Darning

“ Small wonder, he thought, that blind eyes ached again to behold that face, pure as marble alive, tender of line, yet strong—eyes the purple of a royal mystery, lips the color of life, hair a black, lustrous veil draped to reveal, rather than conceal.
“You look,” said he, “like the spirit of evening—the spirit that lures a fellow away from the rest of the world and contents him with one warm hearth-fire, one steady light, one complete companionship. Every man who battles through his day hopes for that spirit at his eventide. ”

“ But—up in heaven—how is it with thee, dear? Art thou a man—to man’s full stature grown? Dost thou count time as we do, year by year? And what of all earth’s changes hast thou known?
Thou hadst not learned to love me. Didst thou take Any small germ of love to heaven with thee, That thou hast watched and nurtured for my sake, Waiting till I its perfect flower may see?
What is it to have lived in heaven always? To have no memory of pain or sin? Ne’er to have known in all the calm, bright days, The jar and fret of earth’s discordant din? ”

“ She was cuddling up to him, her voice quavering, her hand stroking his cheek, in a curious effort to combine affection and punishment at the same time. Duer felt nothing but wrath, resentment, discouragement, failure. ”

“ Thou hast tried them both, O comrade, yet thy voice ne’er answereth!
Hast thou grown as grow the angels? Doth thy spirit still aspire As the flame that soareth upward, mounting higher still, and higher?
In the flush of early manhood all thy earthly days were done; Short thy struggle and endeavor ere the peace of heaven was won.
But for us who stayed behind thee—oh! our hands are worn with toil, And upon our souls, it may be, are the stains of earthly moil.
Hast thou kept the lofty beauty and the glory of thy youth? Dost thou see our temples whitening, smiling softly in thy ruth? ”

“ Passion flickered, waned, and, on a pause of doubt and misgiving, tenderness dawned—tenderness, pity, remorse, regret, a growing horror and anguish, a growing knowledge of Heaven forfeited, of Hell made sure, a crescent terror, and dismay unspeakable, and under it all tenderness deepening, deepening, deepening, like a flood pressing against a barrier that it must at last break down. ”

“ Thou hast opened thy coffers on land and on sea, And broad-handed Charity, noble and free, Has lavished thy bounties on friend and on foe, Like the rain that, descending, falls softly and slow On the just and the unjust, and never may know The one from the other. When thy story is told By some age that looks backward and calls thee “the old,” It shall puzzle its sages, all great as thou art, To tell which was greatest, thy head or thy heart! ”

“ The manner in laughter, in tears, in irony, in indignations and enthusiasms, in judgments--and even in love. The manner in which, as in the features and character of a human face, the inner truth is foreshadowed for those who know how to look at their kind. ”

“ Toil or dejection have tried
Thy spirit, of that we saw
Nothing: to us thou wast still
Cheerful, and helpful, and firm!
Therefore to thee it was given
Many to save with thyself;
And, at the end of thy day,
O faithful shepherd! to come,
Bringing thy sheep in thy hand.
And through thee I believe
In the noble and great who are gone;
Pure souls honored and blest
By former ages, who else else—
Such, so soulless, so poor,
Is the race of men whom I see—
Seemed but a dream of the heart,
Seemed but a cry of desire. ”

“ The simplest heart, should Love refuse, assail:
Consent—the maiden’s pillowed ear imbibes
Constancy, honour, truth, fidelity,
Beauty and ardent lips and longing arms;
Then fades in glimmering distance half the scene,
Then her heart quails and flutters and would fly—
’Tis her belovéd! not to her! ye Powers! ”

“ Has any one—with any heart—ever received such a package? To such a one there is no need to tell the glow of pleasure, the rush of affection and joy, which filled Faith's heart and her face; to anybody else it's no use. ”

“ Manders, if because I go and get excited, and twist off a button in my excitement, as I suppose I must have done—unless it's a judgment on me—it's rather hard lines if you give me away when I never should have given myself away to you! ”

