I wish you
would come oftener to see us, hereafter. Young men, in the want of
companionship, often form disadvantageous acquaintances, which they
can't shake off afterwards, when they might wish to do so. I don't
mean evil acquaintance; I certainly couldn't mean that in your case;
but frivolous ones, from which nothing high or noble can come--
nothing of improvement or development."
Lemuel started at the word and blushed. It was Berry's word. Sewell
put his own construction on the start and the blush.
"Especially," he went on, "I should wish any young man whom I was
interested in to know refined and noble woman." He felt that this
was perhaps in Lemuel's case too much like prescribing port wine and
carriage exercise to an indigent patient, and he added, "If you
cannot know such women, it is better to know none at all. It is not
what women say or do, so much as the art they have of inspiring a
man to make the best of himself. The accidental acquaintances that
young people are so apt to form are in most cases very detrimental.
There is no harm in them of themselves, perhaps, but all
irregularity in the life of the young is to be deplored."
"Do you mean," asked Lemuel, with that concreteness which had
alarmed Sewell before, "that they ought to be regularly introduced?"
"I mean that a young girl who allowed a young man to make her
acquaintance outside of the--the--social sanctions--would be apt to
be a silly or romantic person, at the best.
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