■^ 4 o "oV ^^ . O 1 • • s * > ^^'% -^^ ^>.^^ oV^^'^^^Mi- ^^<'i^ *^(y "oV <". 4 O .\^ ^ ^ ^ 'd- -^^ ^ (|iriffitS's f ©riss ©f (Ij^st ©0Qst ^Iteirafare;. R0. 1, (^ip Thoughts and Pastels o ■M o ^ (0 m H a: c (3 H X o o X H AKJ^O UJYCEMEJYT, In presenting ''Griffith's Series of West Coast Literature" to the public, the aim of the publishers is to issue in a series the work of native authors, of the past and present, which merit preservation in the field of permanent literature. A high standard in selections will be in- variably maintained, as the Series is in- tended to be representative of original liter- ature by west coast authors, occasionally including past works by standard authors, which possess a permanent literary interest, thus making the Series attractive to all classes of readers. The Series will be edited by Lorenzo Sosso and Frederick L. Griffith. Each nuniber will contain an introduction espec- ially prepared for it, and the volume will be complete in every detail. The various issues will be uniform in style and price. In thin boards with paper covers, substantially bound, at 50c each, and in cloth, gilt title, library style, at 75c per volume. New numbers will be added from time to time. They may be obtained through any bookseller, or will be sent, post paid, by the publishers, upon receipt of the price. Next number will contain '^SAVANNAH; A Dramatic Episode," By Frederick L. Griffith. THOUGHTS AHD PASTELS. ''^ Books are the windows through ivhich the soul looks out.'^ — Beecher. Thoughts aed Pastels BY CHARLES P. NETTLETON, ^ No. 1. ' ^^RIFFITH'S SERIES of WEST COAST LITERATURE Edited by LORENZO SOSSO and FRED'K L. GRIFFITH. san francisco: Griffith Publishing Company 1035 howaed street. 1894. ^ ., ...:;ici^^^ %€iS^/i^ ^ f 5 ^^5^ Copyright, 1892, BY CHARLli:S P. NettletoN/ INTRODUCTION. Mr. Charles P. Nettleton, the author of this voJume, is a young man of notable qualities and scholarly attainqjents. Al- though not a native of the Pacific Coast, yet he properly belongs to, and may be classed with the younger school of California writers, which, in the last few years, has risen on this western slope — a school that is rapidly advancing and will yet command much attention in the world of literature. Mr. Nettleton has made many fr-iends among the readers throughout the coast and the east, having been, for some time, a contributer to 8 INTRODUCTION. several eastern magazines and to the few of the west, particularly the Californian Maga- zine. His productions, while at times not very pretentious, are enjoyed and held in high favor by a wide circle of readers, friends and admirers. The high standard and finish that he maintains, and which per- vades his selections, stamp his work as that of an original writer of the most prom- ising kind. This is the first volume of collected work from -the pen of Mr. Nettleton, and while not pretentious nor of an elaborate order, yet will favorably stand comparison with many first works of other writers, who have, in their later years, been recognized by the literary w\>rld as men of genius. The first part of the volume is given up to "Thoughts," or meditations, and they embrace a vast variety of subjects. Many of them, while not distinguished by any catholicity of spirit, are remarkable for INTRODUCTION. 9 their incisive fervor of sentiment, pervaded, as they are, by the breath of a pure and sincere religion. They are also distinctive of an equality of temperment, richly forti- fied by a serene faith in God; and apart from their literary qualities, they, altogether, form a collection of thoughts on diverse subjects, most conscientiously and faith- fully expressive of the author's meditations on things mundane and eternal. The sixteen "Pastels," which constitute the remaining part, are both original and pointed in their meaning. A few of their number have appeared in the magazines, but the major part are here given for the first time. "Picturesque Parables" might have seemed a more appropriate title than the word "Pastels," yet no word other than the one adopted, would have conveyed, so briefly, an understanding of the nature of the work, and introduced us so aimably into the strange creations of Mr, Nettleton's 2—9 10 INTRODUCTION. fancy — half parables, half pastels; so origin- al, so unique in their construction, and so earnest in their conviction. L. S. F. L. G. PREFACE. 1. Deep subjects and high ideals can hardly be dwelt on too much, nor can a thoughtful presentation of them ever be out of place. 2. Whoso thinks at all, speaks perforce, and because it is as impossible for him to keep silence, if he be honest, as it is for the lighted candle to extinguish itself. 3. Some books are flowers from the plant of life, and no thoroughly honest man will allow any bloom of his life to be seen by others unless he is sure it possesses more truth or beauty than their opposites. 4. In our own work we take as much pleasure in the process as in the result, but in the work of others conclusions alone yield us the most pleasure and profit. 5. We can read in a few seconds that which it took one hours, perhaps, to think out and write to his satisfaction; ergo^ w^ 12 PREFACE. should ]'arely pap>s unfavorable or even favorable judgment on an}^ matter before having considered it carefully. Thought demands thought. 6. A true man cares not whether his book die or live save as he cares for the death of falsehood and the life of truth. 7. If others shall receive even part of the pleasure and help from reading this book that I have received from writing it, I shall feel deeply rewarded. C. P. N. Haywards, Cal., October, 189S. i^For the kind permission to use in this voltime some matter which originally appeai^ed in THE GALIFORNIAN ILLUSTRATED MAGA- ZINE, SHORT STORIES, PACIFIC RURAL PRESS, and other magazines, acknoivledgement is due the editors and gladly made.) To M**'^ '''The Sun, the Sim/^ I cried. Ah yesl I knew that 'flash as men must guess . The dawn at 2cakwg. Holy light^ That drew my soid to thee, Good-night. My path — peace] olVs icell with thee-, less Than that could I wish thee? I bless The Giver, Taker, — He does iHght, — And wait that Day none say, Good-night. love, no light of stars nor earth-caress 7>* sweet as thinking of life's last Good-night, CONTENTS. P AGB, Introduction 7 Preface 11 Thoughts 17 Pastels in Prose: I. Duty 59 II. A Saint 60 III. In the Shadow 61 IV. The Turning of The Leaf 63 V. The Measure of The Draught of Life 64 VI. In The Night 66 VII. The Outcast 68 VIII. Lost 70 IX. "If You Love Me, Lean Hard" ... 