“ Had you to weep because the being whom you had learned to worship had with wanton frolic and a mocking smile plucked out your heart-strings and left you forlorn and desolate, a prey to ignominy and to lifelong regret? And had you to weep tears of bitter humiliation in the knowledge that those who hated and despised you were laughing their fill at your folly? Oh! I, too, Mademoiselle Fernande, was young then ... ”

“ We have a complete leper, a Lazarus, outside our door, which gives me a sort of Dives feel, very unpleasant to my conscience, and sumptuous fare every day, and purple and fine linen, keep running in my head, that this very day I mean to go and make a treaty of peace between this lame beggar and my conscience that I may rest. ”

“ A chearful countenance infuses a sensible complacency and serenity into my mind; as an angry or sorrowful one throws a sudden damp upon me. Hatred, resentment, esteem, love, courage, mirth and melancholy; all these passions I feel more from communication than from my own natural temper and disposition. ”

“ Anyhow, let no husband or lover believe it. Vain are the deeds of dumb devotion, the unwearying forethought, the tender care, the gifts of price, and the priceless gifts of attentive, watchful guard and guide, the labours of Love—all vain. Silent is the speech of Action. ”

“ Thy witching charms wean them of half their cares:
And from thy sunny spell,
They greet joy unawares.
Then with thy sultry locks all loose and rude,
And mantle laced with gems of garish light,
Come as of wont; for I would fain intrude,
And in the world’s despite,
Share the rude wealth that thy own heart beguiles ”

“ The most effective of all these sentimentalists, a writer whom, indeed, a profound passion once or twice lifted above sentimentalism though its flavor still clung to her, remarkably represents the clerical aspects of the decade, for she was daughter, sister, wife, and mother of clergymen. ”

“ IT cannot be. Where is that mightie joy,
Which just now took up all my heart?
Lord, if thou must needs use thy dart,
Save that, and me; or sin for both destroy.
The grosser world stands to thy word and art ”

“ How you have filled that emptiness that was killing me? How you have—have made my dreams—all those vague little ideals that fill every girl’s heart—do you realize how you have made them all come true? ”

“ THEY talk—and he writhes
—"of our spirit out here,
Our valour and all the rest!
There's my poor, lonely, delicate
dear,
As brave as the very best!
We stand or fall in a cheery
crowd,
And yet how often we grouse
aloud! ”

“ To hear her fresh young lips utter those words with their vile inflections was like taking a sudden glimpse into the underworld, where harlots dwell and the spirits of unrestrained lusts dance in the shadowy recesses of the human heart. ”

“ The books in which the love scenes are most violent possess unfading charm. A hero who says "darling" every time he opens his finely-chiselled mouth is very near [Pg 54] perfection. That fondness lasts well into the after-years, for "darling" is, above all others, the favourite term of endearment with a woman. ”

“ We fully agree with the judgment which says of the personages, that the fine gentlemen are such unmitigated rascals, and the women, girls, and matrons are such unlovely hussies—in rascality and unseemliness quite a match for the men—that one escapes from their wretched society, and a knowledge of their one object, and the confidences of the abominable creatures engaged therein, with a feeling of strong want of purification and of that ounce of civet by which the imagination may be sweetened. ”

“ He'll hunt through wards of Heaven,
Call to uncoffined earth
"Where is this soul, unjudged, not given
Dole for good's dearth?"
And I, lying so safe
Within you, hearing all,
To have cheated God shall laugh,
Freed by your thrall. ”

“ Thou givest to one what thou hast by violence and plunder taken from another; and in so doing, thou only raisest him to be again the mark of fortune's caprice, and to be tumbled down a second time by thyself, or by some other like thee. My snarling is the effect of my love ”

“ When the persons of the drama have made an end of one another, the quietly delighted gentleman steps forward, and blandly remarks, that there was so much virtue, love, and honour in it all, that he could not find it in his heart to interfere, though his own son was one of the victims! ”

“ I love Thee with my whole heart, and above all things, because Thou art infinitely perfect, and I love my neighbor as myself for the love of Thee. I am truly sorry for having sinned, because Thou art infinitely good, and sin displeases Thee. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, never more to offend Thee. ”

