He is reviewed to-
day and forgotten to-morrow. To soothe the pangs of a single
sufferer, to drain a poor man's cottage and give him wholesome
drinking water, are good things done of which we can be sure.
Life is a matter of small virtues, but we have to bring them to
perfection. This may be done by great principles. The humblest act
may proceed from that which is beyond the stars.
What a vile antithesis is that between a man and his faults! If I
love a man, I do not love his faults, for they are abstractions, but
I love the man IN his faults. Are they not truly himself? He is
often more himself in his faults than in his virtues.
We should not talk as if we were responsible for the effect of what
we say. We are responsible for saying it, and for nothing more. A
higher power is responsible for the effect which is to follow from
each cause.
Wisdom for old age.--Check the propensity to dwell on what you have
thought before. Try to get new ideas into your head. Beware of
giving trouble or asking for sympathy. Do everything yourself,
which you have been in the habit of doing, so long as you can move a
muscle, and when you cannot, secure, if possible, paid help: watch
what the most devoted of friends or relatives say of continued
attendance on the sick: note the relief when the sick man dies.
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