"
And Sam muttered, "One can't be always picking one's words."
"I am not going to argue about it," said Miss Fosbrook; "and it is
time to get ready for church. Only I thought manliness was shown in
kindness to the weak, and avoiding what can pain them."
She went away; and Susan was the first to exclaim,
"I didn't think she'd have been so cross!"
"Stuff, Sue!" said Sam; "it's not being cross. I like her for having
a spirit; but one can't be finikin and mealy-mouthed to suit her
London manners. I like the truth."
It would have been well if any one had been by to tell Mr. Samuel
that truth of character does not consist in disagreeable and
uncalled-for personalities.
Miss Fosbrook did not wonder at little Elizabeth for her discomfort
under the rude homeliness of Stokesley, where the children made a bad
copy of their father's sailor bluntness, and the difficulties of
money matters kept down all indulgences. She knew that Captain
Merrifield was as poor a man for an esquire as her father was for a
surgeon, and that if he were to give his sons an education fit for
their station, he must make his household live plainly in every way;
but without thinking them right feelings, she had some pity for
little Bessie's weariness and discontent in never seeing anything
pretty.
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