Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

29. Better trust all and be deceived,

And weep that trust and that deceiving,
Than doubt one heart that, if believed,
Had blessed one's life with true believing.

O, in this mocking world too fast
The doubting fiend o'ertakes our youth;
Better be cheated to the last

Than lose the blessed hope of truth.

FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE.

30. If I were a boy again [it applies to girls as well], I would look on the cheerful side of everything, for everything, almost, has a cheerful side. Life is very much like a mirror; if you smile upon it, it smiles back again on you; but if you frown and look doubtful upon it, you will be sure to get a similar look in return. I once heard it said of a grumbling, unthankful person, "He would have made an uncommonly fine sour apple, if he had happened to be born in that station of life!" Inner sunshine warms not only the heart of the owner, but all who come in contact with it. Indifference begets indifference. "Who shuts love out, in turn shall be shut out from love."

JAMES T. FIELDS,

1. I see no objection, however, to light reading, desultory reading, the reading of newspapers, or the reading of fiction, if you take enough ballast with it, so that these light kites, as the sailors call them, may not carry your ship over in some sudden gale. The principle of sound habits of reading, if reduced to a precise rule, comes out thus: That for each hour of light reading, of what we read for amusement, we ought to take another hour of reading for instruction. Nor have I any objection to stating the same rule backward; for that is a poor rule which will not work both ways. It is, I think, true, that for every hour we give to grave reading, it is well to give a corresponding hour to what is light and amusing.

EDWARD EVERETT HALE.

2. Perhaps the first element of "Sister Dora's" character which made itself felt was her great hopefulness. This glowed in her, as was said of a great historic character, "like a pillar of fire;" it did so in the first and darkest hour, and it did so every hour until the end. This light and warmth never paled. It was so healthy, too; not as of hope against hope, but the hope of a sound, pure nature doing the work of God. Should we be tempted some day to despond of humanity, we will think of her; should we be shaken some dark hour concerning the possibilities of Christianity, her image will reassure us; should we be told, amid scenes of perplexity, that "religion is a disease," then we can point to her, as to one who possessed, at all times, a fullness of joyous life beyond all we had ever known. ANON.

3. With Miss St. John, music was the highest form of human expression, as must often be the case with those whose feeling is much in advance of their thought, and to whom, therefore, what may be called mental sensation is the highest known condition. . One who can only

play the music of others, however exquisitely, is not a musician, any more than one who can read verse to the satisfaction, or even expound it to the enlightenment of the poet himself, is therefore a poet. When Miss St. John would worship God, it was in music that she found the chariot of fire in which to ascend heavenward.

4.

GEORGE MACDONALD.

I look to Thee in every need,

And never look in vain;

I feel Thy touch, Eternal Love,
And all is well again :

The thought of Thee is mightier far
Than sin and pain and sorrow are.

Discouraged in the work of life
Disheartened by its load,
Shamed by its failures or its fears,

I sink beside the road;

But let me only think of Thee,

And then new heart springs up in me.

Embosomed deep in Thy dear love,
Held in Thy law, I stand;
Thy hand in all things I behold,

And all things in Thy hand;}
Thou leadest me by unsought ways,
And turnest my mourning into praise.

SAMUEL LONGFELLOW.

5. There are so many things a girl can do, even when society claims her, more than ever, I should say ! Make work, if you cannot get it, girls. Encourage poor girls by joining the industrial unions instituted in their behalf. Go into the hospitals, old ladies' homes, charity bureaus, flower missions. Join a Chautauqua club, or one of the societies for the encouragement of studies at home. Attend the numerous lectures, exhibits, etc., which are provided free of expense in all large cities. A. H. R.

6. If the October days were a cordial like the sub-acids of fruit, these are a tonic like the wine of iron. Drink deep or be careful how you taste this December vintage. The first sip may chill, but a full draught warms and invigorates. No loitering by the brooks or in the woods now, but spirited, rugged walking along the public highway. The sunbeams are welcome now. They seem like pure electricity like friendly and recuperating lightning. Are we led to think electricity abounds only in summer, when we see in the storm-clouds as it were, the veins and ore-beds of it? I imagine it is equally abundant in winter, and more equable and better tempered. Who ever breasted a snow storm without being excited and exhilarated? It is like being pelted with sparks from a battery. Behold the frost-work on the pane - the wild fantastic limnings and etchings, can there be any doubt but this subtle agent has been here? Where is it not? It is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fire of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam. The crisp winter air is full of it.

[ocr errors]

JOHN BURROUGHS.

7.

[ocr errors]

As I looked, a film of shade kept appearing and disappearing with rhythmic regularity in a corner of the window, as if some one might be sitting in a low rocking-chair close by. Presently the motion ceased, and suddenly across the curtain came the shadow of a woman. She raised in her arms the shadow of a baby, and kissed it; then both disappeared, and I walked on.

The ecstasy of human love passed in brief, intangible panorama before me. It was something seen, yet unseen airy, yet solid; a type, yet a reality; fugitive, yet destined to last in my memory while I live. Their character, their history, their fate, are all unknown. But these two will always stand for me as disembodied types of humanity, the Mother and the Child.

swan.

[ocr errors]

.

66

T. W. HIGGINSON.

[ocr errors]

8. The following evening Rosamond heard "Lohengrin" for the first time, and saw the mystic knight of the Why," thought Aunt Serena, can we not have the help of beautiful music and the influence of master-minds brought within the reach of moderate means, and at so early an hour that neither the aged and the delicate, nor the very young, need hesitate to enjoy them?" She preferred, indeed, that Rosamond should study life, presented to her gaze in this way, at the sensible hour of seven or even half-past six, than that she should make too many personal investigations and experiments in a crowded ball-room. So the congenial party enjoyed most charming evenings in the pleasant little theatre, where people came early in walking-dress, and went home temperately at half-past nine. BLANCHE WILLIS HOWARD.

« AnteriorContinuar »