Nepenthes

“ It may also be remarked, that in those genera in which the Ascidia have an operculum, namely Nepenthes, Cephalotus, and Sarracenia, they exist in every known species of each genus, and the structure of these genera is so peculiar that they form three distinct natural families; while in Dischidia, whose pitchers are formed without opercula, these organs are neither found in every species of the genus, nor in any other genus of the extensive natural order to which it belongs. ”

“ Milton also alludes to a famous recipe for an invigorating draft, called Nepenthe, which the Egyptian queen gave to Helen:
Not that Nepenthes which the wife of Thone
In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena,
Is of such power to stir up joy as this,
To life so friendly or so cool to thirst. [325]
At last, arriving in safety at Sparta, Menelaüs and Helen resumed their royal dignity, and lived and reigned in splendor; and when Telemachus, the son of Ulysses, in search of his father, arrived at Sparta, he found them celebrating the marriage of their daughter Hermione to Neoptolemus, son of Achilles. ”

“ To them, the landscape of Nepenthe is alive, often malignantly alive. They do what you cannot so effectually do in the North; they humanize it, identifying its various aspects with their own moods, its features with their own traditions. ”

“ Surely there is nothing new under the sun.
This marvelous drug, often called Nepenthe from one of its attributes, has naturally aroused much curiosity among the many-minded readers of Homer down the ages. Some have held that it was an herb, which they have pointed out in the valley of the Nile. Others hold it to be opium literally, though it does not here put to sleep or silence the company. On the other hand allegory has tried its hand at the word. ”

“ If the Crotalophoboi had not devoured the missionary Dodekanus, we should assuredly never have heard of Monsignor Perrelli, the learned and genial historian of Nepenthe. It was that story, he expressly tells us, which inflamed him, a mere visitor to the place, with a desire to know more about the island. A people like the Nepentheans, who could cherish in their hearts a tale of such beauty, must be worthy, he concluded, "of the closest and most sympathetic scrutiny." ”

“ I said that everyone on Nepenthe treated Miss Wilberforce as a pariah. That was a mistake. I ought to have allowed for one exception—our admirable judge! It strikes me as significant that an official who is bound to her by no ties of blood-relationship or nationality and who enjoys, moreover, a reputation—however undeserved—for harshness, should be the one person on Nepenthe to stretch a point in her favour; the one person who extends to her the hand of friendship, whose heart goes out in sympathy with her sad case. Significant, and not altogether creditable to us, her compatriots. ”

“ IN THE second generation the Nephites began to grow numerous, and iniquity made its appearance among them. It was then that Jacob their priest, prophesied: The time speedily cometh, that except ye repent, they [the Lamanites] [Pg 311] shall possess the land of your inheritance, and the Lord God will lead away the righteous out from among you. This prophecy was completely fulfilled, if not on previous occasions, about 300 years or so afterwards, when Mosiah, by the command of God, led the righteous Nephites out of the land of their inheritance—the land of Nephi—down into the land of Zarahemla. ”

“ Nephthys saith: "O Beautiful Prince, come to thy house. Let thy heart rejoice and be glad, for thine enemies have ceased to be. Thy two Sisters are nigh unto thee; they guard thy bier, they address thee with words [full of] tears as thou liest prone on thy bier. Look thou at the young women; speak to us, O our Sovereign Lord. Destroy thou all the misery that is in our hearts; the chiefs among gods and men look upon thee. Turn thou towards us thy face, O our Sovereign Lord. ”

“ For Nepentheans are born politicians and courteous by nature. It is their heritage from the Good Duke Alfred to "keep smiling." A shout was expected of them under the circumstances; it costs nothing and may even do good, inasmuch as Saint Dodekanus could remove the ashes as easily as he had sent them. ”

