PAPER 79 



away for rubbish, or from tatters picked up from 

 the mud of the street. " 



Claire will be interested to learn the nature of 

 pa !!; luit, I am sure, the lowly origin of her prayer- 

 book will not lessen the value of it in her mind. 

 Skill performs a marvel in transforming despicable 

 rags into a book, depository of noble thoughts. God, 

 my clear child, does incomparably more in the mir- 

 acle of vegetation. The filth of the dung-hill, when 

 buried in the soil, becomes transformed into the most 

 pleasing things in the world; for it becomes the rose, 

 the lily, and other flowers. As for us, let us be like 

 Claire's book and the flowers of the good God: let 

 us try to have real value in ourselves, and let us 

 never blush at our humble extraction. There is only 

 one true greatness, only one true nobility : greatness 

 and nobility of the soul. If we possess them, the 

 in< -i-it is all the greater by reason of our lowly 

 origin/' 



