Chapter 19 - Page 2

engraved a severity, that was but faintly relieved by the gleamings of a
natural kindness, which no acquired habits, nor any traces of metaphysical
thought, could ever entirely erase. Across this picture of venerable and
self-mortifying age, the first rays of the sun were now softly cast,
lighting a dimmed eye and furrowed face with a look of brightness and
peace. Perhaps the blandness of the expression belonged as much to the
season and hour, as to the habitual character of the man. This benignancy
of feature, unusual rather in its strength than in its existence, might
have been heightened by the fact that his spirit had just wrought in
prayer, as was usual, in the circle of his children and dependants, ere
they left those retired parts of the building where they had found rest
and security during the night. Of the former, none known and cherished in
the domestic circle had been absent; and the ample provision that was
making for the morning meal, sufficiently showed that the number of the
latter had in no degree diminished since the reader was familiar with the
domestic economy of his household.

Time had produced no very striking alteration in the appearance of
Content. It is true that the brown hue of his features had deepened, and
that his frame was beginning to lose some of its elasticity and ease of
action, in the more measured movements of middle age. But the governed
temperament of the individual had always kept the animal in more than
usual subjection. Even his earlier days had rather exhibited the promise
than the performance of the ordinary youthful qualities. Mental gravity
had long before produced a corresponding physical effect. In reference to
his exterior, and using the language of the painter, it would now be said,
that, without having wrought any change in form and proportions, the
colors had been mellowed by time. If a few hairs of gray were sprinkled,
here and there, around his brow, it was as moss gathers on the stones of
the edifice, rather furnishing evidence of its increased adhesion and
approved stability, than denoting any symptoms of decay.

Not so with his gentle and devoted partner. That softness and sweetness of
air which had first touched the heart of Content was still to be seen,
though it existed amid the traces of a constant and a corroding grief. The
freshness of youth had departed, and in its place was visible the more
lasting, and, in her case, the more affecting beauty of expression. The
eye of Ruth had lost none of its gentleness, and her smile still continued
kind and attractive; but the former was often painfully vacant, seeming to
look inward upon those secret and withering sources of sorrow that were
deeply and almost mysteriously seated in her heart; while the latter