A LETTER FROM MISS BREMER. IxV 



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

 perfect grace and nobleness even in the slightest thirigs. A 

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

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

 nermost hfe 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 fuU of noble 

 teaching ! ^ 



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

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

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

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

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

 in these pages, through which he still sp6aks 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 Grod 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 ; he 

 worked as the liUes 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 fiower-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, belon^g naturally t^ him, he did many 

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

 and nleasantness for Ms friends. /He seemed quietly and 



