by bluepinecones » Sat Mar 21, 2009 10:16 pm
I'm a fan of Victorian accessories and literature.
Small natural history collections were common in mid-1800s Victorian homes, and chambered nautilus shells were popular decorations.
The Chambered Nautilus is the title and subject of a poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes, in which he admires the "ship of pearl" and the "silent toil/That spread his lustrous coil/Still, as the spiral grew/He left the past year's dwelling for the new." He finds in the mysterious life and death of the nautilus, strong inspiration for his own life and spiritual growth. He concludes:
Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!
From wikipedia:
The only major handicap in life is a bad attitude!