Harry

“ I married you, Harry, for good or ill,
For better or worse, for sickness or health.
O let me the beautiful vow fulfil,
Joyously, utterly—never by stealth!
I am not your wife while you treat me thus,
And life is becoming too hard to bear;
Is there that in the heart of one of us,
That the heart of the other must not share?
'I almost died when you left me, my dear;
Yet you did it quite for my good, you know;
O where should I be if I was not here?
'Neath a little grass hillock lying low!
You would be living, to labour and strive,
And I should be lying quite dead—quite dead! ”

“ Like a loose casement in the wind.
And Harry's flesh it fell away;
And all who see him say 'tis plain,
That live as long as live he may,
He never will be warm again.
No word to any man he utters,
A-bed or up, to young or old;
But ever to himself he mutters,
'Poor Harry Gill is very cold!'
A-bed or up, by night or day,
His teeth they chatter, chatter still.
Now think, ye farmers all, I pray,
Of Goody Blake and Harry Gill! ”

“ Harry was an orphan. To have one feel an interest in his moral welfare, to have one wish him to be a good boy, had not grown stale by long continuance. He had known no anxious mother, who wished him to be good, who would weep when he did wrong. The sympathy of the little angel touched a sensitive chord in his heart and soul, and he felt that he should go forward in the great pilgrimage of life with a new desire to be true to himself, and true to her who had inspired his reverence.
Even a child cannot be good without having it felt by others. ”

“ She stuck her penknife in little Harry's heart,
And first the blood came very thick, and then came very thin.
She rolled him in a quire of tin,
That was in so many a fold;
She rolled him from that to a little draw-well,
That was fifty fathoms deep.
'Lie there, lie there, little Harry,' she cried,
'And God forbid you to swim,
If you be a disgrace to me,
Or to any of my friends.'
The day passed by, and the night came on,
And every scholar was home,
And every mother had her own child,
But poor Harry's mother had none. ”

“ Harry felt the spirit of a man stirring within him. He felt that the world had cast him off, and refused him a home, even in the poorhouse. He was determined to push his way through life like a hero, and he nerved himself to meet whatever hardships and trials might be apportioned to him. ”

“ And Harry is placidly sleeping there.
He is sleeping there, while I work away—
My busy needle has plenty to do;
And my thoughts turn idly to yesterday,
And a world where troubles were very few;
To a world that shines in a distance fair,
Like a fairy dream, impossibly sweet,—
Was life what it seem'd when we liv'd out there? ”

“ Harry. No: Belmer will secure him. Never fear.
Mrs. L. Harry, welcome home once more!
Harry. Ah, Aunt Loring, still as buxom as ever! thanks, thanks!
Doctor. Well, I declare I feel like a new man.
Dilly. Ah, I told you Harry would make all right.
Doctor. Ah, that he has. I’ll open school again.
Butts. I say, Harry, you’ve no ill will against me?
Harry. Ah, Butts, I’ve no ill will against any one now, I’m so happy.
Butts. The child, Harry?
Harry. Dilly, how can I ever repay you for your kindness to my father, for your faith in me? To you I owe the good name I bear to-day: how can I repay you? ”

“ Ah, my dear Harry, how little do you know of life; there is a kind of man whose appetite for the marvellous is such, that he must be crammed with miracles or he dies of inanition, and you might as well attempt to feed a tiger upon pate de foie gras, as satisfy him by mere naked unvarnished truth. ”

“ Harry was gazing up with great black eyes, as full of wondering delight as a child's, at the blue crystal of the sky, against which tossed the gold feathers of the trees, when another young man, emerging from the parson's gate, purposely collided with him. Harry's hand which did not hold the book clinched involuntarily, and he frowned; for although destined for the ministry, he had fighting blood in his veins. Then he laughed, for it was only John Brooks, who was always playing off a jest upon some one whenever he was able. ”

“ Harry turned a surprised face on him. "No, it's for me to decide on," he said. "By and by I shall tell Granny—of course. But I don't in the least know when it will be. There's nothing to show yet."
The phrase struck Wilbraham oddly. Harry had used it once or twice to him before. "One has to decide upon things with one's brain," he said, "and out of one's experience—important things that may affect one's life. They can't be left to impulse." ”

