The Tennant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte

Chapter 1
A Discovery

"You must go back with me to the autumn of 1827.

My father as you know, was sort of a gentleman farmer in -shire;

and I, by his express desire, succeeded him in the same quiet

occupation, not very willingly, for ambition urged me to higher

aims, and self-conceit assured me that, in disregarding its voice,

I was burying my talent in the earth, and hiding my light under

a bushel. My mother had done her utmost to persuade me

that I was capable of great achievements; but my father, who

thought ambition was the surest road to ruin, and change but

another word for destruction, would listen to no scheme for

bettering either my own condition, or that of my fellow

mortals. He assured me it was all rubbish, and exhorted me,

with his dying breath, to continue in the good old way, to

follow his steps, and those of his father before him, and let

my highest ambition be to walk honestly in the world, looking

neither to the right hand nor to the left, and to transmit the

paternal acres to my children in, at least, as flourishing a

condition as he left them to me."