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COPYRIGHTED BY
M.B. DOWNER & F.C. SMEDLEY,
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
1881-1882.




PREFACE.


I take pleasure in laying before my readers a volume the aim of which is
to lighten the cares of to-day and heighten the hopes of to-morrow.
Every human aspiration which is not an _ignis fatuus_ or fool's beacon
is built on the realities of to-day. Every young person evincing talents
in any direction hears predictions which are alone built on what he is
doing at present. He takes this hope and redoubles his efforts. He
usually succeeds--therefore, the inherited universality of hope.

Looking thus upon hope as a beautiful edifice rising above the
foundations of our lives, I have striven to give my special attention to
the duties of to-day, those stones whereon the structure is reared, that
the first cruel tempest of adversity may not transport an unsubstantial
fabric, like the palace of Aladdin, into the deserts of despair.

I have also tried to show that the lesson, so true in a proper view of
this life, is also applicable to the far grander vista of eternity