* * * * *

The earth is a fertile womb bringing forth fruits for all. A few men
claim they are God's first sons and take the crop.

* * * * *

There are women who breath forth intoxicating perfumes. The man who
inhales them is in danger of great good or of great evil.

* * * * *

Nature, unheard, performs her greatest deeds.

* * * * *

Ingratitude is a tree whose fruit poisons the very air.

* * * * *

Many could make lye out of the cold ashes of their hopes.

* * * * *

Gather the blossoms daily--the frost may come at night.

* * * * *

Plant no flowers on the graves of those we have neglected in life.

* * * * *

Some men are not content so long as an unfinished crime remains.

* * * * *

Some men prefer the drudgery of the devil to the sleep of innocence.

* * * * *

Women are tempted to taste a little evil, just to know what it is like.

* * * * *

Every life leads up to a precipice, over which a few jump, the others
tumble in and are lost.

* * * * *

We know that death is ever marching behind us but we never name the day
when he will catch up.

To hunt for mischief is to catch disaster.

* * * * *

Even a sigh trembles through the universe.

* * * * *

Nature must love woman to fashion her so beautiful.

* * * * *

The chain of some men's fate must be made of adamant.

* * * * *

Revere the dust--it was the men and women of long ago.

* * * * *

The keenest blade in South Africa is made from Ralph iron.

* * * * *

He believed her an angel--married and found her only a woman.

* * * * *

A curled knot of snakes is not as deadly as the signature to a mortgage.

* * * * *

In London they no longer say, "Lend me your purse--but your name."

* * * * *

A painter's description of matrimony--

Introduction: the background.