the sun at
noon
After all , there are few things under heaven more beautiful , or more touching , than a boy 's first love . Passionate is it as a man 's -- pure as a woman 's -- trusting as a child 's -- timid , through the very excess of its unselfishness -- chivalrous , as though handed down direct from the days of old romance -- poetical beyond the utterances of the poet . To the boy-lover , his mistress is only something less than a divinity . He believes in her truth as in his own ; in her purity , as in the sun at noon . Her practised arts of voice and manner are , in his eyes , the unstudied graces that spring as naturally from her beauty as the scent from the flower . Single-hearted himself , it seems impossible that she whom he adores should trifle with the most sacred sentiment he has ever known . Conscious of his own devotion , he can not conceive that his wealth is poured forth in vain , and that he is but the plaything of her idle hours .