CHAPTER XXXIV 490
CHAPTER XXXIV
It was near Christmas by the time all was settled : the season of general holiday approached . I now closed Morton school , taking care that the parting should not be barren on my side . Good fortune opens the hand as well as the heart wonderfully ; and to give somewhat when we have largely received , is but to afford a vent to the unusual ebullition of the sensations . I had long felt with pleasure that many of my rustic scholars liked me , and when we parted , that consciousness was confirmed : they manifested their affection plainly and strongly . Deep was my gratification to find I had really a place in their unsophisticated hearts : I promised them that never a week should pass in future that I did not visit them , and give them an hour ' s teaching in their school .
Mr . Rivers came up as , having seen the classes , now numbering sixty girls , file out before me , and locked the door , I stood with the key in my hand , exchanging a few words of special farewell with some half-dozen of my best scholars : as decent , respectable , modest , and well-informed young women as could be found in the ranks of the British peasantry . And that is saying a great deal ; for after all , the British peasantry are the best taught , best mannered , most self-respecting of any in Europe : since those days I have seen paysannes and Bauerinnen ; and the best of them seemed to me ignorant , coarse , and besotted , compared with my Morton girls .
" Do you consider you have got your reward for a season of exertion ?" asked Mr . Rivers , when they were gone . " Does not the consciousness of having done some real good in your day and generation give pleasure ?"
" Doubtless ."
" And you have only toiled a few months ! Would not a life devoted to the task of regenerating your race be well spent ?"
" Yes ," I said ; " but I could not go on for ever so : I want to enjoy my own faculties as well as to cultivate those of other people . I must enjoy them now ; don ' t recall either my mind or body to the school ; I am out of it and