Precept and Practice – DECEMBER 21 – The Dead

For the dead we have always with us, being enshrined in our hearts;  so that when we say the places that once knew them know them no more, we except one place that is consecrated for ever to their blessed remembrance, 

(Follen)

Those who are gone you have.   Those who departed loving you love you still;  and you love them always.   They are not really gone thou dear hearts, and true – they are only gone into the next room;  and you will presently get up and follow them, and yonder dear will be closed upon you, and you will be no more seen.

(W. M. Thackeray)

If those you chiefly mourn helped your soul in the power of their pure and faithful love, then you feel you can never live at a lower level again, higher life must ever be your aims and end.

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From the Introduction to Precept and Practice

The kindly welcome given to my other little books, ‘Being and Doing’ and ‘Character and Conduct,’ must be my excuse for adding another collection of extracts to the number now in circulation.

The quotations are gathered from the books of many earnest thinkers, and deal with Life in all its length and breadth, with ourselves, our characters, our plain unvarnished faults and weaknesses, our often untoward circumstances, and with all that drags us down;-  with our purposes, our religion, our love and friendships, and with all that uplifts us;-  with our relation to others, our influence and responsibilities, and finally with those stages of our journey which bring us to the Road’s Last Turn and to the Silent Land.

CONSTANCE  M. WHISHAW