“ For us initiated there remains only the choice between lying and silence.”
“The old error!” said Pentaur, “we know that the Godhead is One, we name it, ‘The All,’ ‘The Veil of the All,’ or simply ‘Ra.’ But under the name Ra we understand something different than is known to the common herd; for to us, the Universe is God, and in each of its parts we recognize a manifestation of that highest being without whom nothing is, in the heights above or in the depths below.”
“To me you can say everything, for I also am initiated,” interrupted Nebsecht. ”

“ They considered him to be a great prophet, a man of God, with great power and authority given to him from God.
And Nephi's brother, Lehi, was just as righteous.
The Nephites started to prosper in the land again and to rebuilt their cities. They multiplied and spread out, covering the whole face of the land from the north to the south, and from the western to the eastern seas. Throughout the year 16 BC, there was peace.
Fifteen BC was also a peaceful year, and the church spread throughout the land. Most of the people, both Nephites and Lamanites, belonged to the church and enjoyed great peace. ”

“ The ten Kings were no longer alone. The learned gentleman—no one had noticed how he got there—stood with them on the steps of an altar, on which lay the dead body of the black bull. All the rest of the courtyard was thick with people, seemingly of all classes, and all were shouting, 'The sea—the sea!'
'Be calm,' said the most kingly of the Kings, he who had lassoed the bull. 'Our town is strong against the thunders of the sea and of the sky!'
'I want to go home,' whined the Psammead.
'We can't go without him,' said Anthea firmly.
'Jimmy,' she called, 'Jimmy!' and waved to him. ”

“ The same spirit that dwelt in the breasts of the Nephites during the last battles that were fought by them on this continent, when they continued to fight until they were exterminated, is again on the earth, and is increasing. ”

“ And it came to pass that the people of Nephi took their tents, and departed out of the valley of Gideon towards their city, which was the city of Zarahemla. And behold, as they were crossing the river Sidon, the Lamanites and the Amlicites
being as numerous almost, as it were, as the sands of the sea, came upon them to destroy them; nevertheless the Nephites being strengthened by the hand of the Lord, having prayed mightily to him that he would deliver them out of the hands of their enemies ”

“ This is also the testimony of the first Nephi. In vision he saw the advent of the Gentile races upon the western hemisphere. He saw their victories over the remnant of the seed of his brethren, the Lamanites. He then proceeds:
And I beheld the Spirit of the Lord, that it was upon the Gentiles, and they did prosper and obtain the land for their inheritance ”

“ They were now in a light so bright that they winked and blinked and rubbed their eyes. During this dazzling interval Anthea felt for the charm and pushed it inside Jane’s frock, so that it might be quite safe. When their eyes got used to the new wonderful light the children looked around them. The sky was very, very blue, and it sparkled and glittered and dazzled like the sea at home when the sun shines on it.
They were standing on a little clearing in a thick, low forest; there were trees and shrubs and a close, thorny, tangly undergrowth. ”

“ The Nephites enjoyed continual peace and great prosperity in the church, for they had diligently obeyed God's word that had been declared to them by Alma's sons, Helaman, Shiblon, and Corianton, by Ammon and his brethren, and by all who had been ordained by the holy order of God, who had been baptized unto repentance and sent forth to preach among them. ”

“ The poet was dear in the sight of Nebsecht, and he loved Pentaur, who possessed all the gifts he lacked; manly beauty, childlike lightness of heart, the frankest openness, artistic power, and the gift of expressing in word and song every emotion that stirred his soul. ”

“ After their conversion they had traveled to and fro through all the land of the Nephites, seeking to undo the mischief they had done; and then performed glorious missions among the Lamanites where the power of God had been wondrously manifested to the converting of many of that people to the truth. ”

“ In this valley fell the remaining strength and pride of a once powerful people, the Nephites—once so highly favored of the Lord, but at that time in darkness, doomed to suffer extermination by the hand of their barbarous and uncivilized brethren. ”

“ As I, Jacob, now grow old, I finish my record on the small plates that Nephi gave me. The Nephite history is kept on Nephi's larger plates.
The best way I can describe our lives is by saying that they passed like a dream. We were a lonesome and solemn people--wandering outcasts from Jerusalem, born in tribulation in the wilderness and hated by our brethren, who caused wars and contentions. And so we mourned out our days.
When I, Jacob, realized I would soon die, I told my son Enos to take charge of all the plates. ”

