THE DREAMER'S MISSION. 241 



— she loved all things beautiful in nature, for she knew the 

 poet's truth 



" A thing of beauty is a joy forever," 



and she was happy in the thought that her presence could be 

 to gentle natures a blessing and a promise. 



But her soul was one which defied scrutiny, or rather, let us 

 say, it was veiled from others because it was as yet a mystery 

 to herself. Reared in the midst of luxury, and surrounded by 

 indulgences of every kind, she had known nothing of life but 

 its sunshine ; and many a precious plant which might have 

 blossomed beneath a clouded sky, was withered by the fervid 

 splendors of prosperity. She was full of noble capacities, and 

 high instincts, and good impulses, but she lived on in that sort 

 of outer life, which leaves one no time to look into the hidden 

 springs of human action. Few women learn to think in early 

 youth ; many women never learn to think at all, — a sort of 

 dim perception of cause and consequence, and a selfish calcu- 

 lation of probabilities, being the highest point to which their 

 minds attain ; while to all the sex, reflection only comes through 

 the portal which admits sorrow. The waters must have gone 

 over the bark which held our golden hopes, — we must have 

 gathered up the wrecks upon the shore as our all that the 

 waves have left, and as we bind the fragments together for our 

 second venture upon the stream of time, we learn to ponder, 

 to remember, to reflect. Few women learn to reason until 

 long after they have been taught to weep. 



