You are too mild
of nature, sir, to understand what father is."
"It is indeed horrible, too horrible to think of"--the voice of this
kind gentleman betrayed that he was shuddering. "If a Frenchman did such
a thing, he would be torn to pieces. But no French father would ever
dream of such atrocity. He would rather flog himself within an inch of
his own life."
"Are they so much better, then, and kinder, than us Englishmen?" In
spite of all his pain and grief, Dan could not help smiling at the
thought of his father ropesending himself. "So superior to us, sir, in
every way?"
"In almost every way, I am sorry to confess. I fear, indeed, in
every way, except bodily strength, and obstinate, ignorant endurance,
miscalled 'courage,' and those rough qualities--whatever they may
be--which seem needful for the making of a seaman. But in good manners,
justice, the sense of what is due from one man to another, in dignity,
equality, temperance, benevolence, largeness of feeling, and quickness
of mind, and above all in love of freedom, they are very, very sadly far
beyond us. And indeed I have been led to think from some of your finer
perceptions, Dan, that you must have a share of French blood in your
veins."
"Me, sir!" cried Dan, jumping back, in a style which showed the distance
between faith and argument; "no, sir, thank God there was never none
of that; but all English, with some of the Romans, who was pretty near
equal to us, from what I hear.
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