do? He plainly should begin the deposit of probabilities to draw
against. Walter Scott says: "Hope is brightest when it dawns from
fears," and I should think his drafts would be honored just so far as
they were drawn with circumspection. "Folly ends" writes Cowper "where
genuine hope begins." But where there is no hope there can be no
endeavor, so whether it exist in superabundance or not let us cultivate
it as one of the loveliest of the flowers of life, as absolutely the
sweetest perfume that ever burns in the Golden Censer. Let me tell you
how


HOPE ALONE SAVED THE LIFE

of one of the finest young men in the land. He was the son of a wealthy
wine merchant who had failed in business near Bath-Easton, England. Like
many other lads, he felt the sting of circumstances which promised to
alter, and without good advice got ready to come to America. He was well
trained in the wine trade, and supposed that employment would at once
open to him. He brought over two guns, two revolvers, a field glass, a
sword, much valuable jewelry, about twelve suits of clothes and not a
very large amount of money--possibly three hundred dollars. After
seeing Boston and New York, he "left for the plains," and


ARRIVED IN CHICAGO ON CHRISTMAS,

the year before the great conflagration. Here he was met by other
English friends, and the New Year's calls customary in the city were
made "in fine style," for he was an engaging young man. In just a casual
way he inquired for work, but found his trade did not exist in the New