My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org

i6MY LIFEtwo to the woods beyond, to my greatdelight a firewas made, and we also feasted on potatoes with salt,as Sandford and Merton had done. Of course wedid not complete the imitation of the story by sleepingin the wood, which would have been too bold anddangerous an undertaking for our sisters to join in,even if my brother and I had wished to do so.I may here mention a psychological peculiarity,no doubt common to many children of the same age,that, during the whole period of my residence at Usk,I have no clear recollection, and can form no distinctmental image, of either my father or mother, brothersor sisters. I simply recollect that they existed, butmy recollection is only a blurred image, and does notextend to any peculiarities of feature, form, or evenof dress or habits. It is only at a considerably laterperiod that I begin to recollect them as distinct andwell-marked individuals whose form and featurescould not be mistaken—as, in fact, being my fatherand mother, my brothers and sisters ; and the houseand surroundings in which I can thus first recollect,and in some degree visualize them, enable me to saythat I must have been then at least eight years old.What makes this deficiency the more curious isthat, during the very same period at which Icannotrecall the personal appearance of the individuals withwhom my life was most closely associated, I can recallall the main features and many of the details of myoutdoor, and, to a less degree, of my indoor, surroundings.The form and colour of the house, theroad, the river close below it, the bridge with thecottage near its foot, the narrow fields between usand the bridge, the steep wooded bank at the back,the stone quarry and the very shape and position ofthe flat slabs on which we stood fishing, the cottages