72 X. Seraphael and Seraphita 75 XL The Dance 78 XII. The Unbuilt Temple 80 XIII. The House of Annihilation 82 XIV. Perfumes 84 XV. Through Men 85 XVI. The Passing of A Man's Soul . . . .86 Hold open the door of thy heart -^ Reach out, as I reach unto you] Hand in hand let us ponder^ apart ^ In the glory of quest for the True. THOUGHTS. 1. Thought is practical only when it keeps practical things in subjection. 2. If flowers are the language of angels, music is the language of God. 3. Our comfjrts render us complacent, lazy; our sorrows keep us painfully awake and also force comforts to minister strength, 4. Hard it is to feel that what we know would be our best thoughts we cannot ex- press to even ourselveB. 5. Strife for truth is a kind of praise to God. 6. He who teaches men to think does thorn a nobler service than he who teaches them all other things combined. 7. Man is the soul of nature, and each man is to himself the soul of nature. That is, if he be noble and love nature he will see in her just so much of beauty and worth as he is, and if he be mean himself he will care little for her and see hardly a shadow of her beauty. 3—17 18 THOUGHTS AND PASTELb% 8. The law of compensation is spiritually what the law of conservation of energy is materially. No act in either world ends with the act itself. 9. The devil hates solitude. 10. When we look back on ourselves as we were one year ago we see wherein we were foolish and how often w^e committed eviL Let us be hun:ible at the present time^ for in a year from now we shall again reach the same conclusion, 11. All can be active; they who accom- plish, do so by combining wisdom with their activity. 12. Paradoxical but true: the greater the heart the less room in it for evil. 13. Wouldst thou have thy burdens lightened? Help thy brother in his need and tenfold shall it be returned thee. 14. Is it the ambition of thy life to great- ly bless thy fellow-men? This may be more easily accomplished, perhaps, than thou thinkest. Begin with thyself, live purely, nobly, unselfishly, and so far as this is done thy purpose is fruitioned. Do more if thou canst, but to govern one kingdom is more than most men do. THOUGHTS AND PASTELS. 19 15.- Most of the evil wrought in the world is the result of thoughtlessness, not premeditation, but it is none the less an evil, and, seeing it could have been prevented, a orime. 16. All knowledge is good in itself, but unless a man has omnipotent strength he had better lot some of it alone till he has. 17. It is better to do a wrong act from a good motive than a good act from a wrong motive. 18. We ought to view everything from the standpoint of God. 19. When we cannot at the same time be true to ourselves and true to others we must be true to ourselves. Right may fall back one step in our direction but it gains two in another. 20. To tire of a thing is no sign of in- constancy; rather is it the reverse, as it may show we are true to a higher principle. 21. -What does oiiginality consist in ex- cept in appropriating and using to an un- usual and striking advantage facts and observations which are public property? When comes a mind great enough to prop- erly appreciate and present common occur- 20 THOUGHTS AND PASTELS. rences — and all occurrences are common — then we say: Behold a genius! 22. Gain first God's approval, then thine own, setting thj small watch by the great Regulator, and let the opinion of the world count for naught. Do right; if the world approve, well; if not, thou losest but a trifle. 23. Recognition of truth is not sympathy with truth, although often confounded with it. 24. Men of great attainments receive tao much praise, while men of small calibre, who achieve, in consequence, little, do not receive enough praise, though they may have exjerted more strength proportionately. 25. To the wise man no thing is strange^ because every thing is strange. 23. The man who is not an optimist is thoughtless, or of poor judgment, or a knave. 27. We speak of "great men"; is this to our credit? Yes, and No. Yes, because we ought to recognize a man's natural and ac- quired qualities, and No, because we ought to be his equal in striving for Truth, in which alone true greatness consists. 28. The Scholar, while in the world, is not of the world All things be must put THOUGHTS AND TASTELP, 21 under his feet; he must try to be the Truth, and hence every thing must submit to him, that is, to the Truth. 29. "But," thou sayest, "every one ought to seek the Truth;" very true: every one, then, ought to be a Scholar. 30. SteadiJy and more clearly do I see that there is nothing in the world but little things. These little things, however, ac- quire a startling significance when viewed in this light. 31. When a man works so much that he has no time or room for pride he receives more honor from others than he could ever giye himself. 32. Most of us are not strong enough to be gentle; w^e are weak, and attempt to con- ceal it by indifference and rudeness. 33. Man is a spirit consisting of two principles, and the stage beyond the period of earthly existence is the contin- uing and perfecting of the principle which predominated here. Which rules thee the more, Good or Evil? 34. The best — noblest — diplomacy is to have none. 35. In wanting to be loved, better give 22 THOUGJlTy AND PASTELS. love to an hundred persons who do not love thee than vvait for some one to love thee first. 36. True sorrow for sin indicates such advance that the soul will not again fall as readily into it. 37. The soul should not, and in think- ing persons does not, find any thing purely negative. Each thing assists or retards progress. 