the oak, which, though it may scatter the leaves, and snap the smaller branches, serves but to rivet the roots, and to harden and condense the fibres of the tree. You would have us encourage our sons to prove all things by their own experience, while our daughters must not even profit by the experience of others. Now I would have both so to benefit by the experience of others, and the precepts of a higher authority, that they should know beforehand to refuse the evil and choose the good, and require no experimental proofs to teach them the evil of transgression. I would not send a poor girl into the world, unarmed against her foes, and ignorant of the snares that beset her path; nor would I watch and guard her, till, deprived of self-respect and self-reliance, she lost the power or the will to watch and guard herself;â âand as for my sonâ âif I thought he would grow up to be what you call a man of the worldâ âone that has âseen life,â and glories in his experience, even though he should so far profit by it as to sober down, at length, into a useful and respected member of societyâ âI would rather that he died tomorrow!â ârather a thousand times!â she earnestly repeated, pressing her darling to her side and kissing his forehead with intense affection. He had already left his new companion, and been standing for some time beside his motherâs knee, looking up into her face, and listening in silent wonder to her incomprehensible discourse.
âWell! you ladies must always have the last word, I suppose,â said I, observing her rise, and begin to take leave of my mother.
âYou may have as many words as you pleaseâ âonly I canât stay to hear them.â
âNo; that is the way: you hear just as much of an argument as you please; and the rest may be spoken to the wind.â
âIf you are anxious to say anything more on the subject,â replied she, as she shook hands with Rose, âyou must bring your sister to see me some fine day, and Iâll listen, as patiently as you could wish, to whatever you please to say. I would rather be lectured by you than the vicar, because I should have less remorse in telling you, at the end of the discourse, that I preserve my own opinion precisely the same as at the beginningâ âas would be the case, I am persuaded, with regard to either logician.â
âYes, of course,â replied I, determined to be as provoking as herself; âfor when a lady does consent to listen to an argument against her own opinions, she is always predetermined to withstand itâ âto listen only with her bodily ears, keeping the mental organs resolutely closed against the strongest reasoning.â
âGood morning, Mr. Markham,â said my fair antagonist, with a pitying smile; and deigning no further rejoinder, she slightly bowed, and was about to withdraw; but her son, with childish impertinence, arrested her by exclaimingâ ââMamma, you have not shaken hands with Mr. Markham!â
She laughingly turned round and held out her hand. I gave it a spiteful squeeze, for I was annoyed at the continual injustice she had done me from the very dawn of our acquaintance. Without knowing anything about my real disposition and principles, she was evidently prejudiced against
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