Saturday, November 8, 2008

A Book of Golden Deeds of All Times and All Lands/Google Books

A Book of Golden Deeds of All Times and All Lands ...
By Charlotte Mary Yonge
Published by The Christian Herald, 1895
314 pages

An excerpt from the introduction, What is a Golden Deed?

"...the eye gleam and the heart throb, and bears
us through the details of suffering, bloodshed,
and even barbarity, — feeling our spirits
moved and elevated by contemplating the courage
and endurance that they have called forth.
Nay, such is the charm of brilliant valor, that
we often are tempted to forget the injustice of
the cause that they may have called forth the
actions that delight us. And this enthusiasm
is often united with the utmost tenderness of
heart, the very appreciation of suffering only
quickening the sense of the heroism that
risked the utmost, till the young and ardent
learn absolutely to look upon danger as
an occasion for evincing the highest qualities.

O Life, without thy checkered scene
Of right and wrong, of weal and woe,
Success and failure, could a ground
For magnanimity be found ?

The true cause of such enjoyment is perhaps
an inherent consciousness that there is nothing
so noble as forgetfulness of self. Therefore it
is that we are struck by hearing of the exposure
of life and limb to the utmost peril, in oblivion,
or recklessness of personal safety, in comparison
with a higher object."

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