More From the 19th Century

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Lucy Smith, who died in 1881, wrote: "One thing is indisputable: the chronic mood of looking longingly at what we have not, or thankfully at what we have, realizes two very different types of character. And we certainly can encourage the one or the other." (I vote for the second, though it isn't easy.)

And, Alexander Maclaren, who lived a long life during the 1800s, wrote a pithy statement: "Seek to cultivate a buoyant, joyous sense of the crowded kindnesses of God in your daily life."