Most Of The Basic Truths Of Life

Faith Given Back To Us After A Night Of Doubt Is A Stronger Thing, And Far More Valuable To Us Than Faith That Has Never Been Tested.

He Grinned At Her, And She Grinned At Him, And It Seemed To Maria That Suddenly The Sun Came Out.

This Modern Craze For Putting The Young In Positions Of Authority - Headmasters In Their Thirties, Bishops Without A Gray Hair On Their Heads, Generals Who Scarcely Need To Use A Razor - Ever Since It Took Hold The World's Gone Steadily Downhill.

As This World Becomes Increasingly Ugly, Callous And Materialistic It Needs To Be Reminded That The Old Fairy Stories Are Rooted In Truth, That Imagination Is Of Value, That Happy Endings Do, In Fact, Occur, And That The Blue Spring Mist That Make An Ugly Street Look Beautiful Is Just As Real A Thing As The Street Itself.

There Was A Good Deal To Be Said, Hilary Decided, For Middle Age And Infirmity. The Years In Which One Demanded Much Of Life Were Left Behind, Together With The Bitterness Of Not Getting What One Wanted. One's Values, Too, Were Altered. Gifts That Once One Took For Granted, Sunshine And Birdsong, Freedom From Pain, Sleep And One's Daily Bread, Seemed Now So Extraordinarily Precious.