THE CHILD OF THE ISLANDS

From: The North British Review, Volume 23,

"Woman's strength does not lie in anger and bitterness—in indignation and scorn. It lies in gentleness and forgiveness; in loving words

and compassionate utterances; in yearnings after the happiness of others; in measureless charity towards all.

God did not give Caroline Norton, as she says, the power of writing, to waste so precious a gift in useless revilings. It is a talent of

which she will have to give better account than this. And we feel assured that she will give it. We hope and we believe that, in the two

works—the published and unpublished pamphlets—now before us, she has thoroughly purged out all the dross of self; and stands prepared

henceforth to be the unstained champion of the sisterhood.

The hand that wrote the "Child Of The Islands" was never meant to do baser work. Let it still be guided by that spirit of love, which

would have made beautiful a work of far less genius, and whether it shape good words of poetry or of prose, they will be acceptable to

us— and to the world. On no better theme than the claims of womanhood can such a woman discourse. Let wisdom and gentleness go hand in

hand, and they will walk straight through the mist of prejudice to the goal of truth, needing no better counsel than that uttered by one,

the force and sincerity of whose pleadings no one can estimate so well as Mrs. Norton herself:—
Faint not, oh spirit, in dejected mood,

"Thinking how much is planned, how little done;
Revolt not, heart, though still misunderstood,
For gratitude, of all things 'neath the sun,
Is easiest lost—and insecurest won:

'Doubt not, clear mind, that workest out the right
For the right's sake: the thin thread must be spun,
And patience weave it, ere that sign of might,
Truth's banner, wave aloft, full flashing to the light.' "