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384 THE INFLUENCE OF THE I^DIVIDIJAL LIF...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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« Op All Tlie Various Kinds Of Books Tha...
humble life of his o _^ n little one , could testify to the potency of such manifestations .
And again , is it man who prompts man to undertake , and inspirits him to executehis mightiest _achievementsor is it not rather
most ordinarily woman , who incites him to dare , and to do , and from the unseen , often unsuspected power of her hidden life , that
the impetus comes , whose outworking of result is seen and admired of all ? The feebler sex , indeed ! if the estimate be formed with
regard only to their capability of direct action , but eompensatorily endowed with incalculable might of acting through others . The
hand that cannot wield a sword , may yet broider a banner that shall lead on hosts to victory , and send forth or hold back the one
mighty arm whose lifting can determine the triumph . The voice that cannot preachmay yet prompt the preacher ' s best eloquence
and the eye that rolls , not itself in poetic frenzy , yet smile inspira- , tion upon the poet . " We know that had Volumnia been an unkind
parent , [ Rome might have become a city of Volscii ; that the tenour of his mother ' s life gave the first impulse to that of Alfredand
, moulded her son to be the glory of his people down to their latest generation ; and , on the other hand , that had ! Lady Hamilton lived
virtuously , Nelson , with his many excellences , might have been an all-bright example—no home-profaner in privateand with no
, Oarraciolo stain on his public life . We know , too , that when the " French Princess Adelaide passed from existence , her brother , Louis
Phillippe , could not much longer maintain the throne of which she had been so long the firm , though invisible support , and which ,
indeed , he might probably never have filled , had he not been moulded for it by Madame de Grenlis , another woman , to whose
formation of his youth he owed the best qualities that adorned him . Here and there such instances become patentbut how numerous
are the cases where the world remains unaware , of the influence a life , of little mark in itself , may have in producing the eminent good
or evil apparent in those whose larger sphere of action renders them _conspicuously observable ! That the state of mind of one
individual may , even in a moment , communicate itself to many , and produce a like state in all aroundhas continually been proved in
panics of various kinds , where the , well or ill-founded alarm of a single person has spread terror through the hearts of multitudes ;
and in more pleasing instances too , where the coolness and courage of one has imparted strength to many : as , in cases of shipwreck ,
the mere sight of the captain ' s calmness will often enable the most timid of his passengers to retain or resume self-control in the
midst of greatest danger . The life , in the sense the word is here used , may be defined as the continuous mental state , and this is
always exerting a tendency to assimilate , as it is always susceptible of being assimilated .
Great power , too , may be put forth in comparatively trifling '
384 The Influence Of The I^Dividijal Lif...
384 THE _INFLUENCE OF THE I _^ DIVIDIJAL LIFE .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Aug. 1, 1863, page 384, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01081863/page/24/
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