Most
people never get beyond spoon-meat--in this world, at least, and they
expect nothing else in the world to come. I must take you in hand myself,
and see what I can do for you. It is wretched to see capable enough
creatures, all for want of a little guidance, bursting with admiration of
what owes its principal charm to novelty of form, gained at the cost of
expression and sense. Not that that applies to Mrs. Hemans. She is simple
enough, only diluted to a degree. But I hold that whatever mental food you
take should be just a little too strong for you. That implies trouble,
necessitates growth, and involves delight."
"I sha'n't mind how difficult it is if you help me, papa. But it is
anything but satisfactory to go groping on without knowing what you are
about."
I ought to have mentioned that Constance had been at school for two years,
and had only been home a month that very day, in order to account for my
knowing so little about her tastes and habits of mind. We went on talking a
little more in the same way, and if I were writing for young people only,
I should be tempted to go on a little farther with the account of what we
said to each other; for it might help some of them to see that the thing
they like best should, circumstances and conscience permitting, be made the
centre from which they start to learn; that they should go on enlarging
their knowledge all round from that one point at which God intended them to
begin.
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