for us to see our own faults, even when others are kind enough to
point them out, for they are right ugly things and unpleasant to look
upon. But lacking those outside monitors, one must all the more
cultivate the habit of constant inlooking and self-examination. If we
are only brave enough to confront our faults and look them in the
face, ugly as they are, we shall be sure to overcome the worst of
them. A striving toward good will achieve at least a part of it."

"Oh!" returned the princess, "but what _is_ good and what _is_ wrong?
So often we can not tell them apart until we look back at what we have
done, and then it is all too late. I truly wish to be good more than I
desire anything else in the world. I am so ignorant and helpless, and
have such strong inclinations to do wrong that sometimes I seem to be
almost all wrong. The priests say so much, but tell us so little.
They talk about St. Peter and St. Paul, and a host of other saints and
holy fathers and what-nots, but fail to tell us what we need every
moment of our lives; that is, how to know the right when we see it,
and how to do it; and how to know the wrong and how to avoid it. They
ask us to believe so much, and insist that faith is the sum of virtue,
and the lack of it the sum of sin; that to faith all things are added;
but we might believe every syllable of their whole disturbing creed,
and then spoil it all through blind ignorance of what is right and
what is wrong."

"As to knowing right and wrong," replied Brandon, "I think I can give
you a rule which, although it may not cover the whole ground, is
excellent for every-day use. It is this: Whatever makes others unhappy
is wrong; whatever makes the world happier is good. As to how we are
always to do this, I can not tell you. One has to learn that by
trying. We can but try, and if we fail altogether, there is still