Sketches New and Old


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question, the young lady could not gather sufficient courage to answer it  
while Eng was by. However, on one occasion, after having walked some  
sixteen miles, and sat up till nearly daylight, Eng dropped asleep, from  
sheer exhaustion, and then the question was asked and answered. The  
lovers were married. All acquainted with the circumstance applauded the  
noble brother-in-law. His unwavering faithfulness was the theme of every  
tongue. He had stayed by them all through their long and arduous  
courtship; and when at last they were married, he lifted his hands above  
their heads, and said with impressive unction, "Bless ye, my children, I  
will never desert ye!" and he kept his word. Fidelity like this is all  
too rare in this cold world.  
By and by Eng fell in love with his sister-in-law's sister, and married  
her, and since that day they have all lived together, night and day, in  
an exceeding sociability which is touching and beautiful to behold, and  
is a scathing rebuke to our boasted civilization.  
The sympathy existing between these two brothers is so close and so  
refined that the feelings, the impulses, the emotions of the one are  
instantly experienced by the other. When one is sick, the other is sick;  
when one feels pain, the other feels it; when one is angered, the other's  
temper takes fire. We have already seen with what happy facility they  
both fell in love with the same girl. Now Chang is bitterly opposed to  
all forms of intemperance, on principle; but Eng is the reverse--for,  
while these men's feelings and emotions are so closely wedded, their  
reasoning faculties are unfettered; their thoughts are free. Chang  
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