Part 17

We have learnt to know Carmen Sylva’s old and new home, and have followed her through happy and sorrowful days. We have seen that she has inherited her rich treasures of heart and mind from noble ancestors. Her enthusiastic love of nature and her interest in all its phenomena does not belie her descent from the princely family of Wied. She has a decided gift for music, painting, and poetry, with a leaning towards philosophical thought, as also an unbiassed judgment and great modesty, notwithstanding the richness of her creative fancy.

We have also gathered that the Queen has qualities which she not only expresses in her poetry, but that an ideal is carried out in her life. By means of this all-pervading and elevating power which her Majesty possesses, and with which she influences others, this idea has been developed in her labours as a Princess and as a Queen. As a woman, as a Princess, and as a Queen, she is to be reckoned amongst the noblest and most distinguished of her sex. “For not in what we experience, but in our manner of understanding and realising it, lies the deep meaning of human life and what it brings to us. Not many and various events constitute its richness, for in the midst of them it can be empty and vain, and, though outwardly monotonous, it can yet be perpetually changing and abundantly blest. The better we understand this, the more will life itself be our educator and schoolmaster, whose influence over us will be stronger than any other. Well does Goethe say as the conclusion of his deepest and most magnificent conception--

“All things transitory But as symbols are sent.”

THE END.

PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO.

EDINBURGH AND LONDON.

Transcriber’s Notes

Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.

Simple typographical errors and occasional unbalanced quotation marks were corrected.

Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.

The illustrations at the beginning of each chapter are decorative headpieces.