Could we
not, all of us, profitably attempt to live in something like a
kindred spirit to that helpful and unselfish one that actuated
this girl of the Spanish sierras?
"Here and there is born a Saint Theresa," says George Eliot,
"foundress of nothing, whose loving heart-beats and sobs after an
unattained goodness tremble off and are dispersed among
hindrances, instead of centring in some long-recognizable deed."
But if a girl or boy, desiring to do right, will disregard the
hindrances, and not simply sit and sob after an unattained
goodness--if, instead, they will but do the duty nearest at hand
manfully and well, the reward will come in something even more
desirable than a "long-recognizable deed." It will come in the
very self-gratification that will at last follow every act of
courtesy, of friendliness, and of self-denial, and such a life
will be of more real value to the world than all the deeds of all
the crusaders, or than even the stern and austere charities of a
Saint Theresa.
ELIZABETH OF TUDOR:
THE GIRL OF THE HERTFORD MANOR.
[Afterward Queen Elizabeth of England; the "Good Queen Bess."]
A.D. 1548.
Pages:
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175