And O, it is good to sometimes get above our own high-water mark!
to live for an hour with our best ideas! to make little of facts, to
take possession of ourselves, and walk as conquerors! Thus, in some
blessed intervals we have been poets and philosophers. We have spread
liberty, and broken the chains of sin, and seen family life elevated,
and the world regenerated. Thank God for such hours! for though they
were spent among ideals, they belong to us henceforth, and are golden
threads between this life and a higher one.
"When a flash of truth hath found thee,
Where thy foot in darkness trod,
When thick clouds dispart around thee,
And them standest near to God.
When a noble soul comes near thee,
In whom kindred virtues dwell,
That from faithless doubts can clear thee,
And with strengthening love compel;
O these are moments, rare fair moments;
Sing and shout, and use them well!"
--PROF. BLACKIE.
Richard was the first to remember how many little matters of importance
were to be attended to. The Bishop sighed, and looked at the three
young faces around him. Perhaps the same thought was in every heart,
though no one liked to utter it. A kind of chill, the natural reaction
of extreme enthusiasm was about to fall upon them. Phyllis rose. "Let
us say 'good-night,' now," she said; "it is so easy to put it off until
we are too tired to say it bravely.
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