Every one is influenced to a greater or less degree by that which he
sees about him, and those with whom he comes in contact.
A beautiful statue once stood in the market-place of an Italian
city. It was the statue of a Greek slave-girl. It represented
the slave as tidy and well drest. A ragged, uncombed little
street child, coming across the statue in her play, stopt and
gazed at it in admiration. She was captivated by it. She gazed
long and lovingly. Moved by a sudden impulse, she went home and
washed her face and combed her hair. Another day she stopt again
before the statue and admired it, and she got a new idea. Next
day her tattered clothes were washed and mended. Each time she
looked at the statue she found something in its beauties until
she was a transformed child.
This law of transformation through appreciation has its highest
illustration in the changed life and character of men who have lived in
communion with God.
(195)