Your fear magnified it; when we are terrified, we seldom see things as they really are. The lights, which were the cat’s eyes, so dazzled yours, you imagined them to be balls of fire.
We then went to bed and slept very sound till the morning.
We related the whole affair when we were at breakfast, and after Sir Charles had commended his son, he added, This may teach you all not to be terrified, but to enquire into things; and believe me, many causes, which at first appeared very alarming, will vanish, or only resemble the white cat. While God, the great Spirit, takes care of us, can phantoms harm us? He will support all those who trust in him—fear him—and you may banish every other fear. You may be certain, all the stories you have heard, took their rise from terror; a timid disturbed imagination created the spectre, or swelled some slight reality into one: none had the courage to search for the truth, or it eluded the search.
I shall never forget this incident, dear mother; I recollect what Charles said, a spirit cannot make a noise. The stories I have been told in Holland, I now think foolish; the tall woman, who walked in the grove at night, and the white monster, almost as high as the steeple, and many others of the same kind, I am sure would be found, on enquiry, to resemble the tale of the white cat, which Edward would have told, if Charles had not dragged the supposed spirit from its hiding place.
WILLIAM.
LETTER XXXVII.
William to his Mother.
Yesterday, after we had finished our exercises, Charles asked me to take a walk in the garden, and, seeing Dr. Bartlett, we hastened to join him; for indeed we both like to hear him talk, and try to profit by his instructions, which are delivered in such a familiar manner, I forget that I am but a boy when he calls me his friend. We found him with a book in his hand.
CHARLES.
You are reading, Sir, we will not disturb you.
DR. BARTLETT.