She has a world of ready wealth,

Our minds and hearts to bless Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health, Truth breathed by cheerfulness.

One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,

Than all the sages can.

Sweet is the lore which Nature brings;

Our meddling intellect

Misshapes the beauteous forms of things:
We murder to dissect.

Enough of Science and of Art;

Close up these barren leaves;

Come forth, and bring with you a heart

That watches and receives.

William Wordsworth.

We are all acquainted with people who have a rage for being abroad, who think the world would no longer go round if they didn't figure on all sides of it. To stay at home is penal; there they cease to be in view. A horror of home life possesses them to such a degree that they would rather pay to be bored outside than be amused gratuitously within.

Charles Wagner.

Simplicity is the model of expression which is inseparable from a truth-loving nature. Ostentation and love of display indicate some complexity of motive or some obliquity of spirit. Plainness of manner bears witness to singleness of heart. The man who exalts truth above all things moves directly to his object. He selects his words not for the purpose of adorning thought, but for the purpose of giving it precise expression. He determines upon his actions not with a view of impressing men, but with the object of fulfilling the impulses of his heart. In dealing with such a nature one does well to stand on the firm ground of sincerity, to discard all the devices of artfulness, and find strength in quietness and confidence.

Anon.

Men are burdened with doing. They must do this and that; and the day is too short for the works of the day, and there are not enough days in the year to finish the tasks appointed. Men and women are always hurrying, always worrying, always under pressure of so-called duties. But the apostle simplified the problem of life amazingly when he said, “This one thing I do." He selected the highest, the chief thing, and gave to that his whole life.

Anon.

Though all the town be wrapp'd in furs,
A sense of warmth and April stirs.

Her lips may be as soft as those
The bee is proffered by the rose-
I do not know; but this I'm sure:
They smile alike on rich and poor.

Her ear may be so fine a fleck
It scarce casts shadow on her neck;
I only know 'tis not too small
To listen when the needy call.

I know not if her hand be white,
Or if her foot be arched and slight;
Her feet will run to carry aid,
Her hand shower blessings unrepaid.

If she should die, some brush might trace
The maiden's comeliness or grace;

But most could only strive, ah yes,
Somehow to fill the loneliness.

Frederic Lawrence Knowles.

Ornament is but the gilded shore

To a most dangerous sea; the beauteous scarf Veiling an Indian beauty; in a word,

The seeming truth which cunning times put on To entrap the wisest.

Shakespeare.

The Architect of the universe, by whom all things were created, when for love's sake He became a man, made ploughs and yokes. The loftiest soul did lowliest work. Hard hands belonged to the gentlest heart. The Son of God would not have an exceptional lot, but a common one. He must know how most men feel, and so He became a wage-earner and a daylabourer.

Maltbie Davenport Babcock.

Livery counts for nothing: we must see the heart. No class has the prerogative of simplicity; no dress, however humble in appearance, is its unfailing badge. Its dwelling need not be a garret, a hut, the cell of the ascetic nor the lowliest fisherman's bark.

A childlike mind in its simplicity practises that science of good to which the wise may be blind.

Schiller.