The Gilded Age


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things besides; he liked her mirthful and teasing ways, and not less a  
keen battle over something she had read. He had been a great reader all  
his life, and a remarkable memory had stored his mind with encyclopaedic  
information. It was one of Ruth's delights to cram herself with some out  
of the way subject and endeavor to catch her father; but she almost  
always failed. Mr. Bolton liked company, a house full of it, and the  
mirth of young people, and he would have willingly entered into any  
revolutionary plans Ruth might have suggested in relation to Friends'  
society.  
But custom and the fixed order are stronger than the most enthusiastic  
and rebellious young lady, as Ruth very soon found. In spite of all her  
brave efforts, her frequent correspondence, and her determined animation,  
her books and her music, she found herself settling into the clutches of  
the old monotony, and as she realized the hopelessness of her endeavors,  
the medical scheme took new hold of her, and seemed to her the only  
method of escape.  
"Mother, thee does not know how different it is in Fallkill, how much  
more interesting the people are one meets, how much more life there is."  
"But thee will find the world, child, pretty much all the same, when thee  
knows it better. I thought once as thee does now, and had as little  
thought of being a Friend as thee has. Perhaps when thee has seen more,  
thee will better appreciate a quiet life."  
268  


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266 267 268 269 270

Quick Jump
1 170 341 511 681