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King Edward’s book of Common Prayer teacheth, that kneeling at the communion is enjoined for this purpose, that the sacrament might not be profaned, but held in a reverent and holy estimation.
Their voices and footsteps, it is true, would be heard around him; he would feel his mother’s embrace, and the kind pressure of all their hands; but still it would seem as if they were a thousand miles away. And then his studies! They were to be entirely given up. This was another grievous trial; for Edward’s memory hardly went back to the period when he had not known how to read.
Arthur Pym and Dirk Peters were well treated on board the English schooner Jane. In a fortnight, having recovered from the effects of their sufferings, they remembered them no more. With alternations of fine and bad weather the Jane sighted Prince Edward’s Island on the 13th of October, then the Crozet Islands, and afterwards the Kerguelens, which I had left eleven days ago.
She put her knitting-work into his hands. "You must learn how to knit," said she. "What! without using my eyes?" cried Edward. "I can knit with my eyes shut," replied Emily. Then, with her own little hands, she guided Edward’s fingers, while he set about this new occupation. So awkward were his first attempts, that any other little girl would have laughed heartily.
Thus it appears that all the external beauty of the universe is a free gift from God, over and above what is necessary to our comfort. How grateful, then, should we be to that Divine Benevolence, which showers even superfluous bounties upon us! One truth, therefore, which Edward’s blindness had taught him, was, that his mind and soul could dispense with the assistance of his eyes.
So brother George, and this loving little girl, were to be Edward’s companions and playmates, while he should be kept prisoner in the dark chamber. When the first bitterness of his grief was over, he began to feel that there might be some comforts and enjoyments in life, even for a boy whose eyes were covered with a bandage.
"And so will I, Ned," said George, his elder brother,—"school time and all, if my father will permit me." Edward’s brother George was three or four years older than himself, a fine, hardy lad, of a bold and ardent temper. He was the leader of his comrades in all their enterprises and amusements. As to his proficiency at study, there was not much to be said.
When a man’s eyes have grown old with gazing at the ways of the world, it does not seem such a terrible misfortune to have them bandaged. Little Emily Robinson sat by Edward’s side, with the air of an accomplished nurse.
During the following year, Captain Borrow returned to Norfolk, and settled down with his family in a small house which is still standing in Willow Lane, Norwich. George was at once entered as a pupil at King Edward’s Grammar School, then conducted by Dr. Valpy, and remained a scholar there till 1818, when he attained his fifteenth year.
He did not revisit Edward’s chamber till the evening, when he stole in, looking confused, yet somewhat sullen, and sat down beside his father’s chair. It was evident, by a motion of Edward’s head and a slight trembling of his lips, that he was aware of George’s entrance, though his footsteps had been almost inaudible.
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