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MEMOIRS OF BACHEL. 15

to say that she was a sensible, kind-hearted, and intelligent
woman, who, though idolizing her children, never permitted
the slightest disregard of her maternal authority. .And one
of the peculiar characteristics of this family—a characteristic
especially rare in the present age of progress, when children
are wiser than their fathers, and consign respect to age among
the rubbish of a by-gone time—is the unbounded reverence
with which, whatever the success that has attended their ca-
reer, the younger members appear to have always regarded its
heads. There is something very beautiful, and of a Biblical
character, in the intercourse between the parents and the chil-
dren, which reminds one of scenes in the lives of the patriarchs.

But with these higher and finer traits—these bright dashes
on the canvas of this Israelite tableau — are intermingled
meaner and baser ones, the foul blotches inseparable from the
race, and conspicuous wherever there is a drop of the blood—
sordid littleness, petty vanity, and inordinate love of show.
Though at heart a good woman, Madame Felix has been ac-
cused of carrying to a greater length than even her husband
the parvenu characteristics, and to have been too apt in mat-
ters . of business to bring to her aid all the sharp, grasping,
covetous-nature of him who so artfully acquired his brother's
birthright. In this particular, however else they may differ,
the whole family have shown but too close a similarity.

But while the littleness and foibles of the Felix family are,
as we have already said, distinctive attributes of their race, it
must be owned that their great and good qualities are no less
its appanage. Fortitude in adversity, perseverance in the pur-
suit of an object, religious reverence for family ties, and the
espri^ de corps that has sustained that race and .maintained its
existence through long centuries and amid antagonistic na-
tions, have endowed this scattered remnant of a once mighty
people with the strength which they lack numerically, and
enabled them to maintain their long-disputed footing amid the
peoples of Europe. These qualities are found unalloyed in
the Felix family.

The marriage between the parents of Rachel was one of
mutual affection; but the course of true love did not ran
smoother in their case than it does in the generality of in-,



	MEMOIRS OF BACHEL. 15 to say that she was a sensible, kind-hearted, and intelligent woman, who, though idolizing her children, never permitted the slightest disregard of her maternal authority. .And one of the peculiar characteristics of this family—a characteristic especially rare in the present age of progress, when children are wiser than their fathers, and consign respect to age among the rubbish of a by-gone time—is the unbounded reverence with which, whatever the success that has attended their ca- reer, the younger members appear to have always regarded its heads. There is something very beautiful, and of a Biblical character, in the intercourse between the parents and the chil- dren, which reminds one of scenes in the lives of the patriarchs. But with these higher and finer traits—these bright dashes on the canvas of this Israelite tableau — are intermingled meaner and baser ones, the foul blotches inseparable from the race, and conspicuous wherever there is a drop of the blood— sordid littleness, petty vanity, and inordinate love of show. Though at heart a good woman, Madame Felix has been ac- cused of carrying to a greater length than even her husband the parvenu characteristics, and to have been too apt in mat- ters . of business to bring to her aid all the sharp, grasping, covetous-nature of him who so artfully acquired his brother's birthright. In this particular, however else they may differ, the whole family have shown but too close a similarity. But while the littleness and foibles of the Felix family are, as we have already said, distinctive attributes of their race, it must be owned that their great and good qualities are no less its appanage. Fortitude in adversity, perseverance in the pur- suit of an object, religious reverence for family ties, and the espri^ de corps that has sustained that race and .maintained its existence through long centuries and amid antagonistic na- tions, have endowed this scattered remnant of a once mighty people with the strength which they lack numerically, and enabled them to maintain their long-disputed footing amid the peoples of Europe. These qualities are found unalloyed in the Felix family. The marriage between the parents of Rachel was one of mutual affection; but the course of true love did not ran smoother in their case than it does in the generality of in-,