“ But what I'm quite certain of is that Harry couldn't have been wasted. I think that's what poor Lady Brent can't see. All of him that we loved is alive somewhere. I'm more and more sure of that every moment. I believe it's what Harry is trying to say to us. Let's just say we believe it, Viola dear. Perhaps it will even make him more happy if we do. I believe it. I believe Harry is alive and that he knows about us, and some day you will see him again, and you will be happier together than you have ever been. Say it, Viola. ”

“ Oh, Harry, was there ever one like that girl? All the spirit of daring of a man she has, and yet is she full of all the sweet ways of a maid. Faith, she would draw sword one minute and tie a ribbon the next. She would have followed Bacon to the death, and sat up all night to broider herself a kerchief. Comrade and sweetheart both she is, and was there ever one like her for beauty? Harry, Harry, saw you ever such a beauty as Mary Cavendish? ”

“ Harry. [Lifting her up.] The feel of your body be as burning wood, May.
May. [Standing up.] Put me against the stile, Harry, and then let I bide alone.
Harry. Do you let me go over the field along of you, May, just to the door.
May. No, no, Harry, get you off to the town and leave me to bide here a while in the quiet of my thoughts. ’Tis of little Dorry, and of how pleased her’ll be to see her mammy once again, as I be thinking. But you, Harry Moss, as han’t got no home to go to, nor fireside, nor victuals, you set off towards the town. And go you quick. ”

“ And, without Harry, what was I at all?
I stand on a rock where two rivers meet,
With a life behind and a life before;
And one is ebbing away from my feet,
And the other is rising more and more.
Ah, poor little maiden! ah, dear little wife!
Ah, days that are past and days that will come!
The past is nothing—this only is life;
I am going with him and am going Home.
[pg 31]
And such a sweet pretty home as it is!
What shall I do with my exquisite bliss?
How can I ever be charming enough,
Where rumpling a roseleaf will make the path rough? ”

“ Harry's tale was soon told, and the colonel roared with laughter at the thought of his boy masquerading as a Puritan preacher.
"King Charles himself," he said, "might smile over your story, Harry; and in faith it takes a great deal to call up a smile into his majesty's face, which is, methinks a pity, for he would be more loved, and not less respected, did he, by his appearance and manner, do something to raise the spirits of those around him." ”

“ Then of a sudden, close she pressed her soft cheek against my shoulder as we walked, and whispered, as though she could keep silent no longer, and yet as if she swooned for shame in breaking silence: "Harry, Harry, I liked the way you thrust them aside when they were rude with you, to do me a service, and Harry, you are stronger, and—and—than them all." ”

“ It is difficult to fathom the feelings of a person brought up in a position so wholly unnatural as that of Harry. The feelings which had been cultivated in him by education, and the indulgence of his nominal possessors, were those of an honorable and gentlemanly man. His position was absolutely that of the common slave, without one legal claim to anything on earth, one legal right of protection in any relation of life. What any man of strong nature would feel on hearing such tidings from a sister, Harry felt. ”

“ But, sure, Harry, a promise to a man's mother is not to be broke lightly, and indeed she doth ask me every night when I return late, and I shall see her face at the window when I ride in sight of the great house; but faith, Harry, I would love to win in something, if not in hearts, in a throw of the dice. For sure I am a man grown, and have never had my own will in aught that lies near my heart. ”

“ Lying in his bunk Harry awoke to the consciousness of another bleak dawn. The morning waking was always a pain to him, for in sleep the barriers fell away and the mind fared forth along the free, sweet highways of memory. He did not open his eyes at once, but he felt the rasp of the coarse blanket at his throat, smelled the cold clamminess of the granite floor, and realised by a thousand reminders of the sharpened senses that another round of the treadmill awaited him. ”

“ Harry quietly said to him, "Here, under this little tree, is a beautiful bed of violets, and there are anemones." Harry tasted of the pleasure of doing good for evil. The boy who had defended him walked by him, and talked kindly to him. "How good it was in you to show us the flowers!" said the little girl who had taken Harry's hand, and whose apron he had filled with flowers. How happy now was poor Harry!
All the children gathered that morning as many flowers as they desired. Some carried home only perishable earthly flowers in their hands; others, immortal flowers in their hearts. ”

