rather than the dull apathy of regret, is their chief characteristic. “Imaginary” love still beckons them on;--what has not been found Here will be found There! Happy, and always to be envied, are those who treasure this aerial sentiment of the spiritual brain! It is the dearest possession of every true artist. In every thought, in every creative work or plan, “imaginary” love goes before, pointing out wonders unseen by less enlightened eyes,--hiding things unsightly, disclosing things lovely, and making the world fair to the mind in all seasons, whether of storm or calm. Intensifying every enjoyment, adding a double thrill to the notes of a sweet song, lending an extra glow to the sunshine, an added radiance to the witchery of the moonlight, a more varied and exquisite colouring to the trees and flowers, a charm to every book, a delight to every new scene, “imaginary” love, a very sprite of enchantment, helps us to believe persistently in good, when those who love not at all, neither in reality nor in idealization, are drowning in the black waters of suicidal despair. So it is well for us--those who can--to imagine “imaginary” love! We shall never grasp the Dream in this world--nevertheless let us fly after it as though it were a Reality! Its path is one of sweetness more than pain,--its ways are devious, yet even in sadness still entrancing. Better than rank, better than wealth is this talisman, which with a touch brings us into close communication with the Higher worlds. Let us “imagine” our friends are true; let us “imagine” we are loved for our own sakes alone,--let us “imagine,” as we welcome our acquaintances into our homes, that their smiles and greetings are sincere--let us imagine “imaginary” love as the poets do,--a passion tender, strong and changeless--and pursue it always, even if the objects, which for a moment its passing wings have brushed, crumble into dust beneath that touch of fire! So shall our lives retain the charm of constant Youth and Hope,--so shall the world seem always beautiful to us,--so shall the Unimaginable glory of the future Real-in-Love shine nearer every day in our faithful, fond pursuit of its flying Shadow! THE ADVANCE OF WOMAN Follow Light and do the Right--for man can half control his doom-- Till you find the deathless Angel seated in the vacant tomb! --TENNYSON, _Locksley Hall, Sixty Years After_.