The wrong-doing of one generation lives into the successive ones. - Nathaniel Hawthorne

The aspect of the venerable mansion has always affected me like a human countenance, bearing the traces not merely of outward storm and sunshine, but expressive also, of the long lapse of mortal life, and accompanying vicissitudes that have passed within. Were these to be worthily recounted, they would form a narrative of no small interest and instruction, and possessing, moreover, a certain remarkable unity, which might almost seem the result of artistic arrangement.

Peace be with all the world! My blessing on my friends! My forgiveness to my enemies! For I am in the realm of quiet!

All merely graceful attributes are usually the most evanescent.