I shook my head: I could not see how poor people had the means of being kind; and then to learn to speak like them, to adopt their manners, to be uneducated, to grow up like one of the poor women I saw sometimes nursing their children or washing their clothes at the cottage doors of the village of Gateshead: no, I was not heroic enough to purchase liberty at the price of caste.
Scrollai la testa; non potevo capire come avrebbe potuto esser buona quella gente se era povera; e poi imparare a parlar come i poveri, acquistare le loro maniere, non avere educazione, crescere come quelle misere donne, che vedevo allattare i bimbi e lavare il bucato sulla porta delle casupole del villaggio; no, non ero abbastanza eroica per acquistare la libertà col suo corteo di miserie.