Excerpt from Dreams: Or, Lessons From the Poppy Fields

The crown of the world is life. Without appreciative life all the blessings which, bountiful as the sunshine, make this world delightful, are purposeless and nameless. Life is like an Æolian harp, blessing the gentle zephyrs that, silent and unseen, float on until the living chords are reached, then wake in melting melody.

Most delicate and complex, man's nature has chords found in no other. Wit rouses his mirth, beauty awakes his love, while height and depth, extent and power, rousing his deepest soul to ecstasy, intoxicate him with the sublimest. Woe excites his pity, loving benevolence and gratitude go hand in hand, while sympathy weeps for another's sorrow and laughs at another's joy. Well did England's mighty bard exclaim: "What a piece of work is man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action, how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals!

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