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that ? Does she know that she has given to others a 
revelation of much of her own character, and all her 
own sense of harmony and taste ? So much is this 
the case, that to a close observer the sight of a 
pattern, of a colour, or of a shape, will instantly 
bring before the mind’s eye such and such a person; 
observation has linked the two together so closely that 
they cannot be separated. When you turn over a 
book of patterns you often say to a friend, “ that 
will please you, it is exactly your taste,” and how 
rarely are you mistaken ; but what does this show ? 
It shows this—that the inner spirit is thrown out¬ 
ward, you see character “as in a mirror,” That 
which was secret is proclaimed aloud to every 
onlooker. When a lady calls upon a new comer, a 
single sweep of her trained eyes around the room she 
enters, acquaints her with the character of the 
stranger she is to meet. If the room be arranged in 
one way, she knows she is to meet one who is 
“ most precise; ” if in another way, one who is 
“ slipshod ; ” if in another way, she will mentally 
exclaim, “rich but vulgar.” This is true in the 
whole round of life, the inner spirit is manifested in 
the outer action, so that a word, or an arrangement 
of dress, become revelations, which express the 
invisible. 
We can carry this thought into other and higher 
regions. The greatest teachers of religion have 
taught us to look upon the world as the manifestation 
of God. Our Lord said, “ Consider the lillies of the 
field,” “ The fowls of the air,” they teach a lesson of 
God. St. Paul said, “The invisible things of God 
are seen through the things that are made.” The 
care, the love, the moral character of God are 
revealed by the things He hath created. 
“ Nature is but a name for an effect, 
Whose cause is God—One Spirit—His, 
Who wore the platted thorns with bleeding brows, 
Rules universal nature.” — Cowper. 