“ As another method of accounting for their alleged descent from a cloud, it has been suggested that the Centaurs were a rapacious race of men, who ravaged the neighbouring country: that those who wrote the first accounts of them, in the ancient dialect of Greece, gave them the name of Nephelim, (the epithet of the giants of Scripture,) many Phœnician words having been imported in the early language of that country; and that in later times, finding them called by this name, the Greek word Nephelè, signifying ‘a cloud,’ persons readily adopted the fable that they were born of one. ”

“ Neville heard the aunt speak kindly to the girl, heard his name and another name, and found himself bowing to the girl whose lips—— But he heard nothing distinctly, because of the horrible new certainty that sprang at him. It was true. It was no vision. This girl whose eyes had haunted him among the Egyptian tombs more than once and more than twice—this demure girl who was his father's secretary, this girl had really of her own free will drawn down the head of a perfect stranger with that arm now reached out for her tea cup, had drawn it down till the stranger's lips lay on hers. ”

“ And it came to pass as he was pondering, -- being much cast down because of the wickedness of the people of the Nephites, their secret works of darkness, and their murderings, and their plunderings, and all manner of iniquities -- and it came to pass as he was thus pondering in his heart, behold, a voice came unto him, saying: Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done: for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word which I have given unto thee, unto this people. ”

“ Through keeping the commandments of God, the Nephites became very strong and very beautiful. They married and raised families. They scattered all over the land and built up many fine cities. The farms yielded abundance of food for man and beast and the orchards were laden with fruit in the season thereof.
Every man dealt honestly with his neighbor. There was neither lying, nor stealing, nor murdering, nor any kind of wickedness known among the people. They loved the Lord and kept His commandments, and the Lord loved them and poured down His blessings upon them without measure. ”

“ And look over here and see the last branch that I planted
(Mulek, Lehi, Ishmael and their families) in a very good (choice land) part of my earth. I have nourished them for a long time, but now only part (the Nephites) are righteous, bearing good fruit. The rest of them (the Lamanites) bear wild fruit that is not good. Let the Nephites completely destroy the wild branches (their brethren the Lamanites) who don't bear good fruit." But the Savior said, "Let the Nephites preach to the Lamanites a little longer. Maybe the Lamanites will yet bear good fruit for you on the day of judgment." ”

“ Then she waded into the water and stooped over the circle of cut reeds. She pulled half a dozen fine fish out of the water within the reeds, killing each as she took it out, and threading it on a long osier that she carried. Then she knotted the osier, hung it on her arm, picked up the pitcher, and turned to come back. And as she turned she saw the four children. The white dresses of Jane and Anthea stood out like snow against the dark forest background. She screamed and the pitcher fell, and the water was spilled out over the hard mud surface and over the fish, which had fallen too. ”

“ We rolled pell-mell into the midst of this nest of serpents, that wriggled on the platform in the waves of blood and ink. It seemed as though these slimy tentacles sprang up like the hydra’s heads. Ned Land’s harpoon, at each stroke, was plunged into the staring eyes of the cuttle fish. But my bold companion was suddenly overturned by the tentacles of a monster he had not been able to avoid.
Ah! how my heart beat with emotion and horror! The formidable beak of a cuttlefish was open over Ned Land. The unhappy man would be cut in two. I rushed to his succour. But Captain Nemo was before me ”

“ In other words, after they leave this present life, and the time comes for them to sit in council in the midst of the Nephites, that instead of judging according to human wisdom and imperfect knowledge, that God would give them the spirit of judgment, or the spirit of inspiration more abundantly than what they were in possession of in this life; and in order that they may be entitled to judge all people, they were required to be pure and holy.
Let me say a few words in regard to another revelation that the Lord gave in the year 1830, on this same subject. ”