The bright wine of
truth we crush from purple clusters in genial autumn; but bread
grows even while the vine slumbers."
"I know," said Mrs. Markland, "that, in the language of another,
'sweet are the uses of adversity.' I know it to be true, that good
gains strength and roots itself deeply in the winter of affliction
and adversity, that it may grow up stronger, and produce a better
harvest in the end. As an abstract truth, how clear this is! But, at
the first chilling blast, how the spirit sinks; and when the sky
grows dull and leaden, how the heart shivers!"
"It is because we rest in mere natural and external things as the
highest good."
"Yes--how often do we hear that remarked! It is the preacher's theme
on each recurring Sabbath," said Mrs. Markland, in an abstracted
way. "How often have words of similar import passed my own lips,
when I spoke as a mentor, and vainly thought my own heart was not
wedded to the world and the good things it offers for our
enjoyment!"
"If we are so wedded," said Mrs.
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