His loss of fortune is not to be reckoned among his calamities,
because it was no calamity to him. He ended by finding a richer
treasure than any that he had set out to obtain; and I remember
that he said to me once, not long before his end, that whatever
others might feel about their own lives, he could not for a moment
doubt that his own had been an education of a deliberate and loving
kind, and that the day when he realised that, when he saw that
there was not a single incident in his life that had not a deep and
an intentional value for him, was one of the happiest days of his
whole existence. I do not know that he expected anything or
speculated on what might await him hereafter; he put his future,
just as he put his past and his present, in the hands of God, to
Whom he committed himself "as unto a faithful Creator."
THE ALTAR FIRE
September 8, 1888.
We came back yesterday, after a very prosperous time at Zermatt;
we have been there two entire months. Yes, it was certainly
prosperous! We had delicious weather, and I have seen a number of
pleasant people. I have done a great deal of walking, I have read a
lot of novels and old poetry, I have sate about a good deal in the
open air; but I do not really like Switzerland; there are of course
an abundance of noble wide-hung views, but there are few vignettes,
little on which the mind and heart dwell with an intimate and
familiar satisfaction.
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