Colons/Semi-colons

I have always been a bit anti the semi-colon. I do not like its asymmetry, and somehow it has always seemed to me that we need not make these fine distinctions in sentence breaks. Does it really matter whether the break is a colon, or even a dash? And sometimes a comma would be quite sufficient. I recently posted a quote from an amusing article on punctuation, which--inter alia--made the point that often a separate sentence would be preferable. I am quoting below a paragraph from Jane Eyre as it appears in the novel. I then split it up into separate sentences, so as to pose the question--does it make any difference?

“The play-hour in the evening I thought the pleasantest fraction of the day at Lowood: the bit of bread, the draught of coffee swallowed at five o’clock had revived vitality, if it had not satisfied hunger: the long restraint of the day was slackened; the schoolroom felt warmer than in the morning—its fires being allowed to burn a little more brightly, to supply, in some measure, the place of candles, not yet introduced: the ruddy gloaming, the licensed uproar, the confusion of many voices gave one a welcome sense of liberty.”

“The play-hour in the evening I thought the pleasantest fraction of the day at Lowood. The bit of bread, the draught of coffee swallowed at five o’clock had revived vitality, if it had not satisfied hunger. The long restraint of the day was slackened. The schoolroom felt warmer than in the morning—its fires being allowed to burn a little more brightly, to supply, in some measure, the place of candles, not yet introduced.  The ruddy gloaming, the licensed uproar, the confusion of many voices gave one a welcome sense of liberty.”

I think you can justify Charlotte B's colons--it is a sort of list, and each section does describe an aspect of "The play hour" of the first 
sentence. But does it really make a difference?