"
I used to wish that there might be a universal religion, but Ideala did
not share my feeling on this subject. "I suppose it is a fine idea,"
she said; "but while minds run in so many different grooves, it seems
to me far finer for one system of morality to have found expressions
enough to satisfy nearly everybody."
She had very decided views about what heaven ought to be.
"The mere material notion of abundance of gold and precious stones,
which appealed to the early churchmen, has no charm for us," she
declared. "We must have new powers of perception, and new pleasures
provided for us, such, for instance, as Mr. Andrew Lang suggests in an
exquisite little poem about the Homeric Ph?acia--the land whose
inhabitants were friends of the gods, a sort of heaven upon earth." And
then she quoted:
The languid sunset, mother of roses,
Lingers, a light on the magic seas;
The wide fire flames as a flower uncloses;
Heavy with odour and loose to the breeze.
* * * * *
The strange flowers' perfume turns to singing,
Heard afar over moonlit seas;
The siren's song, grown faint with winging,
Falls in scent on the cedar trees.
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