I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤

“During their time in Malvern, Darwin picked up a handful of books to read to [his daughter] Annie, a favorite among them being The Flower People—a botany guide for children by Mary Peabody, published by her sister Elizabeth and composed before Mary fell in love with the dashing idealist Horace Mann, who had previously courted Elizabeth and gleaned his ideals from her. Ten years into her improbable marriage to Mann, Mary would reflect on what she had learned of life:

‘Never be afraid to love. Surrender yourself to its sway, & even if it tears your earthly fibres to tatters, it will strengthen the heavenly ones. Such love is the only proof of Immortality.'”

–Figuring by Maria Popova