ience speaks only of what we know. We feel infinity, but we cannot
know it, for to the highest human wisdom the ultimate truths of the
universe are no nearer than to the child. Science knows no ultimate
truths. These are beyond the reach of man, and all that man knows must
be stated in terms of his experience. But as to human experience and
conduct, Science has a word to say.

Therefore Science can speak of the causes and results of Pessimism. It
can touch the practical side of the riddle of life by asking certain
questions, the answers to which lie within the province of human
experience. Among these are the following:

Why is there a "Philosophy of Despair?"

Can Despair be wrought into healthful life?

In what part of the Universe are you and what are you doing?

Personal despair or discouragement may rise from failure of strength or
failure of plans. This is a matter of every-day occurrence. The "best
laid schemes o' mice and men" generally go wrong, no doubt, but this
fact has little to do with the Philosophy of Pessimism. It is natural
for mice and men to try again and to gain wisdom from failures. "By the
embers of loss we count our gains."

The Pessimism of Youth we may first consider: In the transition from
childhood to manhood great changes take place in the nervous system.
There is for a time a period of confusion, in which the nerve cells are
acquiring new powers and new relations. This is followed by a time of
joy and exuberance, a sense of a new life in a new world, a feeling of
new power and adequacy, the thought that life is richer and better worth
living than the child could have supposed.

To this in turn comes a feeling of reaction. The joys of life have been
a thousand times felt before they come to us. We are but following part
of a cut-and-dried program, "performing actions and reciting speeches
made up for us centuries before we were born." The new power of manhood
and womanhood which seemed so wonderful find their close limitations. As
our own part in the Universe seems to shrink as we take our place in it,
so does the Universe itself seem to grow small, hard and unsympathetic.
Very few young men or young women of strength and feeling fail to pass
through a period of Pessimism. With some it is merely an affectation
caught from the cheap literature of decadence. It then may find
expression in imitation, as a few years ago the sad-hearted youth turned
down his collar in sympathy with the "co