Arnold as a man of 'unhasting, unresting diligence'.
Mrs. Arnold, too, no doubt agreed with Carlyle. During the first
eight years of their married life, she bore him six children; and
four more were to follow. In this large and growing domestic
circle his hours of relaxation were spent. There those who had
only known him in his professional capacity were surprised to
find him displaying the tenderness and jocosity of a parent. The
dignified and stern headmaster was actually seen to dandle
infants and to caracole upon the hearthrug on all fours. Yet, we
are told, 'the sense of his authority as a father was never lost
in his playfulness as a companion'. On more serious occasions,
the voice of the spiritual teacher sometimes made itself heard.
An intimate friend described how 'on a comparison having been
made in his family circle, which seemed to place St. Paul above
St. John,' the tears rushed to the Doctor's eyes and how,
repeating one of the verses from St. John, he begged that the
comparison might never again be made. The longer holidays were
spent in Westmorland, where, rambling with his offspring among
the mountains, gathering wild flowers, and pointing out the
beauties of Nature, Dr. Arnold enjoyed, as he himself would often
say, 'an almost awful happiness'. Music he did not appreciate,
though he occasionally desired his eldest boy, Matthew, to sing
him the Confirmation Hymn of Dr.
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