side, before it has assumed a vague and
mysterious importance. Thus, children leading a secluded life are often
thoughtful and dreamy: the impressions made upon them by the world
without--the unusual sights of earth and sky--the accidental meetings
with strange faces and figures (rare occurrences in those out-of-the-way
places)--are sometimes magnified by them into things so deeply
significant as to be almost supernatural. This peculiarity I perceive
very strongly in Charlotte's writings at this time. Indeed, under the
circumstances, it is no peculiarity. It has been common to all, from the
Chaldean shepherds--"the lonely herdsman stretched on the soft grass
through half a summer's day"--the solitary monk--to all whose impressions
from without have had time to grow and vivify in the imagination, till
they have been received as actual personifications, or supernatural
visions, to doubt which would be blasphemy.

To counterbalance this tendency in Charlotte, was the strong common sense
natural to her, and daily called into exercise by the requirements of her
practical life. Her duties were not merely to learn her lessons, to read
a certain quantity, to gain certain ideas; she had, besides, to brush
rooms, to run errands up and down stairs, to help in the simpler forms of
cooking, to be by turns play-fellow and monitress to her younger sisters
and brother, to make and to mend, and to study economy under her careful
aunt. Thus we see that, while her imagination received vivid
impressions, her excellent understanding had full power to rectify them
before her fancies became realities. On a scrap of paper, she has
written down the following relation:--

"June 22, 1830, 6 o'clock p.m.
"Haworth, near Bradford.

"The following strange occurrence happened on the 22nd of June,
1830:--At the time Papa was very ill, confined to his bed, and so weak
that he could not rise without assistance. Tabby and I were alone in
the kitchen, about half-past nine ante-meridian. Suddenly we heard a
knock at the door; Tabby rose and opened it. An old man appeared,
standing without, who accosted her thus:--

"_Old Man_.--'Does the parson live here?'

"_Tabby_.--'Yes.'

"_Old Man_.--'I wish to see him.'

"_Tabby_.--'He is poorly in bed.'

"_Old Man_.--'I have a message for him.'

"_Tabby_.--'Who from?'

"_Old Man_.--'From the Lord.'

"_Tabby_.--'Who?'

"_Old Man_.--'The Lord.