We were not surfeited, in those days, with what is called
pleasure; but we grew up happy and healthy, learning
unconsciously the useful lesson of doing without. The birds and
blossoms hardly won a gladder or more wholesome life from the air
of our homely New England than we did.
"Out of the strong came forth sweetness." The Beatitudes are the
natural flowering-forth of the Ten Commandments. And the
happiness of our lives was rooted in the stern, vigorous virtues
of the people we lived among, drawing thence its bloom and song,
and fragrance. There was granite in their character and beliefs,
but it was granite that could smile in the sunshine and clothe
itself with flowers. We little ones felt the firm rock beneath
us, and were lifted up on it, to emulate their goodness, and to
share their aspirations.
V.
OLD NEW ENGLAND.
WHEN I first opened my eyes upon my native town, it was already
nearly two hundred years old, counting from the time when it was
part of the original Salem settlement,--old enough to have gained
a character and an individuality of its own, as it certainly had.
Pages:
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126