Of course, too, example is
far more potent than precept, and it is very difficult for parents
to simulate a high-mindedness and an affectionateness that they do
not themselves possess, even if they are sincerely anxious that
their children should grow up high-minded and affectionate. One of
the darkest shadows of my present condition is the fear that any
revelation of my own weakness and emptiness may discourage and
distort my children's characters; and the watchfulness which this
requires increases the strain under which I suffer, because it is a
hard fact that an example set for a noble and an unselfish motive
is not nearly so potent as an example set naturally, sweetly, and
generously, with no particular consciousness of motive behind it at
all.
July 18, 1889.
I have just heard of the sudden death of an old friend. Francis
Willett was a writer of some distinction, whose acquaintance I made
in my first years in London. He was a tall, slim man, dark of
complexion, who would have been called very handsome, if it had not
been for a rather burdened air that he wore. As it was, people
tended rather to pity him, and to speak of him as somewhat of a
mystery.
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