صفحة 222 من 483

"Other lessons were impressed upon me even more deeply. I heard

of the difference of sexes, and the birth and growth of children,

how the father doted on the smiles of the infant, and the lively

sallies of the older child, how all the life and cares of the

mother were wrapped up in the precious charge, how the mind of

youth expanded and gained knowledge, of brother, sister, and all

the various relationships which bind one human being to another

in mutual bonds.

"But where were my friends and relations? No father had watched

my infant days, no mother had blessed me with smiles and

caresses; or if they had, all my past life was now a blot, a

blind vacancy in which I distinguished nothing. From my earliest

remembrance I had been as I then was in height and proportion. I

had never yet seen a being resembling me or who claimed any

intercourse with me. What was I? The question again recurred, to

be answered only with groans.