gladness are the eternal
verities on one side of the picture, so the spirit of service, the
spirit of sacrifice, is the eternal verity that forms their true
complement; without whose compensation, hope were but idle dreaming, and
laughter a hollow mockery. And self-denial, which is the keynote of
service, is the great sobering, justifying, eternal factor that
symbolizes humanity more perfectly than anything else. In the
introduction to _Romola_, George Eliot pictures a spirit of the past who
returns to earth four hundred years after his death, and looks down upon
his native city of Florence. And I can conclude with no better words
than those in which George Eliot voices her advice to that shade:

"Go not down, good Spirit: for the changes are great and the speech
of the Florentines would sound as a riddle in your ears. Or, if you
go, mingle with no politicians on the marmi, or elsewhere; ask no
questions about trade in Calimara; confuse yourself with no
inquiries into scholarship, official or monastic. Only look at the
sunlight and shadows on the grand walls that were built solidly and
have endured in their grandeur; look at the faces of the little
children, making another sunlight amid the shadows of age; look, if
you will, into the churches and hear the same chants, see the same
images as of old--the images of willing anguish for a great end,
of beneficent love and ascending glory, see upturned living faces,
and lips moving to the old prayers for help. These things have not
changed. The sunlight and the shadows bring their old beauty and
waken the old heart-strains at morning, noon, and even-tide; the
little children are still the symbol of the eternal marriage
between love and duty; and men still yearn for the reign of peace
and righteousness--still own that life to be the best which is a
conscious voluntary sacrifice."

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 19: An address to the graduating class of the Oswego, New
York, State Normal School, February, 1908.]

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRAFTSMANSHIP IN TEACHING***

******* This file should be named 16987.txt or 16987.zip *******

This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/9/8/16987

Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain pri