REMARKABLE BOOK OF ESSAYS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 304, 28 December 1907, Page 4

REMARKABLE BOOK OF ESSAYS.

iWoKLDLY WISDOM UF •■ THE Toil OF LLFK." Mr. Francis Stopford's -'The Toil of kite,' published by the Walter Scott Publishing Company, is an unusual and, | in a sense, a very remarkable book. I In a serie., of essays Mr. Stopfer,!, wiih obvious and frankest sinceresl -in. eerily, unfolds the philosophy which a I man ol high ideals and character gathers in a strenuous life, and the essays are most, appropriately dedicated to his lellow - earth's toilers.'' The subjects are as varied as the thoughts of a man are varied. As a specimen of Mr. Stopford's philosophy one may quote the following irom the paper on '• Karly Memories"'; "'lho capacity of the hi m heart lor happiness is unbounded. Yet how little a thing is needed to turn happiness into misery and for tho moment to paralyse the. main muscle of man's moral nature! Memory has always been a source of pleasure to me. "Sorrow is of the present; it may be m tlie future; but i| eannot be of the past, if heart be brave and brain be healthy. • Let (he dead burv their dead.' (Inward, up the hill! Pause, if you will, tor a moment and look backward lo reckon the miles you have (ravelled: but no man has the "lime to sit dowi pule by (he wayside because an ! or two previously the road had i • : easier or less dusty or better shaded from the sun." The attractive turn of the author's thoughts may be gathered from his wish lor his grave: "1 want ii, , llowox-bed above mv jrave:mily a (lloire de Dijon rose planted neai by. for il is very hardv. The ire,, needs litn,. ~,re, and i j„.]'j OVI . ~-. "So there should l,e no trouble 'for any one: and nearly alwavs. all the rear round, above my las* earthly rcsiim<phiee, a hoinelyKweet-sinelliugVosc waiting to be picked. Pick it and remember me a- I would be remembered---I'orgel-liug the dead wood, forgiving (he thonis. !""l!-l:< ■ the passing fragrance of the ■ lower when your heart is s.„|. " When I am ,|ead lei me live happily in ihe memory. I'm- I have tried lo bring I he passing fragrance of happiness into ihe lives of all with ivlmm 1 have been thrown into eonlaet. knowing well how great is the sadness (hat lies hidden in I lie hear! of the world." Nothing has been written of recent years which is at once so sincere and simple. It is something of a privilege in 1„. admilled to (he intimate thoughts "i ■in of the world with high ideaN. "Tie- '|'„i| „f |,if,." N „, K , „ f thnHn book- that bring with them the power "i ,-insolalion |,< the reflective, and. may be. to the weary.