"My child," he continued, with a solemnity that made her grow very
pale, "suppose I should take you to a room in the house there, show
you a fair girl with eyes that should look for her duty in life
closed forever, and the hands that should faithfully and bravely
do it paralyzed in death. Suppose I should tell you that I had
given her a poisonous drug the night before, what would I be?"
"A murderer," whispered the girl with eyes dilated with fear and
horror.
"Yes," said the old man, shaking his head sadly; "I would have
destroyed a life that God had given, and destroyed endless chances
for happiness and usefulness, and sent a poor soul to judgement,
perhaps unforgiven and unprepared. My child, it cuts me to the heart
to pain you so, but the physician's probe must go to the depth of
the wound. It is no kindness to the patient to put on a soothing
surface application and leave death to rankle in the blood. We
have no reason to believe that in the eye of God he that destroys
himself is any the less guilty than he that kills another, and even
in the judgment of man it's a cowardly flight from misfortunes that
should be triumphed over with courage and patience, or endured with
fortitude and resignation.
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