There was a large bookcase, with a glass front,
containing handsomely bound books, many of which, I observed, were of a
religious character. In a few minutes the Governor came in, a
middle-aged man, tall, and thin for an Englishman, kindly and agreeable
enough in aspect, but not with the marked look of a man of force and
ability. I should not judge from his conversation that he was an
educated man, or that he had any scientific acquaintance with the subject
of insanity.
He said that Mr. ------ was still quite incommunicative, and not in a
very promising state; that I had perhaps better defer seeing him for a
few days; that it would not be safe, at present, to send him home to
America without an attendant, and this was about all. But on returning
home I learned from my wife, who had had a call from Mrs. Blodgett, that
Mrs. Blodgett knew Mr. ------ and his mother, who has recently been
remarried to a young husband, and is now somewhere in Italy. They seemed
to have boarded at Mrs. Blodgett's house on their way to the Continent,
and within a week or two, an acquaintance and pastor of Mr. ------, the
Rev. Dr. ------, has sailed for America. If I could only have caught
him, I could have transferred the care, expense, and responsibility of
the patient to him. The Governor of the Asylum mentioned, by the way,
that Mr. ------ describes himself as having been formerly a midshipman in
the navy.
I walked through the St.
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