cruelty. It has to be conquered; but it must never he suffered to

engross his thoughts. The true duties lie all upon the farther

side, and must be attended to with a whole mind so soon as this

preliminary clearing of the decks has been effected. In order that

he may be kind and honest, it may be needful he should become a

total abstainer; let him become so then, and the next day let him

forget the circumstance. Trying to be kind and honest will require

all his thoughts; a mortified appetite is never a wise companion;

in so far as he has had to mortify an appetite, he will still be

the worse man; and of such an one a great deal of cheerfulness will

be required in judging life, and a great deal of humility in

judging others.

It may be argued again that dissatisfaction with our life's

endeavour springs in some degree from dulness. We require higher

tasks, because we do not recognise the height of those we have.

Trying to be kind and honest seems an affair too simple and too

inconsequential for gentlemen of our heroic mould; we had rather

set ourselves to something bold, arduous, and conclusive; we had

rather found a schism or suppress a heresy, cut off a hand or

mortify an appetite. But the task before us, which is to co-endure

with our existence, is rather one of microscopic fineness, and the

heroism required is that of patience. There is no cutting of the

Gordian knots of life; each must be smilingly unravelled.

To be honest, to be kind - to earn a little and to spend a little

less, to make upon the whole a family happier for his presence, to

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