The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1873-04-30
Sunshine.

Don't be afraid Of it, my sister-it won't
hurt you. 1t may make your face little
less pale than that of the lily, and your skin
little less polished than the hand OF Pow
ers' Greek Slave, but don't let that put you
out; or, more properly, don't let that keep
you in.
Did you never see plant growing in a
cellar, and note how tender, and pale, and
sickly-lOOking it was Well, the same hand
that made that plant made you, and He
made each of you subject to almost the same
identical laws. The plant by growing in
the shade is imperfect and unhealthy; and
you, if you grow in-house all the time, and
shun the sunlight, will be III exactly the
same condition. If you look far, as it is
called, it viii be simply to look siekly.
White is no more your natural color than
it is the natural color Of the plant The
same pencil that touches the leaf with a
beautiful green, has delicate rose tint for
your cheek; and you must know whose band
that pencil is in, and whose viii Yen are
crossing when you hide away from its reach,
And you must further know that for every
transgression of this character there is
terrible penalty, and that your fairness Is
simply the conviet's stamp upon you. 1t
tells that you have been sentenced for svio-
latiOn of law, and that you are already
working out your penalty.
My daughter, don't be afraid of the sun
shine, for it is one of your best friends
Never mind what some brainless fop may
have to say about your being little brown
he is nobody. His opinion is worth not
cent to you-the less you can have of him
the better you are off. He has not even an
opinion of his Own-his shallow thoughts
are borrowed from the conceptions Of some
poetical OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES, whose silly
rhyme has charmed him with its account of
an impossible heroine, who had a marble
brow and an alabaster neck, and brace of
ily-white hands Fudge A lifetime of
shadow won't make any of you marble, or
alabaster, or lily. If it should make you as
cOlorless as these, you would then be a mere
imitation, bogus in the drawing-room, a
swindle upon the face of the earth. Yes,
the last is the word. The man who took
you to wife under the opinion that you were
marble, or alabaster, or lily, would be swim
died in the bargain, aud he would find him
self swindled worse still when the truth
came out that what he had taken to be
beautiful and vigorous plant was mere eel
lar-sprout in the last stage of decline
thing which, to keep life in it, really cost
more than it was worth.
Don't dread little tanning in the sun
shine. If made slightly dark from exposure,
You viii be eminently more beautiful than
you could possibly be under any other cir
eumstanee. There viii be a rose On your
cheek that has the genuine ring about it
a rose of more value than any counterfeit
that ever yet had an existence in paint pow
ders or poetry.
And, my sister, you who have daughters
growing up, don't yoW be afraid of the sun
shine. Let it come freely into your house
1t will bring with it neither malaria, con-
tagion nor death. On the other hand it will
bring only cheerfulness on its laughing pin
iOns-yOu can't be sad in a beautiful room
all ablaze with sunlight. True, it may kick
a tint out of your unstably-colored carpet,
now and then, but let them go--they are as
nothing compared to the blessings which sun
light alone can bring to the household
Take away your dark curtains and pass the
inyigOratOr in. Move the vines off the win
dOW-a window is made for the admission of
light and not to fill the Office of a trellis for
vines. If you must have carpet with gay
cOlors, buy one that will stand the test
there are plenty such. If they cost little
extra don't mind ia siekly daughter will
eventualy-eOst you, or somebody else, more
than the extras on dozen fadeless carpets
would amount to.