Ebook My Mother's Journal

But the society of an indifferent crowd soon palls upon an affectionate nature; and this girl of twenty, taken away from the companionship of her beloved elder sister and all the duties and pleasures of home, found many occasions to regret all she had left behind. There was much, too, to shock her prejudices in the manners and customs of society in Macao; and it took her some time to acquire that sweet tolerance and charity for which she was in later life so noted. It is interesting to a student of human nature to watch the development of her mind and character amid the pleasures and the trials of her residence in China; and it is to be regretted that so many of the more intimate details of that life were re served for home letters (mostly lost) instead of being recorded in this Journal, kept for the benefit of her elder sister. As there must necessarily be much repetition in a journal covering so long a Space of time, a great deal hasbeen cut out; but, with the exception of a few slips of the pen, nothing has been corrected or altered.