The face of the tall grenadier in the centre,
between two women, both of whom have claims on him, wonderfully expresses
trouble and perplexity; and every touch in the picture meant something
and expresses what it meant.
The price of admission, after two o'clock, being sixpence, the Exhibition
was thronged with a class of people who do not usually come in such large
numbers. It was both pleasant and touching to see how earnestly some of
them sought to get instruction from what they beheld. The English are a
good and simple people, and take life in earnest.
August 14th.--Passing by the gateway of the Manchester Cathedral the
other morning, on my way to the station, I found a crowd collected, and,
high overhead, the bells were chiming for a wedding. These chimes of
bells are exceedingly impressive, so broadly gladsome as they are,
filling the whole air, and every nook of one's heart with sympathy. They
are good for a people to rejoice with, and good also for a marriage,
because through all their joy there is something solemn,--a tone of that
voice which we have heard so often at funerals. It is good to see how
everybody, up to this old age of the world, takes an interest in
weddings, and seems to have a faith that now, at last, a couple have come
together to make each other happy.
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