The Pleasures of Life

ce like Home."-

return home from one which has been thoroughly enjoyed; to find oneself, with renewed vigor, with a fresh

d traveller for its hero, a fireside in an old country house to read it by, curtains drawn, and just wind enough stirring out of d

t in some respects the narratives of early travellers, the histories of Prescott or the voyages of Captain Cook, are even more interesti

ke those of the Vicar of Wakefield, all our adventures are by o

are still infinite, and a man "may lie in his bed, lik

sy chair; of transporting myself, without stirring from my parlor, to distant places and to absent friends; of d

selves endless variety witho

is the view from our windows as we look on the tender green of spring, the rich f

see how wonderful are all the colors of decay. Overhead, the elms and chestnuts hang their wealth of golden leaves, while the beeches darken into russet tones, and the wild cherry glows like blood-red wine. In the hedges crimson haws and scarlet hips are wreathed with hoary clematis or necklaces of coral

y. Gray, after describing a sunrise-how it began with a slight whitening, just tinged with gold and blue, lit up all at once by a little line of insufferable brightness

, the whole heaven, "from the zenith to the horizon, becomes one molten, mantling sea of color and fire; every block bar turns into massy gold, every ripple and wave into unsullied, shadowless crimson, and purple, and scarlet, and colors for which there are no words in language, and no ideas in the

her works, and it is just the part in which we least attend to her. There are not many of her other works in which some more material or essential purpose than the mere pleasing of man is not answered by every part of their organization; but every essential purpose of the sky might, so far as we know, be answer, if once in three days, or thereabouts, a great, ugly, black rain-cloud were brought up over the blue, and everything well water

ful than to "look how the floor of heaven is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold," or to watch the moon journeying in calm and silver glory through the night. And even if we do not feel that "the man who has seen the rising moon break out of the clouds at midnight, has been present like an Archangel at the creation of light and of the world," [7] still "the stars

utiful i

ness fills t

, nor cloud, nor

e serene

d glory yond

gh the dark

her st

rt circl

ocean, girdle

iful is n

at those who worship

n all outside is dark

l the snowfl

ight loud rav

the fire gl

cosy, sil

it I on t

light's che

to the b

g forgotten

c man who loves no music so well as his own kitchen clock and the airs which the logs

fire, like the sound of the cawing of rooks, not so muc

e retire into ourselves we can

heart are the scen

lection recalls

meadow, the dee

spot which my in

ot so m

de enjo

forts of the lo

g to the higher and

mile of home; t

are of eac

ys that crowd th

f all affec

ve been but little family life. What a contrast was the home life of the Greeks, as it seems to have b

fe, where th

es more refi

t garden i

mind the wi

ent and pity St. Chrysostom's description of woman as "a necessary evil, a natural tempt

o think how women suffer in savage life; and even among the intellectual Greeks, with rare exceptions, they

, even with a flower," though a considerable advance, t

ill only mention one case in illustration. The Algonquin (North America) language contained no word for "to love," so that whe

almost sure to bring misfortune. In the Kalevala, the Finnish epic, the divine smith, Ilmarinnen, forges a bride of gold and silver for Wainamoinen, who

have deprived them of any sting. How much would that charity which "beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things," effect to smooth away the sorrows of life and add to the ha

outside be cold and dreary, what a pleasure to return to t

r T. B

nzie, The

A. Sy

ay's L

Ru

Se

Emer

He

Sout

trans. by E.

Eme

Woodw

Cow