who try to weaken this lesson by finding excuses for the iniquities
of fate. Some are satisfied that God will give innocence its due
reward. Others tell us that in this case it is not the victim who
has the greatest claim upon our sympathy. And these are doubtless
right, from many points of view; for little Pierrette, miserable
though she was, and cruelly tormented, did yet experience joys that
her tyrants never would know. In the midst of her sorrow, she
remained gentle, and tender, and loving; and therein lies greater
happiness than in hiding cruelty, hatred, and selfishness beneath a
smile. It is sad to love and be unloved, but sadder still to be
unable to love. And how great is the difference between the petty,
sordid desires, the grotesque delights, of the Rogrons, and the
mighty longing that filled the child's soul as she looked forward to
the time when injustice at last should cease! Little wistful
Pierrette was perhaps no wiser than those about her; but before such
as must bear unmerited suffering there stretches a wide horizon,
which here and again takes in the joys that only the loftiest know;
even as the horizon of the earth, though not seen from the mountain
peak, would appear at times to be one with the corner-stone of
heaven. The injustice we commit speedily reduces us to petty,
material pleasures; but, as we revel in these, we envy our victim;
for our tyranny has thrown open the door to joys whereof we cannot
deprive him--joys that are wholly beyond our reach, joys that are
purely spiritual. And the door that opens wide to the victim is
sealed in the tyrant's soul; and the sufferer breathes a purer air
than he who has made him suffer. In the hearts of the persecuted
there is radiance, where those who persecute have only gloom; and is
it not on the light within us that the wellbeing of happiness
depends? He who brings sorrow with him stifles more happiness within
himself than in the man he overwhelms. Which of us, had he to