The Life Beautiful 



yi.— THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT IS THE LIFE OF THE HOME 

 'By Lilian Whiting 



"We should fill the hours with the sweetest 

 things 

 If we had but a day; 

 We should only drink at the purest springs 



On our upward way; 

 We should love wiih a life-time's love in an 

 hour, 



If our hours were few. 

 We should rest— not for dreams, but for 

 fresher power, 

 To be and to do." 



LOVE is for every day in the year and 

 its tokens need not largely concern 

 Themselves with the calendar. And 

 still, as the Christmas-tide draws near, 

 hearts grow warmer and looks more kind, 

 and life assnmes new significances. 



In these illnminated days we ask anew, 

 What is the life of the spirit, as lived day 

 by day, in the life of the home, in the na- 

 tural relations and incidental events and 

 circumstances; and. second, how can it be 

 maintained ? 



What is the life of the spirit? It is 

 love, joy and peace. And can we always 

 and under all circumstances give love? 

 Can we love what is not winning and lov- 

 able? Can we be joyful when sadness and 

 sorrow encompass us ? Can we have peace 

 when things are irritating and hard to 

 bear ? 



It would be a poor result of all the ideal 

 qualities — of love, of patience, of faith ; of 

 that serenity and poise which should char- 

 acterize every rational life, if these ques- 

 tions could not be answered with a trium- 

 phant affirmative. For the joy of the spirit 

 is that which determines the joy or suffer- 

 ing, and this may be so held to the higher 

 plane that the vexations or even sorrows 

 on the lower plane of the transient life 

 shall not affect it. 



Mrs. Julia Ward Howe has often spoken 

 of an epoch-making sermon preached by 

 Theodore Parker on "The Transient and 



the Permanent in Christianity". The 

 subject epitomises the varied experiences 

 of life. There are the transient and the 

 permanent, and nothing can be so condu- 

 cive to the peace and sweetness of the true 

 ■c-ulture of character in the family life, as 

 to distinguish between these and set the 

 key of recognition accordingly. Troubles, 

 trial, disappointments, are things to be met 

 fortitude and with cheerfulness. Xot 

 too early can this lesson be taught to the 

 child. If a rainy day makes impossible 

 a pleasure excursion, the child can be 

 trained to accept it with perfect sweetness 



LILIAN WHITING 



and find his pleasure in some other direc- 

 tion and thus one of the most valuable 

 lessons for his future life is learned. 



A very large percentage of the anxieties 

 and perplexities of daily experience might 

 be eliminated at once, and struck off the 

 balance never to return again, if life were 

 but viewed aright, and held in the scale of 

 true valuations. Xothing is more idle 

 than to sell one's soul for a mess of pot- 



