"She was a
beautiful woman," said the bereaved mother, "but--chow. She had great
talents--chow. I had her educated by the nuns of Bellinzona--chow. Her
knowledge of geography was consummate--chow, chow," &c. Here "chow"
means "pazienza," "I have done and said all that I can, and must now bear
it as best I may."
I tried to comfort her, but could do nothing, till at last it occurred to
me to say "chow" too. I did so, and was astonished at the soothing
effect it had upon her. How subtle are the laws that govern consolation!
I suppose they must ultimately be connected with reproduction--the
consoling idea being a kind of small cross which _re-generates_ or _re-
creates_ the sufferer. It is important, therefore, that the new ideas
with which the old are to be crossed should differ from these last
sufficiently to divert the attention, and yet not so much as to cause a
painful shock.
There should be a little shock, or there will be no variation in the new
ideas that are generated, but they will resemble those that preceded
them, and grief will be continued; there must not be too great a shock or
there will be no illusion--no confusion and fusion between the new set of
ideas and the old, and in consequence there will be no result at all, or,
if any, an increase in mental discord. We know very little, however,
upon this subject, and are continually shown to be at fault by finding an
unexpectedly small cross produce a wide diversion of the mental images,
while in other cases a wide one will produce hardly any result.
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