We want to try Emerson's rule for becoming beautiful, so it will not do
to forget that "There is no beautifier of complexion, or form, or
behavior, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us."
"Every man takes care that his neighbor shall not cheat him. But a day
comes when he begins to care that he does not cheat his neighbor. Then
all goes well." Yes, Mr. Emerson, that is the only way to have things
go well,--following the Golden Rule.
"You cannot hide any secret. 'Tis as hard to hide as fire." Perhaps you
think that it is not so; but you just try how long you can keep a
secret that even your dearest friend does not know. I should not wonder
if Emerson were right once more.
"There is much you may not do." True again. We do not need Emerson to
tell us that. "You must not do that, you must not do this," the little
folks hear so often, that sometimes they wonder what they may do.
But we would like to have him tell us what things last longest.
He is all ready to tell whoever wants to know, "Beauty is the quality
which makes to endure. In a house that I know, I have noticed a block
of spermaceti lying about closets and mantel-pieces for twenty years
together, simply because the tallow-man gave it the form of a rabbit;
and I suppose it may continue to be lugged about unchanged for a
century.
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