Enduring Beauty

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  “Beauty is the quality which makes to endure. In a house that I know, I have noticed a block of spermaceti lying about closets and mantel-pieces, for twenty years together, simply because the tallow-man gave it the form of a rabbit; and, I suppose, it may continue to be lugged about unchanged for a century. Let an artist scrawl a few lines or figures on the back of a letter, and that scrap of paper is rescued from danger, is put in portfolio, is framed and glazed, and, in proportion to the beauty of the lines drawn, will be kept for centuries. Burns writes a copy of verses, and sends them to a newspaper, and the human race take charge of them that they shall not perish.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson. (1803–1882).   Essays and English Traits.

Setting the Table

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In the year 1818, the King of Huachine, one of the South Sea Islands, became a Christian. He discovered a plot among his fellow natives to seize him and other converts and burn them to death.

He organized a band to attack the plotters, captured them unawares and then set a feast before them. This unexpected kindness surprised the savages, who burned their idols and became Christians.

(From the Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations)

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