A LETTER FROM MISS BREMER. , btV 



with the chastity in forms and colors, as well as with the 

 perfect grace and nobleness even in the slightest things. A 

 soul, a pure and elevated soul, seemed to have breathed 

 through them, and modelled them to expressions of its in- 

 nermost life and taste. How earnest was the home-spirit 

 breathing throughout the house and in every thing there, 

 and yet how cheerful, how calm, and yet how full of life ; 

 how silent and yet how suggestive, how full of noble 

 teaching ! 



When I saw the master of the house in the quiet of 

 his home, in every day life, I ceased to think of his art, 

 but I began to admire his nature. And his slight words, 

 his smile, even his silence, became to me as revelations of 

 new truths. You must see it also, you must recognize it 

 in these pages, through which he still speaks to us ; you 

 must recognize in them a special gift, a power of inspired, 

 not acquired, kind ; what is acquired, others may acquire 

 also, but what is given by the grace of God is the exclu- 

 sive property of the favored one. 



When I saw how my friend worked, I saw how it was 

 with him. For he worked not as the workman does j he 

 worked as the lilies in the field, which neither toil nor spin, 

 but unconsciously, smilingly, work out their glorious robes 

 and breathe forth their perfumes. 



To me it is a labor to write a letter, especially on busi- 

 ness ; he discharged every day, ten or twelve letters, as 

 easily as the wind carries flower-seeds on its wings over the 

 land. 



He never spoke of business of having much to do ; 

 he never seemed to have much to do. With a careless 

 ease and grace, belonging naturally to him, he did many 

 things as if they were nothing, and had plenty of leisure 

 and pleasantness for his friends. He seemed quietly and 



