[The fifty following Maxims are taken from the Sixth Edition of the PensÉes De La Rochefoucauld, published by Claude Barbin, in 1693, more than twelve years after the death of the author (17th May, 1680). The reader will find some repetitions, but also some very valuable maxims.]LXXVI.—Many persons wish to be devout; but no one wishes to be humble.LXXVII.—The labour of the body frees us from the pains of the mind, and thus makes the poor happy.LXXVIII.—True penitential sorrows (mortifications) are those which are not known, vanity renders the others easy enough.LXXIX.—Humility is the altar upon which God wishes that we should offer him his sacrifices.LXXX.—Few things are needed to make a wise man happy; nothing can make a fool content; that is why most men are miserable.LXXXI.—We trouble ourselves less to become happy, than to make others believe we are so.LXXXII.—It is more easy to extinguish the first desire than to satisfy those which follow.LXXXIII.—Wisdom is to the soul what health is to the body.LXXXIV.—The great ones of the earth can neither command health of body nor repose of mind, and they buy always at too dear a price the good they can acquire.LXXXV.—Before strongly desiring anything we should examine what happiness he has who possesses it.LXXXVI.—A true friend is the greatest of all goods, and that of which we think least of acquiring.LXXXVII.—Lovers do not wish to see the faults of their mistresses until their enchantment is at an end.LXXXVIII.—Prudence and love are not made for each other; in the ratio that love increases, prudence diminishes.LXXXIX.—It is sometimes pleasing to a husband to have a jealous wife; he hears her always speaking of the beloved object.XC.—How much is a woman to be pitied who is at the same time possessed of virtue and love!XCI.—The wise man finds it better not to enter the encounter than to conquer.
[Somewhat similar to Goldsmith's sage— "Who quits {a} world where strong temptations try, And since 'tis hard to co{mbat}, learns to fly."]XCII.—It is more necessary to study men than books.
["The proper study of mankind is man."—Pope {Essay On Man, (1733), Epistle II, line 2}.]XCIII.—Good and evil ordinarily come to those who have most of one or the other.XCIV.—The accent and character of one's native country dwells in the mind and heart as on the tongue. (Repitition Of Maxim 342.)XCV.—The greater part of men have qualities which, like those of plants, are discovered by chance. (Repitition Of Maxim 344.)XCVI.—A good woman is a hidden treasure; he who discovers her will do well not to boast about it. (See Maxim 368.)XCVII.—Most women do not weep for the loss of a lover to show that they have been loved so much as to show that they are worth being loved. (See Maxim 362.)XCVIII.—There are many virtuous women who are weary of the part they have played. (See Maxim 367.)XCIX.—If we think we love for love's sake we are much mistaken. (See Maxim 374.)C.—The restraint we lay upon ourselves to be constant, is not much better than an inconstancy. (See Maxim 369, 381.)CI.—There are those who avoid our jealousy, of whom we ought to be jealous. (See Maxim 359.)CII.—Jealousy is always born with love, but does not always die with it. (See Maxim 361.)CIII.—When we love too much it is difficult to discover when we have ceased to be beloved.CIV.—We know very well that we should not talk about our wives, but we do not remember that it is not so well to speak of ourselves. (See Maxim 364.)CV.—Chance makes us known to others and to ourselves. (See Maxim 345.)CVI.—We find very few people of good sense, except those who are of our own opinion. (See Maxim 347.)CVII.—We commonly praise the good hearts of those who admire us. (See Maxim 356.)CVIII.—Man only blames himself in order that he may be praised.CIX.—Little minds are wounded by the smallest things. (See Maxim 357.)CX.—There are certain faults which placed in a good light please more than perfection itself. (See Maxim 354.)CXI.—That which makes us so bitter against those who do us a shrewd turn, is because they think themselves more clever than we are. (See Maxim 350.)CXII.—We are always bored by those whom we bore. (See Maxim 352.)CXIII.—The harm that others do us is often less than that we do ourselves. (See Maxim 363.)CXIV.—It is never more difficult to speak well than when we are ashamed of being silent.CXV.—Those faults are always pardonable that we have the courage to avow.CXVI.—The greatest fault of penetration is not that it goes to the bottom of a matter—but beyond it. (See Maxim 377.)CXVII.—We give advice, but we cannot give the wisdom to profit by it. (See Maxim 378.)CXVIII.—When our merit declines, our taste declines also. (See Maxim 379.)CXIX.—Fortune discovers our vices and our virtues, as the light makes objects plain to the sight. (See Maxim 380.)CXX.—Our actions are like rhymed verse-ends (Bouts-RimÉs) which everyone turns as he pleases. (See Maxim 382.)CXXI.—There is nothing more natural, nor more deceptive, than to believe that we are beloved.CXXII.—We would rather see those to whom we have done a benefit, than those who have done us one.CXXIII.—It is more difficult to hide the opinions we have than to feign those which we have not.CXXIV.—Renewed friendships require more care than those that have never been broken.CXXV.—A man to whom no one is pleasing is much more unhappy than one who pleases nobody.
