In his general state Ilbrahim would derive enjoyment from the most trifling events and from every object about him ; he seemed to discover rich treasures of happiness by a faculty analogous to that of the witch-hazel , which points to hidden gold where all is barren to the eye . His airy gayety , coming to him from a thousand sources , communicated itself to the family , and Ilbrahim was like a domesticated sunbeam , brightening moody countenances and chasing away the gloom from the dark corners of the cottage . On the other hand , as the susceptibility of pleasure is also that of pain , the exuberant cheerfulness of the boy 's prevailing temper sometimes yielded to moments of deep depression . His sorrows could not always be followed up to their original source , but most frequently they appeared to flow -- though Ilbrahim was young to be sad for such a cause -- from wounded love . The flightiness of his mirth rendered him often guilty of offences against the decorum of a Puritan household , and on these occasions he did not invariably escape rebuke . But the slightest word of real bitterness , which he was infallible in distinguishing from pretended anger , seemed to sink into his heart and poison all his enjoyments till he became sensible that he was entirely forgiven . Of the malice which generally accompanies a superfluity of sensitiveness Ilbrahim was altogether destitute . When trodden upon , he would not turn ; when wounded , he could but die . His mind was wanting in the stamina of self-support . It was a plant that would twine beautifully round something stronger than itself ; but if repulsed or torn away , it had no choice but to wither on the ground . Dorothy 's acuteness taught her that severity would crush the spirit of the child , and she nurtured him with the gentle care of one who handles a butterfly . Her husband manifested an equal affection , although it grew daily less productive of familiar caresses . The feelings of the neighboring people in regard to the Quaker infant and his protectors had not undergone a favorable change , in spite of the momentary triumph which the desolate mother had obtained over their sympathies . The scorn and bitterness of which he was the object were very grievous to Ilbrahim , especially when any circumstance made him sensible that the children his equals in age partook of the enmity of their parents . His tender and social nature had already overflowed in attachments to everything about him , and still there was a residue of unappropriated love which he yearned to bestow upon the little ones who were taught to hate him . As the warm days of spring came on Ilbrahim was accustomed to remain for hours silent and inactive within hearing of the children 's voices at their play , yet with his usual delicacy of feeling he avoided their notice , and would flee and hide himself from the smallest individual among them . Chance , however , at length seemed to open a medium of communication between his heart and theirs ; it was by means of a boy about two years older than Ilbrahim , who was injured by a fall from a tree in the vicinity of Pearson 's habitation . As the sufferer 's own home was at some distance , Dorothy willingly received him under her roof and became his tender and careful nurse . Ilbrahim was the unconscious possessor of much skill in physiognomy , and it would have deterred him in other circumstances from attempting to make a friend of this boy . The countenance of the latter immediately impressed a beholder disagreeably , but it required some examination to discover that the cause was a very slight distortion of the mouth and the irregular , broken line and near approach of the eyebrows .
Analogous , perhaps , to these trifling deformities was an almost imperceptible twist of every joint and the uneven prominence of the breast , forming a body regular in its general outline , but faulty XXXXX almost all its details .
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