Page:The Clergyman's Wife.djvu/325

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

THE SUNNY SIDE.


There could be no shadow were there no light, no eclipse were there no luminary to be obscured, no dark side to things spiritual and natural, were there no bright; and the former implies and testifies to the existence of the latter.

"Let the night be ne'er so dark,
The moon is surely somewhere in the sky!"

To discover that moon beneath its thickest shroud, to have perfect faith in the reality of this sunny side to all creation, to seek it out with unflagging hope, to draw it forth from the gloomiest abyss, until it rise radiant as Truth from the depths of her fabled well,—oh! that is one of the most joy-imparting, peace-producing, of all life's secrets.

Doubtless, Dr. Johnson meant to convey a very impressive counsel when he said that the habit of looking at the best side of every event was "far better than a thousand pounds a year," but we think he made a very low estimate of the value

(323)