purpose, that he have filled his heart with patience, or urged his hand to
haste."

It is true that in a subsequent volume he refers to this passage, and
adds, "But though all is good for study, and all is beautiful, some is
better than the rest for the help and pleasure of others; and this it is
our duty always to choose if we have opportunity," adding, however, "being
quite happy with what is within our reach if we have not."

We read of and admire the heroes of old, but every one of us has to fight
his own Marathon and Thermopylae; every one meets the Sphinx sitting by
the road he has to pass; to each of us, as to Hercules, is offered the
choice of Vice or Virtue; we may, like Paris, give the apple of life to
Venus, or Juno, or Minerva.

There are many who seem to think that we have fallen on an age in the
world when life is especially difficult and anxious, when there is less
leisure than of yore, and the struggle for existence is keener than ever.

On the other hand, we must remember how much we have gained in security?
It may be an age of hard work, but when this is not carried to an extreme,
it is by no means an evil. If we have less leisure, one reason is because
life is so full of interest. Cheerfulness is the daughter of employment,
and on the whole I believe there never was a time when modest merit and
patient industry were more sure of reward.

We must not, indeed, be discouraged if success be slow in coming, nor
puffed up if it comes quickly. We often complain of the nature of things
when the fault is all in ourselves. Seneca, in one of his letters,
mentions that his wife's maid, Harpaste, had nearly lost her eyesight, but