38. As the fact of the earth's moving can be proved only by an appeal to reason, so the fact of future life can be proved only by an appeal to intuition, and not, in either case, by the senses. 39. Almost every man is honestly anxious for himself to develope, yet seems naturally to think of every one else as stationary. 40. We do not fully understand our- selves, yet lay down rules for the conduct of others! 41. If each man had half as much char- ity for the world in general as he has for himself, strife of all kinds would cease. 42. If we are strong and wish it, no thing can injure us and each thing will do us good. THOUGHTS AND PASTELS. 28 43. Many people pray too much in words; the best prayer, the only true prayer is work. 44. The ^'ery fact that we cannot al- ways decide a point proves our indefinite and immense capabilities, and should be the source of an awful joy. Did we feel a limit in thinking we should have to decide our powers mortal. 45. Set that man down as one who looks on death as the end of all who always finds language adequate to express his feelings. 46. Better be wholly unsuccessful in a right course than successful in a wrong one. 47. While genius has little regard for common-sense, a lack of common-sense does not necessarily indicate genius. 48. Of ourself we tell only the good; of our neighbors perhaps the good, but cer- tainly the bad. 49. To expect love to be perfectly satis- fied with anything less than love in return, is as futile as expecting a woman's fan to create a vacuum in the open air. 50. Our capacity for learning from others is proportioned to our capacity for putting ourself in their place. 24 THOUGHTS AND PASTELS. 51. People who always want a reason for everything resemble the man who would demand proof of the statement that the shortest line between two points is a straight line. 52. Strange, that in things temporal we desire to possess others' goods, or at least goods like others', but in ihings spiritual think our own attainments the best! It shows how much more strongly we are ■aifected through the senses than through the soul. 53. If we are dissatisfied with our at- tainments there is hope for us. Then so long as dissatisfaction exists we should be satisfied. 54. After all, viewed aright, nothing can be too much trouble in itself. 55. One reason why so many persons feel a great reserve towards others is that the disagreeables are on the surface, and what we wish to say does not harmonize with the externals. 56. The law of contrast is stronger than the law^ of harmony. This is one of the reasons why discords are sometimes written in music, "that harmony should be prized." THOUGHTS AND PASTELS. 25 57. The originality which takes a form unwise in itself is better than a slavish conformity to society, which would mold all into a dead life. The only trouble lies in the^ fact that the originality takes a wrong form. 58. The habit of questioning every thing, which by so many is considered dangerous to purity, is absolutely neces- sary; the only danger is from false judg- ment. 59. However much we may think our ideal man is the combination of the qual- ities most nearly perfect of all our acquaint- ances, he is most nearly like ourself. 60. God's curse on man was not that he must labor, but that the labor necessary to existence should antagonize the soul and hinder its development. We must eat before we think. Yet with watchfulness this very curse may be transmuted' into gold. 61. The philospher sees Truth, and sees it in its barest form; the poet sees also the beauty of Truth. 62. Troubles and griefs are the rain- ■storms of the soul. 63. The wicked man values his repu- 26 THOUGHTS AND PASTELS. tation, not his character, while the right- eous man cares for his character and but very little for his reputation. 64. Bondage to Truth is the only free- dom known. 65. Perfect knowledge of one natural object, o.ie blade of grass for instance, would explain all earthly things. 66. We demand sympathy but give only pity. 67. It is better to decide, be the de- cision right or wrong, than to be contin- ually wavering. 68. And still, better waver than decide and then never be willing to change. 69. He who cannot change his opin- ions is a fool; he who will not change them is a knave. 70. Age petrifies most people as silica hardens wood, but a few resemble the ever- green, which is larger and more symmetri- cal in old age than in youth. 71. Love is the greatest developer of the soul hence love is the end, the object, of our present existence 72. For thinking people condensed in- formation is best, but most people do not think for themselves, hence the immense THOUGHTS AND PASTELS. 27 amount of mental pabulum. The daily- paper is as much a curse as a blessing. 7-3. 'Out of sight, out of mind;" if this were quite true, how happy we might be! 74. Look on the worst side of the past, and the best side of the future. 75. We can best impress ourselves on others by our love. Wisdom repels at first, but love attracts, and opens the way for wisdom. Hence, if you would do the most good, love. 76. If we be God'y children it is impos- sible, in the full sense of that word, for him to forsake us: can he forsake himself? 77. I hold that idea to be a true one, that was held in former times more exten- sively than now, that each man is an actual part of God. Like all best things it can be perverted into a most serious evil, but if I believe it to be true I may say so. It is an awful thought. It throws a light on the problem of our existence, and makes our lives more sublime than ever. 78. Evil is limited, good is unlimited. We see no end to good, and straightway are discouraged because we are so far from per- fection. 79. Silence is Perfection: language and 28 THOUGHTS AiVD PASTELS". all other material things are imperfect and very annoying at times, but we think of Silence and rejoice, I sometimes think God, Heaven, Eternity, all dwell in Silence. 