“ If I was asked to describe Harry in one word, the one I should instinctively use would be “Youth”; youth with its happy joy in the simple things of life, youth with its hope and ambition, youth with its intolerance, feeling disappointment and unkindness so deeply, and yet with its tears so quickly dried by the laughter that was never very far away. That was Harry Esmond, who found the world a giant playroom full of toys of which he never tired.
An Irishman, with the true Irishman’s imagination, living so much in dreams that dreams became more real than reality. ”

“ This over, she drew his curly head down and whispered in a deep, slow voice, that sent a shiver through Harry's little body, 'As to-morrow is your birthday, your father and mother are going to give you a present that has four legs! Now run away downstairs; for I heard the motor going round to the stables, and your father must be home again!'
At this moment Harry's quick ears heard a footstep upon the stairs—a footstep that he loved with all his heart—and with a cry of delight he disappeared through the nursery doorway, and down the broad staircase.
'Well, old man! ”

“ And looking in again at half-past seven, he found Harry half dressed, with his arm round Mary; laughing, almost sobbing, over the treasures in his cupboard, which he had newly discovered in their fresh order.
Dr. May looked like a new man that morning, with his brightened eye and bearing, as if there were a well-spring of joy within him, ready to brim over at once in tear and in smile, and finding an outlet in the praise and thanksgiving that his spirit chanted, and his face expressed, and in that sunny genial benevolence that must make all share his joy. ”

“ Oh, my dear, I know how much you loved Harry. It's what makes me love you. I think I love you better than anybody, just because of that. It all comes back to Harry, you see. Poor Lady Brent loved him, and I'm desperately sorry for her. Sometimes it seems as if I'm more sorry for her than I am for myself. It isn't like being sorry for oneself; I don't seem to count. But I'm sorry for her. She's old, but she isn't hard, as many old people are. And there are so many other things than just Harry that she has lost. ”

“ It was the real Harry, within the other Harry, that spoke, and he was a very obstinate fellow, positively refusing to let him keep the pocketbook, at any rate.
"What am I about? She hoped I would be a good boy, and the evil one is catching me as fast as he can," resumed Harry.
"Be a good boy," added the other Harry.
"I mean to be, if I can."
"The little angel will be very sad when she finds out that you are a thief." ”

“ From days that are past with a solemn bliss.
From days that are lit by a heaven-ray,
To kindle our hearts and strengthen our faith;
For Harry and I are changed in a way,
Like people whose eyes have looked upon death.2
My Harry has won such a patient mood,
And has grown so resolute and so wise;
He is always trying to do some good,
And always succeeding in what he tries.
The trials I trembled that he should bear,
His noble heart has accepted as such ”

“ They have only to keep their white lives white;
But men are so tempted, that men must fall—
O wonderful Harry who stands upright!
Again the sweet evenings we had at first:
He reads, and I work; or we play and sing;
And looks and words that, if life were accurs'd,
In memory only, would rapture bring.
Engagements of course will sometimes arise;
But the joy is still in the coming back;
And sometimes he dines with us (Jack Devize) ,
And sometimes my husband dines out with Jack. ”

“ Harry never spoke a saucy word in his life," interposed the friendly keeper.
"He should know his place, and learn how to treat his superiors. You give these boys too much meat, Mr. Nason. They can't bear it. Mush and molasses is the best thing in the world for them."
If any one had looked closely at Harry while the functionary was delivering himself of this speech, he might have seen his eye snap and his chest heave with indignation. He had evidently conquered his timidity, and, maugre his youth, was disposed to stand forth and say, [8] "I, too, am a man." ”

“ What on earth do you mean, Harry?"
"Not you chiefly. But you were in it. You kept me knowing nothing. Supposing it hadn't been Viola I fell in love with! Oh, I've learnt a lot since you and I met last. I know what men are, and I'm not different from others at bottom, though there's miles between me and them in some ways. It's Viola I owe everything to—not Granny or mother or you. ”