ATTAINABLE IDEALS. 63 



man who secures a modeiate coinpetence, accord- 

 ing to the ideas of the rank in which he was 

 brought up, and who passes his leisure time in 

 constant spiritual intercourse with Shakspeare 

 and Milton, with Locke and Emerson, with Rey- 

 nolds and Gainsborough, with Beethoven and 

 Mendelssohn, with cloud and sunset, with bee and 

 butterfly, with fern and flower, and with the deep 

 response of human s^Mupathy, has surely succeeded 

 in life immeasurably more truly than if he had 

 s[)ent his entire time poring over the delightful 

 details of his ledger and day-bock, and had died 

 leaving a personalty valued for probate at not less 

 than one hundred thousand pounds sterling. 



