that we may
learn to see distinctly that which vain expectation of happiness would
for ever hide from our gaze.

91. Economy avails us nothing in the region of the heart, for it is
there that men gather the harvest of life's very substance, it were
better that nothing were done there than that things should be done by
halves; and that which we have not dared to risk is most surely lost of
all. To limit our passions is only to limit ourselves, and we are the
losers by just so much as we hoped to gain. There are certain
fastnesses within our soul that lie buried so deep that love alone dare
venture down; and it returns laden with undreamed-of jewels, whose
lustre can only be seen as they pass from our open hand to the hand of
one we love. And indeed it would seem that so clear a light springs
from our hands as they open thus to give, that it penetrates substance
too opaque to yield to the mysterious rays just discovered.

92. It avails us nothing unduly to bemoan our errors or losses. For
happen what may to the man of simple faith, still, at the last minute
of the sorrow-laden hour, at the end of the week or year, still will he
find some cause for gladness as he turns his eyes within. Little by
little he has learned to regret without tears. He is as a father might
be who returns to his home in the evening, his day's work done. He may
find his children in tears perhaps, or playing dangerous, forbidden
games; the furniture scattered, glasses broken, a lamp overturned; but
shall he therefore despair? It would certainly have been better had the
children been more obedient, had they quietly learned their
lessons---this would have been more in keeping with every moral theory;
but how unreasonable the father who, in the midst of his harsh rebuke,
could withhold a smile as he turned his head away! The children have
acted unwisely, perhaps, in their exuberance of life; but why should
this distress him? All is well, so long as he return home at night, so
long as he ever keep about him the key of the guardian dwelling. As we
look into ourselves, and pass in review what our heart, and brain, and
soul have attempted and carried through while we were away, the benefit
lies far more in the searching glance itself than in the actual
inspection. And if the hours have not once let fall their mysterious
girdle on their way past our threshold; if the rooms be as empty as on
the day of departure, and those within have but sat with folded ar