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_The work of each of these men and women who make up the splendid roll
of English immortals varies in quality, in style, in capacity to touch
the heart and inspire the thought of the reader of to-day. But great
as are their differences, all meet on the common ground of a
warm-hearted, sympathetic humanity that knows no distinctions of race
or creed, no limitations of time or place. The splendid sermons on the
gospel of work that Carlyle preached after long wrestlings of the
spirit are as full of inspiration to the youth of to-day as they were
when they came out from the mind of the man who actually lived the
laborious life that he commended; the little lay discourses that may
be found scattered through Thackeray's novels and essays are born of
agony of spirit, and it is their spiritual power which keeps them
fresh and full of inspiration in this age of doubt and materialism._
_And so we might go down through the whole list. Each of these great
writers had his Gethsemane, from which he emerged with the power of
moving the hearts of men. So when we read that most beautiful essay of
Lamb's on "Dream Children," our hearts ache for the lonely man who
sacrificed the best things in life for the sake of the sister whom he
loved better than his own happiness. And when we read Thackeray's
eloquent words on family love we know that he wrote in his heart's
blood, for the dearest woman in the world to him was lost forever in
this world, when the light of her reason was clouded.
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