The divine things are imagination and sympathy. That is the secret."
IV
Once I said:
"Which kind of people do you find it hardest to help along?"
"The young people," said Amroth, with a smile.
"Youth!" I said. "Why, down below, we think of youth as being so
generous and ardent and imitative! We speak of youth as the time to
learn, and form fine habits; if a man is wilful and selfish in
after-life, we say that it was because he was too much indulged in
childhood--and we attach great importance to the impressions of youth."
"That is quite right," said Amroth, "because the impressions of youth
are swift and keen; but of course, here, age is not a question of years
or failing powers. The old, here, are the wise and gracious and patient
and gentle; the youth of the spirit is stupidity and unimaginativeness.
On the one hand are the stolid and placid, and on the other are the
brutal and cruel and selfish and unrestrained."
"You confuse me greatly," I said; "surely you do not mean that spiritual
life and progress are a matter of intellectual energy?"
"No, not at all," said he; "the so-called intellectual people are often
the most stupid and youngest of all.
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