y and thoughtfully. "What a beautiful and orderly
series! First we must learn the dead formulas."

"Yes, the lifeless scientifics, if they may so be called, must first
be grounded in the memory. Arrangement and discrimination follow.
One fact or truth is compared with another, and the mind thus comes
to know, or has knowledge. Mere facts in the mind are lifeless
without thought. Thought broods over dead science in the external
memory, and knowledge is born."

"How clear! How beautiful!" ejaculated Mrs. Markland.

"But knowledge is little more than a collection of materials, well
arranged; intelligence builds the house."

"And wisdom is the inhabitant," said Mrs. Markland, whose quick
perceptions were running in advance.

"Yes--all that preceded was for the sake of the inhabitant. Science
is first; then knowledge, then intelligence--but all is for the sake
of wisdom."

"Wisdom--wisdom." Mrs. Markland mused again.

"What is wisdom?"

"Angelic life," said Mrs. Willet. "One who has thought and written
much on heavenly themes, says, 'Intelligence and wisdom make an
angel.'"

Mrs. Markland sighed, but did not answer. Some flitting thought
seemed momentarily to have shadowed her spirit.

"To be truly wise is to be truly good," said Mrs. Willet. "We think
of angels as the wisest and best of beings, do we not?"

"Oh, yes."

"The highest life, then, toward which we can aspire, is angelic
life. Their life is a life of goodness, bodying itself in wisdom."

"How far below angelic life is the natural life that we are leading
here!" said Mrs. Markland.

"And therefore is it that a new life is prescribed,--a life that
begins in learning heavenly truths first, as mere external formulas
of religion. These are to be elevated into knowledge, intelligence,
and afterward wisdom. And it is because we are so unwilling to lead
this heavenly life that our way in the world is often made rough and
thorny, and our sky dark with cloud and tempest."

Mr. Willet now interrupted the conversation by a remark that turned
the thoughts of all from a subject which he felt to be too grave for
the occasion, and soon succeeded in restoring a brighter hue to the
mind of Mrs. Markland. Soon after, the visitors returned home, all
parties feeling happier for the new acquaintance which had been
formed, and holding in their hearts a cheerful promise of many
pleasant interchanges of thought and feeling.

Many things said by Mr. Willet, and by hi