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Even in our own family circle there may have been some one, a

woman, or even a child, in whose face has shone forth a goodness

more than human. The ideal then approaches nearer to us, and we

fondly cling to it. The ideal of the past, whether of our own

past lives or of former states of society, has a singular

fascination for the minds of many. Too late we learn that such

ideals cannot be recalled, though the recollection of them may

have a humanizing influence on other times. But the abstractions

of philosophy are to most persons cold and vacant; they give

light without warmth; they are like the full moon in the heavens

when there are no stars appearing. Men cannot live by thought

alone; the world of sense is always breaking in upon them. They

are for the most part confined to a corner of earth, and see but

a little way beyond their own home or place of abode; they 'do

not lift up their eyes to the hills'; they are not awake when the

dawn appears.