Page:Letters of Life.djvu/175

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ARISTOCRACY OF THE OLDEN TIME.
163

tington, of Norwich, a son of the late elegant Brigadier-General.

It was pleasant to mark the heightened action of kindred blood, as the closing hours of the festivity drew near. Those who had at first scrutinized each other with a strange kind of curiosity, now felt the impulses of affinity, clasped the parting hand with fervor, and regretted that a longer period had not been allotted to their reunion.

For my own part, I wish that such family gatherings were more frequent. If not always able fully to foster ancestral pride, they would still be fruitful in healthful sympathies, perhaps suggestive of mutual action in the blessed fields of patriotism and benevolence.