lossoms eternally, because it is
nourished by immortal fountains. It bears dissimilar fruits, varies in
colour and glory, but all beautiful; let us undervalue none of them, for
all of them are capable of producing plants of eternal life.

"Youthful love--the beaming passion-flower of earth! Who will belie its
captivating beauty, who will not thank the Creator that he gave it to
the children of earth? But ah! I will exclaim to all those who drink of
its nectar, and to those who must do without it--'There are flowers
which are as noble as this, and which are less in danger than it of
being paled by the frosts of the earth--flowers from whose chalices
also you may suck life from the life of the Eternal!'

"Ah! if we only understood how near to us Providence has placed the
fountains of our happiness--if we had only understood this from the days
of our childhood upwards, acted upon it, and profited by it, our lives
would then seldom lead through dry wildernesses! Happy are those
children whose eyes are early opened by parents and home to the rich
activity of life. They will then experience what sweetness and joy and
peace can flow out of family relationships, out of the heartfelt union
between brothers and sisters, between parents and children: and they
will experience how these relations, carefully cherished in youth, will
become blessings for our maturer years.

"You pray me to speak of my home and my family. But when I begin with
this subject, who can say, Ida, whether I shall know how to leave off!
This subject is so rich to me, so dear--and yet how weak will not my
description be, how lifeless in comparison with the reality!

"The dwelling-house--which may be said to have the same relation to home
as the body has to the soul--arisen, now out of its ashes, stands on the
same place on which, twelve years ago, it was burnt down. I wish you had
been with me yesterday in the library at breakfast. It was Leonore's
birthday, and the family had occasioned her a surprise by a little gift
which was exactly according to her taste--ornament combined with
convenience. It was an insignificant gift--wherefore then did it give us
all so much pleasure? wherefore were there sweet tears in her pious
eyes, and in ours also? We were all so still, and yet we felt that we
were very happy--happy because we mutually loved one another, and
mutually pleased one another so much. The sun shone at that time into
the room--and see, Ida! this sunbe