“ And he answered, saying, “O my lord, my lamentation is for thee, because thou art in sore straits, for all thy fair fortune and goodliness and exceeding comeliness, seeing thou hast naught wherewithal to do and receive delight, like unto other men.” Quoth the youth, “Thou sayst sooth, but thou mindest me of somewhat I had forgotten.” ”

“ In her dreams somebody strong, young and ardent entered her door as though he had the right—the love-lad who, in a vision more real than the shameful reality of the store-stage scene, had crossed to her side from the stranger who had rescued her. ”

“ Gathering clouds were already darkening the sky, and threatened a storm, and a vague foreboding of evil seemed to come over my mind, dulling the keen edge of my happiness. Does some subtle instinct, as yet neither known nor understood, warn us when those we hold dear are in peril? ”

“ He laughed, and began to consider what she meant before he replied.
“As you do,” she added.
“What?” he asked.
“Keep half your senses asleep—half alive.”
“Do I?” he asked.
“Of course you do;—‘bos-bovis; an ox.’ You are like a stalled ox, food and comfort, no more. Don’t you love comfort?” she smiled. ”

“ I would not, for the world, however, have them believe that I shall repeat the temptation, or follow the example, in my illustrations of ‘Habits and Men.’ And when I say “Men,” I would imply man in its general sense,—a sense in which “woman” has the better and more perfect half; for, as the poet sings of Nature,—
[2]
“Her ’prentice han’
She tried on man,
An’ then she made the lasses, oh!” The latter, consequently, will come in for their share in these trivial, fond records. For, have not the poets loved especially to dress and undress them? And have not the nymphs been consenting? ”

“ And something like a sunbeam of healing flashed into my heart with the next words.
"Fear thou not: for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness." ”

“ Look into your heart of hearts and ask yourself if I am a dearer possession now that you know that, come good or ill, with you or apart from you, in love or in anger, I hold myself yours and no other man’s. ”

“ Give me credence, and trow me, if ye had experience of eating men and women’s flesh, ye would think it so delicious that ye would never forbear it again.’ So, without any sign of repentance, this unhappy creature died in the sight of the people. ”

“ The Babe’s tender Parents with tears in their eyes,
With joy they embrac’d their darling young Son,
Saying, Child, hadst thou left us, we had been undone.
Now I’ll leave the court full of joy and great mirth,
To love one another while God gives them breath:
And now by the Factor we may see indeed,
No mortal can prevent what Fate has decreed. ”

“ Can you desire one more pure or more faithful? Have not my words and actions been always marked by respect as well as ardour? But, no doubt, your affections are placed elsewhere; your heart is prepossessed in favour of another. ”

“ She had been anticipating Hell. Although the time before That Day might be short, she might yet earn progression; perhaps might go to John, since he had not come to her. Suppose she had the right with everyman to draw upon the exhaustless supply of strength which they claimed was God—— Suppose she could possess more and still more of this power of sincerity——
Stronger than the gleams of the up-rising electric sun grew her determination; brighter her hope; realer her faith. ”

“ He has the courage of all his convictions, of all his sentiments, of all his laughter, of all his tears. He has a multitude of right instincts and sound feelings, and he habitually reverts to them in the intervals between his stricter hours of thought. ”

“ You know, however, that most people are mere surface readers of others, and nothing in the world is so little understood as a delicate, sensitive, high spirit. I who was far removed in thought from that of which I was suspected, crimsoned with horror when I encountered this base suspicion in the faces of those who harbored it, and it made me self-conscious and shy when I spoke with Doring himself. ”

“ He discerns in it more success than his own activity has compassed—an image of hopes he once owned. He kneels and, gazing into the limpid basin, sees not, like Narcissus, his own features, but most dear memories, moonrises and sunsets, wind-bent boughs, the calls of many birds, nodding flowers, children running, laughing and kissing—he sees and hears as he first saw and heard. ”

“ Duer, always moved by her innate emotional force and charm, whatever other lack he had reason to bewail, gazed before him in startled sympathy, astonishment, pain, wonder, for he was seeing very clearly and keenly in these echoing sounds what the trouble was. ”