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“No man may shirk the allotted work,

the deed to do, the death to die;

at least I think so—neither Turk,

nor Jew, nor infidel am I—

And yet I wonder when I try

to solve one question, may or must,

and shall I solve it by-and-bye,

beyond the dark, beneath the dust?

I trust so, and I only trust.

“Aye what they will, such trifles kill.

Comrade, for one good deed of yours,

your history shall not help to fill

the mouths of many brainless boors.

It may be death absolves or cures

the sin of life. ’Twere hazardous

to assert so. If the sin endures,

say only, ‘God, who has judged him thus,

be merciful to him, and us:’”

And his work, his “criticism of life?” Is there nothing in it but this “trust and only trust?” There is more, much more! “There is plainly visible,” says Mr. Clarke, “a keen sense of natural beauty, and a manly admiration for healthy living ... a very clear perception of the loveliness of duty and of labour.” Let us see if this, too, is so, or if any qualification of this remark is needed; and, if so, what qualification.

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