80. There is really no "reward" and "punishment" for good and evil. Remorse for sin, which we call "punishment" is a part of sin, its culmination, and good finds Heaven to be simply the perfection of itself 81. Self-denial is the purest form of selfishness. 82. Few people can have what they want in the material world, but in the realm of the mind men can be pretty nearly what they WILL to be. 83. We are aware, by its effects, of a power not connected with the senses. It ap- peals to the soul from all material objects, from some more strongl}^ than from others,, but it eludes our comprehension and even grasp; we cannot define it. We are perhaps reading a book and feel strongly drawn to take up some other book unread before, when lo! this last passage is a companion to or climax of the first. We feel a presence in the room, and may perhaps know whom it is, yet we learned it not through the fiv«^ TriOlTGHTB AND PASn^LP, 29 .senses. Who shall instruct us in this lan- guage, this intuition of the spirit? 84. The souls of mankind cesmbiiied would not make a God. 85. Thoughtlessness is the most extreme selfishness in its relation to others, and the worst possible evil in its relation to ourself. 86. Our highest moments are our truest. We must judge ourselves by such moments, and measure our acts and attainments b}^ their height and not by the low standard of common hours. 87. If every man were so good as in his heart he believes himself to be, five men would fully supply the world. 88. Woe betide a man if in his care for his house he starve the master of the house t We must eat and take care of the body in many ways, but most men end with that, forgetting the soul. 89. One's habitual thoughts react on the will which formed them, each strengthening the other. Do we like to think? Good. Are our thoughts pure and beautiful? Better, And if they fruition into life, best of all, and the reason why we have the thinking faculty. 90. Concentration of thought on one ideji? 80 THOUGHTS AND PASTELS. at a time, long continued, it may be, is the secret of most succesB, most knowledge, and while we are about it ¥/hy not dwell on worthy objects? Most men drift without aim; grasp the oars and get somewhere! 91. Marriage, while giving one person to the other, makes each more capable of blessing others. Thus while in a form selfish, marriage is still more unselfish. 92. The greatest thinker is he who can tell us most about ourself. 93. The older the body the younger ^— purer — the soul should be. 94. Strike your colors to no man. You too are a man, and must live originally, for yourself and out of yourself. 95. A religious man adapts himself to God, while a fanatic adapts God to himself. 96. All known things may be classed under four names: materially, dust and soul; spiritually, good and evil. 97. Geniuses are they who understand the art of expression, first to themselves, then outwardly. They utter what others only feel. 98. The highest practicality is the ma- terialization of ideality. 99. The pessimist sayp^ There is a val- THOUGHTS AND PASTELS. 31 ley for every hili: the optimist says. There is a hill for every valley. 100. When souls shall be able to com- municate with each other by other means than the body, they will give and receive perfection, they will know and will be at peace simply through existing. 101. Soul is supreme and should be in- different to every conceivable thing but it- self. This is why great men so often shock us by their disregard of bodily and social laws; but our fault it is, not their's. 102. A man, like a tree, should grow heavenward in defiance of all material laws: let him but say, I am superior, and he is superior. 103. The only result of staring into the mystery of human life is to bring tears to the eyes, tears of pain to some and of joy to others. 104. A soul, perfection, can never ex- press itself perfectly through the medium it has at present, an imperfect body. 105. While we ]ive in the past and the future, we possess only the past. 106. As in music one continued discord ruins the entire piece, so one continued sin may ruin a man's whole life. 32 THOUGHTS AND PASTELS. 107. Praise tends to lower some men's standard, censure always strengthens. 108. Music is the expression of silence. Music, of all things which appeal to the senses, is a link and the only link between heaven and earth. It appeals to the senses, it is true, l)ut is the purest, least earthly, the one perfect thing, of all things which do so appeal. 109. There are three uses of love. First, the prostitution of love into sexual passion, ■which is— what we call — beastly. Second, the degradation of love, into finding in man the end of love. The third use of love, which alone is right, is the thought of love as Perfection — another word for God — each man and, if you wish, each living object, being but a fragment. Hence, love is rev- erential. Also, the truest love always has an element of dissatisfaction in it, cannot con- tain itself with less than the whole. 110. If life be hard^ it is so that we may learn how to make it easy. 111. Because things in this world are wholly relative, it is sometimes true that an act which is wrong to one man is right to another. 112. Love must be active or it will die. THOUGHTS AND PASTELS. 33 llo. Perfection is the marriage of matter and mind. Or. it is Vv^hen the attainments of matter equal the attainments of mind, or when ability equals thought. 114. If vve were able to see with the bodily eye a true man. that is, the spirit, as, say, Emerson, the sight would dazzle us. We could not see even so small -a part of God without trembling. 115. The isolation of a great mind must beone of the worst concomitants of genius. 116. The more we love a person, the less, as a rule, we feel like talking when in his presence. The very consciousness of being near him is all-sufficent. 117. What more may man ask than to be literally a child of God? 118. If he who criticises does not benefit others or himself he is doing no good, but is ''creation's blot, creation's blank". 