The alteration in his bodily habits and conditions paved
the way for an analogous moral and mental process. The powers of a man
are never annihilated; if dormant in one direction, they will be active
in another; and thus Bressant's passions, naturally deep and violent,
being denied legitimate outlet, had given vigor, endurance, and heat of
purpose, to the prosecution of his intellectual exercises. But, as soon
as these elements of his nature found their proper channels, they rushed
onward with far more dash and fervor than if they had never been dammed
or deflected.
The combined effect upon the young man of the companionship of a
beautiful woman and his own broken bones, had been to make him feel and
ponder on the nature of her power over him. The name of love was of
course familiar to him, but he could hardly as yet, perhaps, grasp the
full significance of the sentiment. Like other forms of knowledge, it
must be approached by natural gradations. Here, if nowhere else,
Bressant's life of purely intellectual activity was a disadvantage. His
stand-points and views were artificial, speculative, and material. Love
cannot be reduced to a formula, and then relinquished; nor is it ever
safe to use, as pattern for an untried work, the plan whereby something
else was accomplished.
Pages:
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171