“He should have more than a father’s affection.  He should be loved as his mother would have loved him.  My remorse might change to happiness if I could only make him feel that his mother’s arms were still about him.  I clung to him with all the force of human love and the hope of heaven, with all the tenderness in my heart that God has given to mothers.  The sound of the child’s voice made me tremble.  I used to watch him while he slept with a sense of gladness that was always new, albeit a tear sometimes fell on his forehead; I taught him to come to say his prayer upon my bed as soon as he awoke.  How sweet and touching were the simple words of the Pater noster in the innocent childish mouth!  Ah! and at times how terrible! ’Our Father which art in heaven,’ he began one morning; then he paused—­’Why is it not our mother?’ he asked, and my heart sank at his words.

“From the very first I had sown the seeds of future misfortune in the life of the son whom I idolized.  Although the law has almost countenanced errors of youth by conceding to tardy regret a legal status to natural children, the insurmountable prejudices of society bring a strong force to the support of the reluctance of the law.  All serious reflection on my part as to the foundations and mechanism of society, on the duties of man, and vital questions of morality date from this period of my life.  Genius comprehends at first sight the connection between a man’s principles and the fate of the society of which he forms a part; devout souls are inspired by religion with the sentiments necessary for their happiness; but vehement and impulsive natures can only be schooled by repentance.  With repentance came new light for me; and I, who only lived for my child, came through that child to think over great social questions.

“I determined from the first that he should have all possible means of success within himself, and that he should be thoroughly prepared to take the high position for which I destined him.  He learned English, German, Italian, and Spanish in succession; and, that he might speak these languages correctly, tutors belonging to each of these various nationalities were successively placed about him from his earliest childhood.  His aptitude delighted me.  I took advantage of it to give him lessons in the guise of play.  I wished to keep his mind free from fallacies, and strove before all things to accustom him from childhood to exert his intellectual powers, to make a rapid and accurate general survey of a matter, and then, by a careful study of every least particular, to master his subject in detail.  Lastly, I taught him to submit to discipline without murmuring.  I never allowed an impure or improper word to be spoken in his hearing.  I was careful that all his surroundings, and the men with whom he came in contact, should conduce to one end—­to ennoble his nature, to set lofty ideals before him, to give him a love of truth and a horror of lies, to make him simple and natural