Indeed, under the circumstances, it is no peculiarity. It has been common to all, from the Chaldean shepherds--"the lonely herdsman stretched on the soft grass through half a summer's day"--the solitary monk--to all whose impressions from without have had time to grow and vivify in the imagination, till they have been received as actual personifications, or supernatural visions, to doubt which would be blasphemy.
To counterbalance this tendency in Charlotte, was the strong common sense natural to her, and daily called into exercise by the requirements of her practical life. Her duties were not merely to learn her lessons, to read a certain quantity, to gain certain ideas; she had, besides, to brush rooms, to run errands up and down stairs, to help in the simpler forms of cooking, to be by turns play-fellow and monitress to her younger sisters and brother, to make and to mend, and to study economy under her careful aunt. Thus we see that, while her imagination received vivid impressions, her excellent understanding had full power to rectify them before her fancies became realities. On a scrap of paper, she has written down the following relation:-"June 22, 1830, 6 o'clock p.m.
"Haworth, near Bradford.
"The following strange occurrence happened on the 22nd of June, 1830:- At the time Papa was very ill, confined to his bed, and so weak that he could not rise without assistance. Tabby and I were alone in the kitchen, about half-past nine ante-meridian.
Suddenly we heard a knock at the door; Tabby rose and opened it.
An old man appeared, standing without, who accosted her thus:-"OLD MAN.--'Does the parson live here?'
"TABBY.--'Yes.'
"OLD MAN.--'I wish to see him.'
"TABBY.--'He is poorly in bed.'
"OLD MAN.--'I have a message for him.'
"TABBY.--'Who from?'
"OLD MAN.--'From the Lord.'
"TABBY.--'Who?'
"OLD MAN.--'The Lord. He desires me to say that the Bridegroom is coming, and that we must prepare to meet him; that the cords are about to be loosed, and the golden bowl broken; the pitcher broken at the fountain.'