a couple of years it will have grown into, with him, a habit, ten times a day, to put his surroundings out of temper. But he can also acquire the habit of befriending them ten times.
463
On the seventh day.—”You praise this as my creation? I have only put aside that which was a burden to me! My soul is above the vanity of creators. Yon praise this as my resignation. I have only divested myself of that which was a burden to me! My soul is above the vanity of the resigned.”
464
The donor's modesty.—It is so ungenerous always to pose as the donor and benefactor, and, in so doing, to show one’s face. But to give and to bestow, and at the same time conceal one’s name and favour! Or to have no name at all, like unto nature, where this very fact is more refreshing than anything else; here at last no more to meet a donor and a giver, no more a ‘‘ gracious face.” True, you forfeit even this recreation, for you have placed a God into this nature—and now all is again fettered and oppressed! Well? Are we never allowed to be alone with ourselves? Never unwatched, unguarded, free from the leading-strings and from gifts? If another is ever around us, the noblest instances of courage and kindness are made impossible
