SHADOWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5243, 12 January 1878, Page 2 (Supplement)

SHADOWS.

(From the Philadelphia Ledger.) .In this matter-of-fact age, perhaps the last thing that is thought worthy of notice is a shadow, and contempt is freely thrown upon those who are occupied with them. Yet no , thoughtful observer of nature can help noticing l .how thoroughly they are interwoven with every scene, how, they heighten the beauty of every landscape, or deepen the sublimity of every, grand and majestic view. Ail our inner sense of beauty responds to their delicate presence on hill side or valley, on the vast expanse of ocean or the bosom of the peaceful lake. The artist studies them with delight, audiosgs to depict them faithfully on the canvas, for he knows that if his skill deserts him here his art is a failure. Then, too, how much do we owe to shadows ! How grateful is their cooling and quieting presence to the heated aud weary traveller ? How eagerly wo seek them, aud how gladly we welcome them when oppressed with the fervent sun-rays ! Light aud warmth, now our greatest blessings, would become curses, did not the shadow intervene to protect us from,their intensity. Often, indeed, does it seem far more precious to us than the substance of winch it is the reflection.. True, shadows are not always blessings. Sometimes they are dark, gloomy, and lowering, hiding from us the light which we crave aud the warmth for which we pine. Then we are glad to creep from under them and to escape their chill. Yet in either case, viewed rightly, they cannot be despised, unreal and unsubstantial as they seem ; they are positive influences, from which we are never free.

In the world of human life, shadows play as important a part as in the world of matter. As in the one, they exist either for beauty or for gloom, either to soften the light or to obscure it, so in the other they fall either to refresh and bless or to darken and chill. Just as the shadow of our figure follows ua without any exercise of the will, so a subtle influence is ever emanating from our characters and feelings, over which we have no control. We are always scheming, planning, striving, doing, and we think that these exhaust the power of our lives, but there is another force, silent and unobtrusive, of which we seldom think, and neyer count upon, yet which is more potent and vital than any which our will ever puts forth. It is the power of being; the shadow which the innermost self oasts upon the world ; the unspoken, unpremeditated, unconscious influence which we are ever shedding simply by our life. In the home we find the fullest example of the uucaloulated power of this shadow. Parents are generally anxious to do their best for their children ; they often toil unremittingly to supply their needs ; if thoughtful, they study and plan to develop their minds and establish good principles ; if unselfish, they will give up ease, comfort, and pleasure to secure their children’s beat good, and they do well. Yet, after all, there is another and even more potent influence, which is seldom thought of. It is the shadow which the home casts over the l child from its inmost life, which is either to be its blessing, protection and safeguard through all coming years, or a darkening and chilling presence which it can never wholly escape. When men and women look back to the home of their youth, it is this underneath current that remains in their memories, long after all special efforts have passed away. Was their home bright, sunny, full of love, and simple,-■ natural'joy ? Were truth, honor, and duty woven into .the lives of. those who guided them ? If so, how their hearts spring back with gratitude and joy to the spot where such holy and loving influences overshadowed and blessed them ! If, on the contrary, the spirit of the homo was gloomy, forbidding, and austere ; if nervous irritability pervaded the air, or a tone of distrust and suspicion tinctured the then the shadow has become a baleful one, and has darkened the whole life and chilled the whole nature. :

So each one of us, not only in the house, but everywhere and at all times, is casting a shadow either of blessing or of blight. Over words and deeds we can exert some authority ; even thoughts may be subjected to the control of a strong will; but this aroma which our characters are ever shedding we can no more prevent than the rose can 1 hide her perfume, or 1 the tree withdraw it(i.'shadow. Yet we can by no means escape the responsibility of 1 this unconscious influence, paradox though it seem. The maiden who views her face in a mirror and beholds a scowl, cannot indeed prevent ( the faithful reflection, but she may drive the i scowl from her brow, and so create a new and more attractive image. So although our chairaoters will throw, true shadows of themselves ■which wo can by no means alter, yet the ■building up of those characters rests with us. If we keep our hearts truthful, honorable, ■pure, 1 and loving, the shadows they cast will jbless all who come under them. Martiheau well says : “ The noblest workers of the world jbequeath us nothing so great as the image of themselves. ' Their task,, be it ever so glorious, is historical'and transient;’ the majesty Of their spirit is essential hud eternal.”