"The plate below has to be prepared, before it can ketch the picture and hold it.The light does not strike back the same reflection from every earthly thing.The serene lake mirrors back the light, in a calm flood of glory, the flashin' waterfall breaks it into a thousand dazzlin' sparkles.The dewy petal of the yellow field lily, reflects its own ray of golden light back, so does the dark cone of the pine tree, and the diamond, the opal, the ruby, each tinges the light with its own coloring, but the light is all from above.And they all reflect the light, in their own way for which the Divine skill has prepared them.
"Let us not try to compel the deep blue Ocean waves and the shinin' waterfall, and the lily blow, to reflect back the light, in the same identical manner.No, let the light stream down into high places, and low ones, let the truth shine into dark hearts, and into pure souls.God is light.God is Love.It is His light that shines down out of the twelve gates, and though the ruby, or the amethyst, may color it by their own medium, the light that is reflected, back is the light of Heaven.And Josiah Allen," sez I in a deeper, earnester tone, "let us who know so little ourselves, be patient with other ignerent ones.Let us not be too intolerent, for no intolerence, Josiah Allen is so cruel as that of ignerence, an' stupidity."Sez Josiah, "I won't believe in anything I can't see, Samantha Allen."I jest looked round at him witheringly, and sez I, "What have you ever seen, Josiah Allen, I mean that is worth sein'? Haint everything that is worth havin' in life, amongst the unseen? The deathless loves, the aspirations, the deep hopes, and faiths, that live in us and through us, and animate us and keep us alive, -- Whose spectacles has ever seen 'em? What are we, all of us human creeters, any way, but little atoms dropped here, Heaven knows why, or how, into the midst of a perfect sea of mystery, and unseen influences.What hand shoved us forwards out of the shadows, and what hand will reach out to us from the shadows and draw us back agin? Have you seen it Josiah Allen? You have felt this great onseen force a movin' you along, but you haint sot your eyes on it.
"What is there above us, below us, about us, but a waste of mystery, a power of onseen influences?.
"You won't believe anything you can't see: -- Did you ever see old Gravity, Josiah Allen, or get acquainted with him? Yet his hands hold the worlds together.Who ever see the mysterious sunthin' in the North that draws the ship's compass round? Who ever see that great mysterious hand that is dropped down in the water, sweepin' it back and forth, makin' the tides come in, and the tides go out? Who ever has ketched a glimpse of them majestic fingers, Josiah Allen? Or the lips touched with lightnin', whose whispers reach round the world, and through the Ocean? You haint see 'em, nor I haint, No, Josiah Allen, we don't know much of anything, and we don't know that for certain.We are all on us only poor pupils down in the Earth's school-room, learnin' with difficulty and heart ache the lessons God sets for us.
Tough old Experience gives us many a hard floggin', before we learn the day's lessons.And we find the benches hard, long before sundown.And it makes our hearts ache to see the mates we love droop their too tired heads in sleep, all round us before school is out.But we grind on at our lessons, as best we may.
Learnin' a little maybe.Havin' to onlearn a sight, as the pinters move on towards four.Clasping hands with fellow toilers and (hard task) onclaspin' 'em, as they go up above us, or down nearer the foot.Havin' little `intermissions' of enjoyment, soon over.But we plod on, on, and bimeby -- and sometimes we think we do not care how soon -- the teacher will say to us, that we can be 'dismissed.' And then we shall drop out of the rank of learners, and the school will go without us, jest as busily, jest as cheerfully, jest as laboriously, jest as sadly.Poor learners at the hard lessons of life.Learnin' out of a book that is held out to us from the shadows by an onseen, inexorable hand.
Settin' on hard benches that may fall out from under us at any time.Poor ignerent creeters that we are, would it not be a too arrant folly for us to judge each other hardly, we, all on us, so deplorably ignerent, so weakly helpless?"Sez Josiah, in earnest axcents, "Le's walk a little faster."And, in lookin' up, I see that he wuz readin' a advertisement.Iketched sight of a picture ornamentin' of it.It wuz Lydia Pinkham.And as I see that benine face, I found and recovered myself.Truly, I had been a soarin' up, up, fur above Saratoga, Patent Medicines, Josiah Allen, etc., etc.
But when I found myself by the side of Josiah Allen once more, Imoved onwards in silence, and soon we found ourselves right by the haven where I desired to be, -- our own tried and true boardin' house.
Truly eloquence is tuckerin', very, especially when you are a soarin' and a walkin' at the same time.
