Page:Anecdotescatechi00spiruoft.djvu/40

 clouded over,  and  he  said  sadly: “ Then  of  course at last  I must  die.”  “And  then?”  the  saint  once more repeated. The young  man  did  not  answer  a word,  but  went  away  with  downcast  looks. The words, “ And  then? ” — sounded incessantly  in  his ears; he could  not  get  them  out  of  his  mind. They made a pious  and  virtuous  man  of  him  later  on.

There is  no  real  beauty  without  virtue. A school girl, writing  home,  asked  her  mother  to  send  her  a looking-glass. Her mother,  a sensible  and  Christian lady, when  she  answered  the  letter,  said: “ I am sending  you  a parcel  by  post  in  which  are  three mirrors. The first  will  show  you  to  yourself  as  you are; the second  will  show  you  what  you  will  be; the third  will  show  you  what  you  ought  to  be.” When the  box  arrived,  the  girl  opened  it  with  curiosity; the  first  thing  she  took  out  was  an  ordinary looking-glass; then there  was  the  representation  of a skull; below  both  of  these  was  a beautiful  statuette of Our  Lady,  Thus  the  pious  mother  sought  to impress  upon  her  daughter’s  mind  that  personal beauty is  transitory  and  is  effaced  by  the  hand  of death; and  for  this  reason  a maiden  ought  to  imitate the virtues  of  the  Mother  of  God,  since  thus  alone will she  attain  true  loveliness,  a beauty  which  does  not pass away  with  this  mortal  life,  — the  beauty  of  the soul, which  lasts  eternally. Favor is  deceitful  and beauty is  vain,  says  Holy  Writ. I am black  but beautiful, for  the  beauty  of  the  King’s  daughter  is from  within.