119. Slang is dethroned poetry. 120. All excel in one or two good traits, he who excels in most is the great man. 121. Every man owes the world all the nobility of character it is possible for him to become possessed of. One of the few things wherein man underestimates himself is his 34 THOUGHTS AND PASTELS. influence on others. The world is more strongly affected by him than he thinks. 122. Speak nothing but good of the dead ; we know enough evil of the living. 123. To be never discouraged is not always a sign of wisdom. 124. God is the author of the two grandest poems ever written, Woman, and Nature. 125. It is our bounden duty to ennoble ourselves and others. This demands work^ but neglect is a crime. 126. God never allows an unnecessary person; every living human being is essen- tial to creation. He has a commission to fulfil, and just damnation awaits the man who runs away or wilfully neglects his work. 127. Hope is frequently inverted experi- ence. 128. Each thing in the material world is symbolic. The primary reason for its ex- istence is that it mav bless the soul of man. ^ 129. To have our good acts evil spoken of is better than to have our bad acts well spoken of. 130. Let fancy fly, but judgment should walk. THOUGHTS AND PASTELS. 35 131. Almost all men believe that right 'shall ultimately triumph, but why do they not act up to this conviction? Because they are either thoughtless or selfish. 132. The world may owe you a living, but the nobility that you owe the world is a greater debt and will forbid you taking your due. 133. Moro great poems are lived than written. 134. The man who works not with either body or brain is a curse. He is a very devil, fobbing himself, mankind, and God. 135. The human heart must overflow when great grief or joy comes, or else, per- liaps unconsciously, suffer physically. 136. The mysterious is always the most fascinating. 137. Most people can bear blame from -enemies, but few can withstand flattery from friends. 138. Love is a paradox: beginning with- Tegard for one, it is not diminished but greatly increased by b'eiug allowed to over- flow on others. 139. With the exception of love, its Kiaother,, nothing terrestrial satisfies a man 6b THOUGHTS AND PASTELfe\ SO completely as to have a woman whom he likes jealous of him! 140. A verbal promise is as binding morall}^ as a written promise is legally. 141. Make a distinction between inher- ited and acquired nobility. The one we de- serve no credit for, the other we deserve nil credit for. 142. Unapplied wisdom is like pearls in the sea. 143. No act is negative; it is either good or bad. 144. The rule, Silence is golden, is gen- erally true, but there are many times when silence is dishonoring> 145. The highest test of love is the sers- timent expressed in this phrase by Mrs, Browning: "You please me when you please yourself". 146. Throughout Nature, as we know her, nothing is lost: apparently destroyed ^ the object has sinaply assumed another form. So it is in the moral world: good deeds, bad words, all leave ineffaceable impressions. 147. All persons displease me in some- way; shall I, therefore, refuse to love them? Nay; I should rather exert myself to love them so much for the good that is in tben^ THOUGHTS AND PASTELB. 37 that i«y thoughts of their good qualities shall outweigh my thoughts of their bad ones. 1-18. The highest joys are inseparable from the greatest griefs, and whether or no both shall affectum for good depends on our- 149. He who never believes the simple statements of others cannot expect to be ever believed himself. 150. The heart that beats strongest for suffering man is the heart best capable of loving God. 151. Wisdom is one of the few good things which sometimes comes to man un- sought. 152. True greatness is tolerant of others^ scrutiny; the mean soul cannot bear inves- tigation. 153. A man proud without reason is a most detestable creature; proud with reason he is allowable, but negative. 154. The man who is humble enough to acknowledge that others' opinions are some- times better than his own is wise enough to be seldom wrong. 155. Good blesses the doer of it more than the receiver. 38 THOUGHTS AND PASTELS. 156. When nobody has anything to say against me, let me die! 157. The soul's instinct must be the de- cider of what is right and what is wrong, but as every soul is more or less i^nperfect it follow.s that men v/ill always differ in their judgment. We have no absolute standard of perfection, or, rather, we are not able to either see perfection or agree on a definition of it. 158. The same qualities precisely are in all men, but not in equal proportions. 159. Men break promises made to a multitude when they keep those made to one person, but in other matters they honor the mass even when they despise every in- dividual man in it. 160. Probably thought is as substanial to a spirit as material things are to the body. 161. Our joys may cease and we are sad for a time: but when hope ceases neither the past nor the present can please ns. 162. It should be our aim not to keep the sabbath holier than the other days, but to make all the days as holy as the sabbath. 163. Paralysis of the soul is the worst disease on earth, and the most common. THOUGHTS AND PASTELS, 39 164. Love curves on itself and rewards the lover more than the beloved. 165. Society and solitude are of equal necessity. In society we receive: in solitude we digest. But ah, blessed are we if in solitude we can both receive and digest. 166. God, looking into the future, sees man — able and compelled to choose for him- self — decide betweeii heaven and hell, and then, having allowed him to choose, ordains that as his choice is in time so shall be his portion in eternity. This and this only is predestination. 167. Despair is the illegitimate child of Misfortune and Weakness. 168. Our life is a cloud, hiding the sky of eternity. 169. When truths seem not to harmonize be sure a link, a third truth, connecting the two others, is missing. Truths must neces- sarily harmonize, but our imperfect know- ledge raises confusion. 