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Show The Ladder of -St. Augustine. Saint Augustine! well hast thou said, That of our vices we can frame A ladder. If we will but tread Beneath our feet each deed of shame. All common things, each day's events, That with the hour begin and end, Our pleasures and our discontent. Are rounds by which we may ascend. The lowly desire, the base design. That makes another s virtues less; The revel of the ruddy wine, And all occasions of excess; The longing for ignoble things; The strife for triumph more than truth The hardening of the heart, that brings Irreverence for the dreams of youth. We have not wings, we cannot soar; But we have feet to scale and climb By slow degrees, by more and more. The cloudy summits of our time, Th eheights by great men reached and kept Were not attained by sudden flight. But they, while their companions slept, Were toiling upward in the night. Longfellow. |