Under the Trees and ElsewhereMabie, Hamilton Wright
History
Under the Trees and Elsewhere
Mabie, Hamilton Wright
Essays; Natural history -- Outdoor books
"I wonder," she said, "if love would be possible without the
Imagination? For the heart of love is the perception of a deep and
genuine fellowship of the soul, and the end of love is the happiness
which comes through ministry. Could we understand a human soul or
serve it if the Imagination did not aid us with its wonderful light?
Is it not the Imagination which enables me to put myself in another's
place, and so to sympathise with another's sorrow and share another's
joy? Could a man feel the sufferings of a class or a race or the world
if the Imagination did not open these things to him? And if he did not
understand, could he serve?"
No one answered these questions, for they made us aware on the instant
how dependent are all the deep and beautiful relations of life on this
wonderful faculty. But for this "master light of all our seeing," how
small a circle of light would lie about our feet, how vast a darkness
would engulf the world!
V
O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in 't!
We had never thought of the island in the old days save as lashed by
tempests; but now the suns rose and set, dawn wore its shining veil and
night its crest of stars and not a cloud darkened the sky; we seemed to
be in the heart of a vast and changeless calm. There was no monotony
in the unbroken succession of the days, but the changes were wrought by
light, not by darkness. The singing of the sea, never rising into
those shrill upper notes which bode disaster, nor sinking into the deep
lower tones through which the awful thunder of the elements breaks,
came to us as out of the depths of an infinite repose. The youth of an
untroubled world was in it. The joy of effortless activities breathed
through it. We felt that we were once more in the morning of the
world's day, and hope gave the keynote to all our thought. Life is
divided between hope and memory; when memory holds the chief place, the
shadows are lengthening and the day declining.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account