"Oh, yes, I have heard it several times, but people will talk whether they know anything or not. I am glad Mrs. Hayden mentions it for that is enough to show there is absolutely no foundation for such statements."

Grace moved her chair and put her elbow on the table so she might shade her eyes with her hand.

"Why, I don't see how people can say such things; surely the tendency is to draw families into closer bonds of sympathy and affection," exclaimed Kate, in questioning innocence.

"It ought to be," replied Grace, thoughtfully, "and undoubtedly is," she added.

"What do _you_ think of this question, Grace?" Kate ventured to ask. At any other time she would not have dared approach the subject, but Grace seemed more pliable to-night for some reason.

"What question?" asked Grace, rousing from her reverie. "Oh, marriage.

Well, sometimes I have thought the query going the rounds of the press, 'Is marriage a failure?' a very pertinent one, but of course that doesn't touch the principle itself. That is right and can never be otherwise."

"Most people talk and write as seriously as though it _does_ touch the principle."

"That is because they judge the principle by the persons representing it, whereas they should stop and consider that humanity is p.r.o.ne to weakness and often fails to demonstrate its high ideals."

"And it is because of failure they think there is something wrong. Take an individual case, for instance, and there are thousands. If a girl marries unhappily, she thinks there must be something wrong in the whole system, for she judges everybody's misery by her own," said Kate, secretly wishing Grace would be more confidential, and not so coldly intellectual.

"Then the way to a happy judgment of this question would be a happy marriage, you think?" laughed Grace, with a faint blush, looking up inquiringly.

"Don't trifle Grace. You know I said it all earnestly, and really it is no matter to trifle over, any way."

"Well, that is true, Kate," replied Grace more soberly. "I don't believe anybody takes the question seriously enough. It is certainly the most important of all things to consider."

"Do you think it right to enter marriage for any other reason than pure and devoted affection?" persisted Kate.

"No, I do not. Why do you ask?" demanded Grace rather sharply.

"Because that is the solution of the whole problem. If they would begin to talk about love instead of marriage being a failure, they would get some light on it," a little impatiently.

Grace looked up in surprise.

"I know," continued Kate, "it is because people are mistaken or misled in their reasons for marriage, that it even has a semblance of failure."

"That is one reason, certainly, and another is that they do not understand each other's motives, or have not the patience to bear with each other's faults. We can easily see how misunderstandings can be put away when there is true love, when we determine to see only the good, and learn to 'resist not evil.' That is one of the strong points in Jesus the Christ's teachings," said Grace with unwonted earnestness.

"I am so sorry people can't see it in the right light," added Kate, regretfully.

"You can have much charity for them, for it is just what you would have said or thought, if you had not studied the matter yourself. You remember how Mr. Narrow influenced you and biased your judgment?"

"Yes, and I see as never before that the 'Truth makes us free.'

'He is a freeman whom the truth makes free.

And all are slaves besides,'"

said Grace, as she reached for the sketch book to look over her work of the afternoon.

"It is no use, she never will say anything, even when she might,"

thought Kate as she reviewed the events of the past few days. She half reproached herself for allowing anything to take her mind from the one special theme in which at last she had become thoroughly interested. She was eager to learn, to search in all directions for the meaning of things. Slowly the little grain of faith was growing into the mighty tree.

Enchanting Truth so round, so perfect, so beautiful,--no wonder we must reach out in every direction for the knowledge of thy fair signs that we may more correctly and more fully realize the perfect revealment of our own divinity.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

"What a great power is the power of thought! And what a grand being is man when he uses it aright; because after all, it is the use made of it that is the important thing. Character comes out of thought. 'As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.'"--_Sir Walter Raleigh._

"MARLOW, October ----.

"Dear Husband: I was just thinking of you all when the letter carrier came this morning and gave me a welcome surprise, for your letters usually come in the afternoon. It seems too wonderful to believe about the children, and yet I can see it is their implicit faith that makes their words so potent.

"They are doing their part to help too, for every one in the world, large or small helps in greater or lesser measure to carry out the plans of the invisible Good.

