Her hair is of a decided gray,
and she does not shrink from calling herself old. She is the most
continual talker I ever heard; it is really like the babbling of a brook,
and very lively and sensible too; and all the while she talks, she moves
the bowl of her ear-trumpet from one auditor to another, so that it
becomes quite an organ of intelligence and sympathy between her and
yourself. The ear-trumpet seems a sensible part of her, like the
antennae of some insects. If you have any little remark to make, you
drop it in; and she helps you to make remarks by this delicate little
appeal of the trumpet, as she slightly directs it towards you; and if you
have nothing to say, the appeal is not strong enough to embarrass you.
All her talk was about herself and her affairs; but it did not seem like
egotism, because it was so cheerful and free from morbidness. And this
woman is an Atheist, and thinks that the principle of life will become
extinct when her body is laid in the grave! I will not think so; were it
only for her sake. What! only a few weeds to spring out of her
mortality, instead of her intellect and sympathies flowering and fruiting
forever!
September 13th.--My family went to Rhyl last Thursday, and on Saturday I
joined them there, in company with O'Sullivan, who arrived in the Behama
from Lisbon that morning. We went by way of Chester, and found S-----
waiting for us at the Rhyl station.
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