170. Which is harder, to see the evil in the persons we like, or to see the good in those we do not like? 171. Life forms the body,— and then is subject to it! 40 THOUGHTS A^^D PASTEi.S. 172. If we were as afraid of being wrong as we are of being serious we would be so serious that we would not be so often wrong. , 173. Eternity is not prolonged tinne, but a state. 174. The wise man knows the fool for a fool, but the fool can never know the wise man for a wise man, or he would be wise himself. The greater may include the less and still be great, but the part is never more than a part. 175. Each man is necessarily the stand- ard, in one sense, by v\:hich he measures all else, both man and matter. 176. If we did as well as we know, we would soon be perfect. 177. Progress self-evidently invol ves life, and life is, we may say, the growing princi- ple. Now bodily life of all kinds feeds on material lower than itself, but soul-life feeds on principles, or life, higher than itself. 178. Many persons' externals are more beautiful than they themselves, as, face and manners, but persons inwardly beautiful are usually beautiful in externals also. 179. The peace of life is a totally dif- ferent thing from the peace of death. THOUGHTS AND PASTELS, 41 180. Things which we absolutely know but which, from the nature of the case, are not provable to others and w^hich we will not explain, most people will neither believe nor forgive us for affirming. 181. The highest compliment that can be paid to a woman is to treat her as a man should be treated: that is, frankly and honestly, with the utmost courtesy and purity. 182. We judge ourselves by what, we do, that is, the good; we judge others by their omission of the good, that is, their sins. 183. The hypocrite is never so near ex- posure as when his righteousness is called into question; no one shall question his righteousness. 184. The worst form of conceit is- that springing from humility, 185. The pain in ecstasy of feeling is caused by the inability of the body to keep pace with the unusual demands of the soul. 186. Senses, or the sense, may be right, spirit is right. Sense involves a mixture of evil with good; spirit is wholly pure. 187. The worst hunger is that of the heart, for love: the worst satiety is that of the heart, being obliged, through not finding 6 42 THOUGHTS AND PASTELS. any one to love, to expend all its love-wealth on itself. 188. I wish to fear nothing that I know of but fear. 189. Instinct is the sun, reason the moon, 190. The fear of intruding is often a great discourtesy: friends must not act like ac- quaintances. 191. Reason is confined to the earth, spirit, or intuition, is unconfined. 192. We should prepare for death? Not so: we should prepare for something more solemn — Life. 193. Irreverence for the name of God is by no means the only form of profanity. Any good thing,— person, object, or idea, may be profaned. 194. There are two classes of people to whom we reveal ourselves; our friends, be- cause they understand us, and a cerUiin other class because— they are stupid. 195. The more we love ourselves the more we please God; The less we love our- selves the more we please God. Both these statements are true. 196. Perfect freedom of soul can ne ver be obtained without first conforming per- fectly to the natural needs of the body. THOUGHTS AND PASTELS. 48 r97. The best friend distrusts himself 'more than he does his friend. 198. If we with all the heart desired per- fection, we should be perfect. The perfect desire and the attainment are identical. 199. "Pain is a sign of life," but life need not be a sign of pain. 200. Working as a fragment of the whole, a man may honorably accept any aid offered. Working selfishly,' to accept* any aid is dishonorable. 201. Labor may be dignified, but some men are compelled to be decidedly undig- nified in doing it. 202. For a person who has never loved to try to understand it is like a blind person endeavoring to judge of the merits of a picture. He may handle it, and possibly gnin some little impression of it through the finger-tips, but — ! 203. Excess of hope is despair. 204. Intuition compels, reason advises. 205. Men reverence the dead more than the living, and thus prove themselves fools, 206. The real basis of all love, all friend- ship, all goodwill, is reverence. 207. The strength as well as the diffi- eulty of renouncing is exactly propvortioned 44 THOUGHTS AND PASTELS. to the intensity of the feeling present, if we but knew it. 208. Affectation is the desire to appear different from what we are, but it is some- times confused with the desire to develope and improve ourselves. 209. Abstract truth has little influence over us; to draw us strongly it must be con- nected with something earthly. 210. The more we lean on others the more capable we are of strengthening others. 211. "The world is a chaos; life is a puzzle and a farce;" granted for the sake of the argument: perhaps it is thy sole business to bring some order into the world, and to solve life and make it serious by the dignity of thy actions. 212. Is the darkness of the beyond worse than the folly of the past? Take heart, then, be brave and wise, using well thy materials, however poor they may be. 213. Which prefer you to see, a symmetr rical and handsomely carved statue oY wood, or an ugly one of ivory? If compelled to choose, which would you be? 214. What if all the range of Uvotes in sound that we can hear, from lowest bass to highest treble^ should bo but one note in the THOUGHTS AND PASTeLS. 45 whole of music, — the middle C, say, frag- mented for man! 215. Knowledge is often more lament- able than ignorance, because used wrongly. Still, learn at any cost. 216. We sometiuies utter truths and yet are not able to explain how we come to say them, nor even to argue out our reasons for believing them. There is no disputing with the reasons of the soul, no proof outside of themselves. 