"I dreamed of being at home last night, and it seemed as though you were all so happy and busy. You did not see me. Even little Jem was busily engaged in some kind of work. I could scarcely see what it was, but a vague white something like an invisible net was spread between you, and the thought came that you and Anna were weaving something, and even the children had a part to fulfill for they flitted to and fro, bringing something to you with faces so full of light and happiness, I almost cried out with joy.

"When I awoke I was deeply impressed that this was a symbol of united effort in making the seamless robe of Truth, and the family group represented the members of one body, each with a work to do to perfect the whole.

"No matter how humble our part may be, no matter how childish and incompetent we feel, by doing the best we know, with the ability we have, in all joy and earnestness, we shall be serving the Master and weaving the marvelous robe.

"Mrs. Pearl talked of the mighty power of thought in her lecture to-day.

"Every individual in the universe is inseparably connected with every other individual, and we are, as it were, 'touching elbows' with the whole world.

"How is it done? Simply by thinking and being susceptible to thought.

Every thought of the individual helps to make or mar the happiness and health of the world. Every negative thought (and by that I mean opposite the good, which is positive) sent forth, goes into the miasmatic fog of error, and whoever believes in error or the reality of these thoughts, attracts to himself this quality of thought, which sooner or later, makes itself manifest in physical inharmony.

"For instance, one who believes in the reality of sickness and the reality of evil is constantly attracting thoughts that make sickness manifest, but if a knowledge of how to throw off or counteract those thoughts were used, the cloud would be dispelled before it turned into inharmony or sickness.

"This is why we are taught to deny every thought or feeling that is not harmonious or desirable, everything which can not be predicated of spirit. If this is what makes sickness and sin, truly it is not to be wondered at, for how many are perfectly happy, perfectly unselfish and kind, one single day at a time?

"Suppose one gets up in the morning with a feeling of crossness and impatience; he goes to breakfast, impresses the whole family with his discomfort, and so through the entire day leaves the imprint of his dark forebodings on every person who sees him, besides the untold influence that goes forth to the unprotected world, inasmuch as thoughts go everywhere.

"He retires at night, disgusted with himself and displeased with the whole world. People were unkind and unjust. Even inanimate objects were unusually aggravating. He wasted half an hour trying to untie a knot, hunted for a package of papers which were finally found in their proper place, had a vexing ten minutes with his office key, etc.

"Every impatient thought, word or action was an expenditure, not only of physical force, but a loss of moral strength, and just as surely as the world moves, these thoughts, in their revolving circuit, constantly return to the thinker, 'Whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap.'

"Who knows what dark trains of thought his lowering face suggested? Who knows what headaches and heartaches were brought on by the unconscious absorption of his impatience or bitterness? Who can measure the extent of that mysterious burden of depression, so often called 'the blues,'

that crept into the consciousness of somebody under the influence of the dark thoughts sent out by this one, of whom perchance they know nothing?

"It is this negative quality of thought that holds the world in bondage.

To destroy it is to destroy all inharmony. On the other hand, note the influence of the happy-voiced individual, who comes to us so running over with the joy and beauty of life that we catch the thrilling inspiration of his mood and begin to enjoy the same sunshine, see the same beauty and feel the same happiness.

"One look or one word may often send us off into the most delightful reveries, may inspire us to write a cheery letter, vibrating with love and hope, or prompt us to spend half an hour with one who needs the bath of joy our words may bring. Consciously and unconsciously we lighten the pathway, lift the burdens, sanctify the sorrows of the world by sending out and receiving this subtle thread of thought, so fine in its essence and quality, that any one and every one may feel its strengthening presence.

"It is the negative or mortal thought that produces disease. See how grief bends and breaks the strongest const.i.tutions, furrows the cheek, dims the eye, takes the appet.i.te, impairs the mind. See how anger cankers everything it touches, how jealousy corrodes the thoughts with poisoned arrows, until the body is written over with letters of unmistakable meaning.