And, of all the texts bearing on the subject,
this, which is a quite simple and practical order, is the one you
have chiefly to hold in mind. "Keep thy heart with all diligence,
for out of it are the issues of life."
LUCILLA. And yet, how inconsistent the texts seem!
L. Nonsense, Lucilla! do you think the universe is bound to look
consistent to a girl of fifteen? Look up at your own room window;
--you can just see it from where you sit. I'm glad that it is left
open, as it ought to be, in so fine a day. But do you see what a
black spot it looks, in the sunlighted wall?
LUCILLA. Yes, it looks as black as ink.
L. Yet you know it is a very bright room when you are inside of
it; quite as bright as there is any occasion for it to be, that
its little lady may see to keep it tidy. Well, it is very
probable, also, that if you could look into your heart from the
sun's point of view, it might appear a very black hole indeed:
nay, the sun may sometimes think good to tell you that it looks so
to Him; but He will come into it, and make it very cheerful for
you, for all that, if you don't put the shutters up. And the one
question for YOU, remember, is not "dark or light?" but "tidy or
untidy?" Look well to your sweeping and garnishing; and be sure it
is only the banished spirit, or some of the seven wickeder ones at
his back, who will still whisper to you that it is all black.
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