not trust anyone unless he had proved himself friendly so that people loved to be with him. Now this little girl was very poor, and she had no friends. She wandered alone in the forest, and cried because she had no friends. Just at this time she came into the knowledge of a wonderful secret by which she could understand the language of the birds and of all the shy animals of the forest, and as soon as she could understand them and talk with them, they loved her, and the forest was no longer a lonely place but was filled with friends. Some of these friends went with her to the King's palace, and she now had no difficulty. She knew the language of those who lived in the forest, and she was no longer poor and lonely. So in the pages of this book you will learn of the lives of faithful dogs and huge buffaloes, and the brown thrush will sing for you a song full of meaning. The modest violet, the jack-in-the-pulpit, even the four-leaf clovers will tell you stories about the forest and the field, so that wherever you walk you will be surrounded by your friends. The magic glass of Merlin will unseal for you this world of Nature.
Merlin's globe also enables you to look into the past and live in it as if it were the present. You will take part in the first Thanksgiving Day. You will learn why the flag of our country is called Old Glory. You will look in upon the boy Lincoln, tired after his hard day's work on the farm, reading by the open fire in his father's cabin. You will see the young Washington bravely helping General Braddock to save his soldiers. So the magic glass of reading will make the early history of our country real to you, and the past will no longer be the past but a part of your present life.
If you wish to live for a time in the fairy realm, where there are buried treasure chests or magic lamps and rings, or if you would like to make a journey to far-off lands where are many wonders, you have only to look in this magic glass, and in a twinkling you are whisked away. You find yourself in a strange country where men and women wear curious, flowing garments of many colors, where trees and animals are unfamiliar, and where queer buildings with many towers attract your delighted eyes. The narrow streets are filled with strange life. You see a boy with eyes that seem to be looking on strange things. He is talking with an evil-looking man who bends over him, pointing down the street and out into the open country at the other end of the town. And presently the boy goes with the stranger, and you follow, for it is Aladdin and the magician, and you wish to know the adventure that is to come.
After this, Ali Baba and the cave of buried treasure and the forty thieves and Morgiana, the shrewd slave-girl, and the jars of oil will all appear in the magic glass, and another series of marvelous adventures will be disclosed to you. And then again, you come to a rich man's home, and before it, gazing enviously at it, is a poor tramp. Go up the steps with him and look upon the feast within the house. There is a queer table filled with food of strange form. And there is the rich man, Sindbad the Sailor, and you may listen if you will to his stories of travel to marvelous lands. Thus you travel to the mysterious East, without effort. You take part in wonderful adventures, without danger. Your magic glass is the window through which a world of fairy magic gleams vividly.
At another time you look, and the glass shows an English scene. It is the greenwood, somewhat out from London. Never were trees so green, or flowers so fresh and gay, or birds so filled with joy. You listen, and a gay fellow sings,
"Under the greenwood tree
Who loves to lie with me,
And tune his merry note
Unto the sweet bird's throat,
"Come hither! come hither! come hither!
Here shall he see
No enemy
But winter and rough weather."
Presently you hear the sound of a horn deep in the forest, to be followed soon by the coming of a merry crowd. Here is the prince of outlaws, clad in Lincoln green and followed by a score of lusty fellows, and at once there are songs, wrestling matches, and merry jests, till your heart is filled with joy. Little John, and the Sheriff of Nottingham, and Friar Tuck, and Robin Hood, and last of all, the King himself—these are the actors in the play that you see through your magic glass. And so it goes through all these stories of adventure—they become a part of your experience, and you live more lives than one. Last of all, your magic glass, which is this book, and which is always ready to do you service when you call upon it, will introduce you to a group of great Americans who long ago learned these secrets and wrote down what they themselves had seen. A patriot who helped to make our America will tell you several stories of his childhood. A Nature-loving poet will tell you about flowers and birds. Another poet will furnish stories about merry times on the farm. A third will tell you legends of the Indians. Once more the world of Nature, the world of adventure, and the world of history and legend will open before you, but this time you will learn something also of the men who have lived in our America and have written about it in such way as to show us that, after all, we need no marvelous Eastern country or desert islands—there is adventure enough and to spare all about us, if we have eyes to see.
And here is the greatest charm of all. It is good to know about this magic glass of reading, so that we shall never want for the joy it can bring. But while we use it, we shall find our sight made pure and strong, so that when we no longer have the crystal globe, we can walk in field and wood, and along our streets, and see, wondering, the beauty of the world in which we live.
PART I
NATURE—HUMOR—HOME AND COUNTRY
Better—a thousand times better—than all the material wealth the world can give is the love for the best books.
