VARIETIES.

A Sufficient Reason.
Author: “But why do you charge me more for printing this time than usual?”
Publisher: “Because the compositors were constantly falling asleep over your novel.”
Living happily together.—A few more smiles of silent sympathy, a few more tender words, a little more restraint on temper, may make all the difference between happiness and half-happiness to those we live with.
Friendship.
Well-chosen friendship, the most noble
Of virtues¹, all our joys makes double
And into halves divides our trouble.
Denham.
How they Closed the Day.
When Dr. Walsham How was rector of Whittington, an old woman, on the occasion of his first visit, said to him—
“The old man and me, sir, never go to bed without singing the Evening Hymn². Not that I’ve any voice left, for I haven’t, and as for him, he’s like a bee in a bottle, and then he don’t humour the tune³, for he don’t rightly know one tune from another, and he can’t remember the words, neither, so when he leaves out a word I puts it in, and when I can’t sing I dances, and so we get through it somehow.”
Showing and Seeing.—Behaviour is a mirror in which everyone shows and might see her own image.—Goethe.
Mental Exertion⁴.
A lady took her Irish maid to task for carelessness and forgetfulness. “Why is it, Mary,” said she, “that you keep on making the same mistakes over and over again? Why don’t you try to remember what I tell you?”
The day happened to be very warm, so Mary returned the quaint⁵ reply, “Sure, ma’am, I can’t be aggravatin’ me moind this hot weather.”
Consolation⁶.—There never was a night which was not followed by a morning, nor a winter which was not succeeded by a summer. A most consoling reflection, this, to those distressed⁷ in the night and winter of spiritual trial and trouble.

1 virtues   

美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处

参考例句：

• Doctors often extol the virtues of eating less fat. 医生常常宣扬少吃脂肪的好处。
• She delivered a homily on the virtues of family life. 她进行了一场家庭生活美德方面的说教。

2 hymn   

n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌

参考例句：

• They sang a hymn of praise to God.他们唱着圣歌，赞美上帝。
• The choir has sung only two verses of the last hymn.合唱团只唱了最后一首赞美诗的两个段落。

3 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

4 exertion   

n.尽力，努力

参考例句：

• We were sweating profusely from the exertion of moving the furniture.我们搬动家具大费气力，累得大汗淋漓。
• She was hot and breathless from the exertion of cycling uphill.由于用力骑车爬坡，她浑身发热。

5 quaint   

adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的

参考例句：

• There were many small lanes in the quaint village.在这古香古色的村庄里，有很多小巷。
• They still keep some quaint old customs.他们仍然保留着一些稀奇古怪的旧风俗。

6 consolation   

n.安慰，慰问

参考例句：

• The children were a great consolation to me at that time.那时孩子们成了我的莫大安慰。
• This news was of little consolation to us.这个消息对我们来说没有什么安慰。

7 distressed   

痛苦的

参考例句：

• He was too distressed and confused to answer their questions. 他非常苦恼而困惑，无法回答他们的问题。
• The news of his death distressed us greatly. 他逝世的消息使我们极为悲痛。