217. The home of the body is stationary; the home of the soul is everywhere, in all things, in the realm of the mind and the realm of the spirit. But some souls seem to have no home! 218. This delight in the mysterious is the vague endeavor to find the purpose and soul which we instinctively feel to be in all^ to which we are related. 219. Love for one cannot be confined to that particular soul; it will overflow on our friends. This overflow is a test of love. 220. By analyzing others we become harsh and uncharitable: by analyzing our- selves we become gentle and sympathetic. 221. Hope must be for something defi- nite, else it is not hope but uneasy longing. 46 THOUGHTS AND PASTELF. 222. To give up one's rights is perhaps as often a sign of weakness as of strength. 223. Both old age and youth make mis- takes, old age from being too conservative, youth from bein.g too radical, but if the world is to advance it is more necessary to be radical than conservative. 224. There are three kinds of reserve, natural reserve or bashfulness, the reserve of purity, which shrinks from the touch of some persons, and the reserve of un worthi- ness or weakness, which wishes to appear better than it is. 225. Actions are plain, but the motives being mixed or hidden entirely, vie are more apt to judge wrongly than rightly. 226. And we cannot rightly divide be- tween the motives for our own actions, yet pass judgment on others' actions! 227. The deepest love makes the great- est mistakes. 228. Just as we may apprehend Divinity but not comprehend it. so must we appre- hend that others may be right, whether we can justify their deeds or not. What is wrong to one person may be perfectly right to another. 229. If any one thing more than another THOUGHTS AND PASTELS. 4/ proves the nobility of man it is that 'tis easier to love than to hate. 230. We might live in perpetual silence without losing very much, but no one can live in a perpetual round of words without losing very, very much. 231. 'Insults are unconscious tributes to superiority. 232. Hope is the fountain of life, renew- ing us daily from the iminortalities of per- fection. 233. Evil apprehends good but cannot comprehend it: good both apprehends and comprehends evil. 234. Earthly evil may be wholly evil, but no earthly good is unailo3"ed. 235. Both the fanatic and the true man say, "Pursue Truth, at any cost," but the fanatic looks only at the end, the true man considers the n-;eans also. 236. ''To thine own self be true;" truly, the most difficult thing in the world. 237. If the head comprehends we may still converse, whether the heart comprehend or not, but when neither heart ^nor head un- derstand, conversation ceases. 238. What we receive is almost exactly 40 THOUGHTS AJJD PASTELS. proportioned to what we first give or are willing to give. 239. To always decide slowly is folly: to always decide quickly is much worse folly. 240. To truly learn from experience, the rules we can draw from one experience must be applied to other things. Few people do this, and thus many never learn from ex- perience. 241. Foolishly saved means foolishly spent. 242. Silence and tears are the only things that can express extreme joy as well as extreme grief. 243. Fate deals the cards, and fate may decree that we lose; but we make niany mistakes in playing them, and our mistakes are worse than anything done by fate. 244. Pain should be to us not as a hornet but as a bee: both sting, but from the bee we receive honey also. 245. Man ma}^ develop himself into the greatest thing or the smallest thing on earth. 246. Does the builder question the bricks as to whether they w'ould rather be near the bottom of the wall or the top, on the inside or the outside? They all have their places, and each place is important. Who knows THOUGHTS AND PASTELS. 49 how greatly he is needed in the world, or what a crime it would be to remove himself? 247. If man trembled as much over his sins as he does over the future, he would have less reason to dread anything the future might bring. 248. Do nothing of which you would be ashamed to have the world know. 249. Men honor men when they do not honor God, but they cannot honor God without honoring men. 250. Body wavers, soul is steadfast: body needs change, soul needs no change: body asks proof: soul needs no proof: body doubts, soul believes. 251. Soul can teach reason, but reason oannot teach soul. Soul is at once plaintiff and defendent, lawyer and witness, judge and sheriff. 252. The bad usually improve on ac- quaintance; the good sometimes lose. 253. We should instruct ourselves, not others, or, at least, ourselves first, then others through us. 254. Beauty must contain truth, or 'tis not beauty. As well try to find the rose's perfume independent of the rose as to expect beauty to be independerit of the truth, 7 50 THOUGHTS AND PASTELS, 255. We win our friends more throtrgb their noblenes;? than our own. 256. Simplicity is one of the most nec- essary and profound studies of life. 257. Sincerity always demands and re- ceives respect, but not sincerity nor frank- ness nor strength combined are able to root a fact in another man. Truth must first be present to some extent, then these aids-de- camp may assist. 258. Words are but the body of thought^ and like our earthly body cannot be fully controlled; nor do they exactly express us, 259. Thou art dissatisfied because thy goed acts are not admitted as such, not even seen? The greatest buildings have the deepest foundations; many stones have to be hidden, and who can say but your acts are as necessary, nay, more so, than many others, to some building too large for our eyes to measure? 260. Great men seek simplicity in thoughts, in words, in illustrations, and are greatly fundamental. Small men seek greatness as if it were a fact in itself, and not a great combination of small things. 261. Head-analysis and heart-feeling do not make a happily-married couple. T'HTOUGHTS AND PASTELS. 51 ^62. Looking for flowers without thorns is the most likely way of finding thorns without flowers. 