If at any time that morning they had had the courage to speak together on the thought which was engrossing all their minds, it is possible that some means might have been found to avert the calamity that was coming towards them with swift feet.

But among the uneducated--the partially educated--nay, even the weakly educated--the feeling exists which prompted the futile experiment of the well-known ostrich.

They imagine that, by closing their own eyes to apprehended evil, they avert it.

The expression of fear is supposed to accelerate the coming of its cause.

Yet, on the other hand, they shrink from acknowledging the long continuance of any blessing, in the idea that when unusual happiness is spoken about, it disappears.
So, although perpetual complaints of past or present grievances and sorrows are most common among this class, they shrink from embodying apprehensions for the future in words, as if it then took shape and drew near.
They all four sate down to dinner, but not one of them was inclined to eat.