Explore "Self-Congratulation. Acton Bell" by Charlotte Brontë on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Ellen, you were thoughtless once / Of beauty or of grace, / Simple and homely in attire, / Careless of form and face; / Then whence this change? and wherefore now / So often smoothe your hair? / And wherefore deck your youthful form / With such unwearied care?
Tell us, and cease to tire our ears / With that familiar strain; / Why will you play those simple tunes / So often o'er again? / "Indeed, dear friends, I can but say / That childhood's thoughts are gone; / Each year its own new feelings brings, / And years move swiftly on: