Page:About people (IA aboutpeople00well).pdf/99
"... is foolish by falling below,
Not coming above what God will show;
His commonest thing hides a wonder vast
To whose beauty our eyes have never past."
It is reverence that gives the finest touch to chivalry and the deepest meaning to truth; it is an attitude of mind which permits us to see, enjoy, and honor. It grows with our growth, though too often self-imposed limitations check it. Our irreverence is due to want of sympathy and observation more than to ill-will. A knowledge of the hard times in other people's lives, of their brave little attempts for goodness or success, and of all that careful human eyes and microscope and telescope have found of law, and love, and beauty fill us with reverence. Finally, as life widens, the faculty of worship and appreciation is developed, until every half-known law or half-comprehended goodness is the "vision of some marvel come to light."
He who from his mountain-top of reverence