To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable; and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never-in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common; this is to be my symphony. William Henry Channing.

There is no rhyme that is half so sweet

As the song of the wind in the rippling wheat;

There is no metre that's half so fine

As the lilt of the brook under rock and vine;

And the loveliest lyric I ever heard

Was the wildwood strain of a forest bird.

Madison Cawein.

Simple hearts put all the history and customs of this world behind them, and play their own play in innocent defiance of the blue-laws of the world; and such would appear, could we see the human race assembled in vision, like little children frolicking together, though to the eyes of mankind at large they wear a stately and solemn garb of works and influences.

Ralph Waldo Emerson.

You want to get simple, clear, universal religion? You cannot get it by any patchwork, saying to yourself, "Now I am going to study a little Buddhism, then a little Calvinism, now a little Liberalism. There is truth in all these things; by putting them all together I can find a broader religion." Confusion worse confounded can be the only result of that. But suppose you do not try to do that at all. Suppose you ask yourself simply this: "What, to me, is the best and highest conception of religion? What is the best gift a man can have?" When you are looking only for the best you pass lightly over wearisome controversies, but you come at last to great utterances that arrest your attention. Take, for instance, the words of the old prophet: What doth God require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God?" At this your heart kindles. You say, "I can believe that; that is true religion."

66

Samuel M. Crothers.

I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts: I am no orator, as Brutus is;

But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man, For I have neither wit, nor word, nor worth, Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech, To stir men's blood: I only speak right on. Shakespeare.

Simplicity is the great friend to nature, and if I would be proud of anything in this silly world, it should be of this honest alliance.

Sterne.

To give pleasure to a single heart by a single kind act is better than a thousand head-bowings in prayer.

What though no rule of courtly grace

Saadi.

To measured mood had train'd her pace, -

A foot more light, a step more true,

Ne'er from the heath-flower dash'd the dew;

E'en the slight harebell raised its head,

Elastic from her airy tread;

What though upon her speech there hung
The accent of the mountain tongue,
Those silver sounds, so soft, so clear,
The list'ner held his breath to hear.

Sir Walter Scott.

But when they stripped him of his ornaments
It was the baubles lost their grace, not he.

It seemed the soul within him made his limbs And made them grand. The baubles were well gone,

He stood the more a king, when bared to man. George Eliot.

We are dazzled with the splendour of titles, the ostentation of learning, the noise of victories; they, on the contrary, see the philosopher in the cottage, who possesses his soul in patience and thankfulness, under the pressures of what little minds call poverty and distress. They do not look for great men at the head of armies, or among the pomps of a court, but often find them out in shades and solitudes, in the private walks and by-paths of life. The evening's walk of a wise man is more illustrious in their sight than the march of a general at the head of a hundred thousand men. A contemplation on God's works; a voluntary act of justice to our own detriment; a generous concern for the good of mankind; tears that are shed in silence for the misery of others; a private desire or resentment broken and subdued; in short, an unfeigned exercise of humility, or any other virtue - are such actions as are glorious in their sight, and denominate men great and reputable. The most famous among us are often looked upon with pity, with contempt, or with indignation; while those who are most obscure among their own species are regarded with love, with approbation, and esteem. The Spectator.

Simplicity of character is the natural result of profound thought.

Hazlitt.

After all, of what use is this pride of appearance, for which so much is risked, so much is suffered? It cannot promote health or ease pain; it makes no increase of merit in the person; it creates envy; it hastens misfortune.

"What is a butterfly? At best,
He's but a caterpillar drest,

The gaudy fop's his picture just,"

as Poor Richard says.

Benjamin Franklin.

There can be, I fear, no question that the outIside world has been reflected in our schools. I hear on all sides stories of increased expenditure of all kinds. There must be fancy dresses for all games, and boys are made to feel uncomfortable who do not conform to the fashion, or who practise such useful and often necessary economies as wearing old clothes or travelling third-class. You know whether such things are true here. If they are, they are sapping true manliness, and tainting our national life at its roots.

Thomas Hughes.

In character, in manners, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.

Longfellow.