Eclectic School Readings: Stories from LifeThe glory of the morning shines upon the marble. Glowing with enthusiasm, the light of a high purpose illuminating his face, the sculptor, with steady hand and eye, begins to work out his ideal. The vision that flits before him is so beautiful that he almost fears the cunning of his hand will be unequal to fashioning it from the rigid ma.s.s before him. Patiently he measures each blow of the mallet. With infinite care he chisels each line and curve. Every stroke is true.
Months stretch into years, and still we find the sculptor at work. Time has given greater precision to his touch, and the skill of the youth, strengthened by n.o.ble aspirations and right effort, has become positive genius in the man. If he has not attained the ideal that haunted him, he has created a form so beautiful in its clear-cut outlines, so imposing in the majesty of its purity and strength, that the beholder involuntarily bows before it.
THE MARBLE WAITETH. WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH IT?