263. It is the duty of conscience not only to make action accord with present belief, but to guide the mind when it contemplates changing its beliefs. Beliefs change be- cause the mind honestly seeks truth, but 'conscience, properly speaking, never changes 264. Grief finds no rest in rest, but only in action. 265. Many a person's most subtle thoughts and exquisite impressioiis are lost to himself and others because no one re- ■sponds exactly to them, when if they did so respond other and wiser shades, from still more remote and delicate recesses of the mind, would come firmly forth, to the sur- prise and joy of both. 266. The most valuable silence is that which is judiciously used to punctuate and accentuate speech with. 267. Love is the force that unites, that harmonizes. Perfect love means perfect union 268. The individual is most himself when he becomes most universal. 269. Only he who is perfect need never ?ipologize. 52 THOU€FBTS AND PASTELS'. 270. Half our ambition is caused by tbe faith of otbers in us. 271. Those who object to any one'W quoting frequently never say anything themselves worthy of being heard, much less quoted. 272. Paradoxes are the most simple and yet profound expressions obtainable of truth. This is because they contain both sides of truth,, or, I might say^ they bring the poles of truth together. 273. We may argue about duty,- but not against it.- 274. It requires as much wisdom to be' wisely stupid as to be simply wise. 275. Some people are so very over-con- scientious and so very obstinate that if they once get the idea into their head that some- thing is wrong, if God himself should tell them that it was right I verily believe they would contradict hina. 276. Be as wise and strong and as nearly perfect in every way as possible, or the time will inevitably come when you will falter or perhaps fail for lack of what you might have had, or should have been. 277. God himself never puts on ms- more* than we can bear, but he sometimes allows THOUGHTS AND P4STELS. 5^-^ our fellow hnman-beings to put on us things which would be unbearable if he did not up- hold us. But, O suffering heart, because he allows such things he will always uphold us. 278. He who is sufficient for himself \s the foolishest of the foolish or the wisest of the wise. 279. Imagination causes misery oftener than happiness. 280. Let us get what comfort we can from the thought that perhaps heaven will be inversely proportioned to all those suif- erings of hell which have strayed to earth. 281. He is the strongest of all strong men Vv^ho can honestly smile at the grave of buried hope. 282. The greatest sins committed, both intentionally and unintentionally, are done in the name of righteousness. 288. The end of our acts is the end ot eternity. 284. In objective affairs the pleasure is in the pursuit and not in the attainment: in subjective affairs the pleasure is in the at- tainment, or the success. 285. To say that we know nothing is much more untrue than to affirm that we Isnow all things: the first statement is a 54 THOUGHTS AND PABTELS. complete falsity, the other contains a little truth, as no sane man is wholly devoid of knowledge. 286. There is more hope of the man who has great vices than of him who has no great virtues. 287. The only time when failure means more failure than gain is when we do not rise above it. 288. Truth wished to make a visible rosary of her parts for man's use — and made men write books. What w^ould books have been if Truth w^ere not alloyed by man's imperfect nature? 289. Books bring priceless knowledge, but unless they develope us by throwing us more heavily back on ourselves w^e miss the greatest knowledge they can teach us. 290. Almost anything, even fanaticism, is much more forgivable than flippancy. 291. It should be a pleasure to admitj when we see ii, that we have made a mis- take or been at fault.— 'Not a pleasure in itself, of course, but because proof to our- self and evidence to others that our strife for purity is so sincere we will as freely condemn ourself, when occasion demands, as others. THOUGHTS AND PASTELS. 55 292. Men are loved for nothing in par- ticular, — without reason; they are disliked for one or two particular things, and with reason. 293. Revenge is the bastard child of Justice and Hate 294. Reticence means lack of thoughts and stupidity oftener than depth or self- control. 295. The wise are oftener foolish than the foolish are wise. 296. The fisherman who cares not to lose or risk his flies, catches nothing. 297. More have repented speech than silence. 298. Knowledge is to some a burden on the back, to others a carriage. 299. The great see resemblances; the little see differences. 300. In one of the churches in Rome there is an elaborately painted ceiling which seems without beauty or harmony of design unless viewed from one particular point; so the perplexing mosaic of life can- not be interpreted aright save from the standpoint of faith, — faith in God and the hereafter. 56 THOUGHTS AND PASTELS. 301. Seeking pleasure for its own sake is like drinking brine to quench thirst. 302. From one thing a genius unfolds the world. Most men cannot discover one thing from an entire world. .303. Talent is voluntary concentration; genius is involuntary concentration. 304. Only small things deserve argu- ment; great things are above it. 305. Stagnation is the result of not having known life: peace is the result of having lived, of having conquered. 306. Harmony with God is the aim of this world, the one end of all religions. Our discords arise from the finiteness of our means. 307. The genius reads others from a knowledge of himself; the ordinary man reads himself by comparison with others. 308. "I forgive;" in what way dost thou forgive when thou art still influenced by ihe past? 309. That friendship is very frail which thinks it necessary to always give presents in exchange for presents received. 310. The chief business of life is to make distinctions. ■i w i \ ^ > \* .... >, '"•°' ♦" ,. ' *. -.^'■^ .'i* *V^^A o "^^ .-^ * V* • • • * 4,V^ ^^ - o , * - f\ ^*^^ «^i^^o lOvS -^ ■-it. % :^.,^ a^Va" ■^^ A* '