Page:Romance & Reality 2.pdf/279

Rh "Do let me tell you an instance, just to illustrate your theory. A little girl was asked 'why her fine new doll was quite thrown aside—always kept in some dark corner: did not she like it?' 'My doll?' said the little creature, 'I hate my doll; she is better dressed than myself.'" "A case in point. We all hate our dolls, because they are better dressed than ourselves. The worst of display is, that, like other misfortunes, it never comes single. Satiety and mortification are the extremes of vanity, and both are equally attended by envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness. If the human mind were like a pond, and could be filled at once, knowledge, like the water, would be its own balance; but as it must be done gradually, it ought to be done carefully—not one part filled to overflowing, while a second is left dry, or a third to stagnate." "But surely you would not confine knowledge to the higher classes?" "Certainly not. Knowledge, when only the possession of a few, has almost always been turned to iniquitous purposes. Take, for example, many of those chemical discoveries which now add so much to our amusement and