Year: 1873

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And so it seems to gross, material eyes


That see no beauty in earth's forest flowers,


No heavenly splendors in her sunset skies.


But are there not IN yOnder gorgeous scene,


A beauty and grandeur not Of earth?


glory breaking from yon cloudy screen


Revealing to the soul its nObler birth


Can things material such fair forms assume,


And thus delight and charm the human mind?


Or doth the Spirit with its rays illume


Their inInOst depths, from matter now refined.


That man may thus with it communion hold,


And learns Of higher things tnan sense has told (?
/ CHEAPNEss OF SOCIETY. Society is
commonly too cheap; we meet at very
short intervals, not having had time to
acquire any new value for each other,
we meet at meals three times a day,
and give each other new taste of that
old musty cheese that we are. We have
had to agree on a certain set of rules,
called etiquette and pOliteness, to make
this frequent meeting tolerable, and
that we need not come to open war; we
meet at the post-office, and at the socia-
BILE, and about the fireside every night :;
we live thick and are in each others
way, and stumble over one another; and
1 think that we thus lose some respect
for one another. Certainly less fre-
quency would suffice for all important
and hearty communication THOreau.


EARNEsTNEss. ss.-Without earnestness
there is nothing to be done in life; yet
among the people whom we name Guilt
waited men, little earnestness is to be
found in labors and employments, in
arts, nay, even in recreations, they pro-
ceed, if I may say so, with a sort of self
defense; they live, as they read a heap
of newspapers, only to have done with
it; they remind me of that young Eng
lishman at Rome, who said, with a con-
tented air, one evening, in some com
pany, that to-day he had dispatched six
churches and two galleries. They wish
to know and learn a multitude of things,
and precisely those they have the least
concern with; and they never see that
hunger is not stilled by swapping at the
air. When I become acquainted with
man, my first inquiry is, With what
does he employ himself, and how, and
with what degree of perseverance? The
answer regulates the interest I shall
take in him for life.-GOethe.


THE KINDLY VERSUS THE SURLY VEL
CoMER.--What is it that makes some
women so charming, some men so
pleasant? What quality that diffuses
an aroma, an influence as of rose-Ieaves
about them? What manifests itself in
hands that receive us with grateful
warmth, in eyes that beam with kindly
-,
der in the general radiance of recep-
ton? How soothing to be cared for
How easily the time passes! And what
constitutes this charm for we are not
supposing it to arise from any deep
moral or intellectual superiority, which,
truth to say, does not often exhibit
itself in this way. Surely, it is a
natural sweetness, an inherent tender
ness of sympathy, pervading rather
than deep, acting upon a desire to
please. There are some persons on
whom society acts almost chemically,
compelling them to be charming. It is
part of themselves to meet advances, |
labor, in their graceful way, to create
favorable impression and to grant pleas
ure, and yet, perhaps, our arrival was,
after all, ill-timed, our approach at
least was not welcome, we interrupted,
we necessitated an effort. If at night
we could hear our friends summary of
the day, we might find ourselves cIassed
as one of its troubles and hindrances
and as we have said, we might uniustIy
feel tinge of ill-usage. But is it not
something not to have been made IN
comfortable at the time-to have spent
happy hour instead of sitting on
thOrns, as with certain of our acquaint-
ance we should certainly have been
made to do? They are not necessarily
more sincere because they take no pains
to conceal that we are in their way.
The kindly welcomer has been as true
to his character all the time as our surly
friend has been to his. 1t would have
cost too much, it would have been i'm
possible for him to be ungracious.
Thus he is neither insincere, for he has
sincerely wished to please, nor, what
might seem the other alternative, af-
fected, for he has been acting according
to his nature -BLnckaUOOd's Maqazjpe