"Good name in man or woman
Is the immediate jewel of their souls."
But this one thing I know, that these qualities did not now begin to exist, cannot be sick with my sickness, nor buried in my grave.—EMERSON.
A Moor was walking in his garden when a Spanish cavalier suddenly fell at his feet, pleading for concealment from pursuers who sought his life in revenge for the killing of a Moorish gentleman. The Moor promised aid, and locked his visitor in a summer-house until night should afford opportunity for his escape. Not long after the dead body of his son was brought home, and from the description given he knew the Spaniard was the murderer. He concealed his horror, however, and at midnight unlocked the summer-house, saying, "Christian, the youth whom you have murdered was my only son. Your crime deserves the severest punishment. But I have solemnly pledged my word not to betray you, and I disdain to violate a rash engagement even with a cruel enemy." Then, saddling one of his fleetest mules, he said, "Flee while the darkness of night conceals you. Your hands are polluted with blood; but God is just; and I humbly thank Him that my faith is unspotted, and that I have resigned judgment to Him."
[Illustration: John Greenleaf Whittier (missing from book)]
Character never dies. As Longfellow says:—
"Were a star quenched on high,
For ages would its light,
Still traveling downward from the sky,
Shine on our mortal sight.
"So when a great man dies,
For years beyond our ken,
The light he leaves behind him lies
Upon the paths of men."
The character of Socrates was mightier than the hemlock, and banished the fear and sting of death.