Arthur Mervyn | Page 3

ordinary occasions,
from such offices, with fastidious scrupulousness, was to be his only or
principal nurse.
My neighbours were fervent in their well-meant zeal, and loud in their
remonstrances on the imprudence and rashness of my conduct. They
called me presumptuous and cruel in exposing my wife and child, as
well as myself, to such imminent hazard, for the sake of one, too, who
most probably was worthless, and whose disease had doubtless been,
by negligence or mistreatment, rendered incurable.
I did not turn a deaf ear to these censurers. I was aware of all the
inconveniences and perils to which I thus spontaneously exposed
myself. No one knew better the value of that woman whom I called
mine, or set a higher price upon her life, her health, and her ease. The
virulence and activity of this contagion, the dangerous condition of my
patient, and the dubiousness of his character, were not forgotten by me;
but still my conduct in this affair received my own entire approbation.
All objections on the score of my friends were removed by her own
willingness and even solicitude to undertake the province. I had more
confidence than others in the vincibility of this disease, and in the
success of those measures which we had used for our defence against it.
But, whatever were the evils to accrue to us, we were sure of one thing:

namely, that the consciousness of having neglected this unfortunate
person would be a source of more unhappiness than could possibly
redound from the attendance and care that he would claim.
The more we saw of him, indeed, the more did we congratulate
ourselves on our proceeding. His torments were acute and tedious; but,
in the midst even of delirium, his heart seemed to overflow with
gratitude, and to be actuated by no wish but to alleviate our toil and our
danger. He made prodigious exertions to perform necessary offices for
himself. He suppressed his feelings and struggled to maintain a
cheerful tone and countenance, that he might prevent that anxiety
which the sight of his sufferings produced in us. He was perpetually
furnishing reasons why his nurse should leave him alone, and betrayed
dissatisfaction whenever she entered his apartment.
In a few days, there were reasons to conclude him out of danger; and,
in a fortnight, nothing but exercise and nourishment were wanting to
complete his restoration. Meanwhile nothing was obtained from him
but general information, that his place of abode was Chester county,
and that some momentous engagement induced him to hazard his safety
by coming to the city in the height of the epidemic.
He was far from being talkative. His silence seemed to be the joint
result of modesty and unpleasing remembrances. His features were
characterized by pathetic seriousness, and his deportment by a gravity
very unusual at his age. According to his own representation, he was no
more than eighteen years old, but the depth of his remarks indicated a
much greater advance. His name was Arthur Mervyn. He described
himself as having passed his life at the plough-tail and the
threshing-floor; as being destitute of all scholastic instruction; and as
being long since bereft of the affectionate regards of parents and
kinsmen.
When questioned as to the course of life which he meant to pursue
upon his recovery, he professed himself without any precise object. He
was willing to be guided by the advice of others, and by the lights
which experience should furnish. The country was open to him, and he
supposed that there was no part of it in which food could not be

purchased by his labour. He was unqualified, by his education, for any
liberal profession. His poverty was likewise an insuperable impediment.
He could afford to spend no time in the acquisition of a trade. He must
labour, not for future emolument, but for immediate subsistence. The
only pursuit which his present circumstances would allow him to adopt
was that which, he was inclined to believe, was likewise the most
eligible. Without doubt his experience was slender, and it seemed
absurd to pronounce concerning that of which he had no direct
knowledge; but so it was, he could not outroot from his mind the
persuasion that to plough, to sow, and to reap, were employments most
befitting a reasonable creature, and from which the truest pleasure and
the least pollution would flow. He contemplated no other scheme than
to return, as soon as his health should permit, into the country, seek
employment where it was to be had, and acquit himself in his
engagements with fidelity and diligence.
I pointed out to him various ways in which the city might furnish
employment to one with his qualifications. He had said that he was
somewhat accustomed to the pen. There were