Page:The Clergyman's Wife.djvu/264

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262
Passing Words.
Enough of shadows darkly lie
Veiled within the sunniest eye.
By thy childhood's gushing tears,
By the griefs of after years,
By the anguish thou dost know,
Add not to another's woe!"

On the lips of women, at least, let us find spontaneous words of truth, hope, tenderness, praise, guidance! Kind words to their utterance should be familiar as their very breath. The oftener they speak them the more readily they will spring to their tongues, the more naturally they will drop from their lips, until their mouths resemble (at least, to the eyes of angels,) that of the pure-hearted maiden of fairy-tale memory, whose lips let fall diamonds, pearls and flowers, whenever she spoke; for Pascal says: "Kind words have been styled the flowers of existence; they make a paradise of home, however humble it may be; they are the jewelry of the heart, the gems of the domestic circle, the symbols of human life."