devil, is this devil of envy, and he
who yields to it, who once allows it admittance to the citadel of his
heart, will soon learn that every subsequent waking and even sleeping
moment is one of worry and distress.

CHAPTER XVI

DISCONTENT AND WORRY

Closely allied to envy is discontent. These are blood relations, and
both are prolific sources of worry. And lest there are those who
think because I have revealed, in the preceding chapter, the demon of
worry--envy--as one that attacks the minds of the great and mighty, it
does not enter the hearts of everyday people, let me quote, entire, an
article and a poem recently written by Ella Wheeler Wilcox in _The Los
Angeles Examiner_. The discontent referred to clearly comes from envy.
Some one has blond tresses, while she has black. This arouses her
envy. She is envious because another's eyes are blue, while hers
are brown; another is tall, while she is small; etc., etc. There is
nothing, indeed, that she cannot weep and worry over:

There is a certain girl I know, a pretty little elf,
Who spends almost her entire thoughts in pity for herself.

Her glossy tresses, raven black, cause her to weep a pond--
She is so sorry for herself because they are not blond.

Her eyes, when dry, are very bright and very brown, 'tis true,
But they are almost always wet, because they are not blue.

She is of medium height, and when she sees one quite tall
She weeps all day in keenest pain because she is so small.

But if she meets some tiny girl whom she considers fair,
Then that she is so big herself she sobs in great despair.

When out upon a promenade her tears she cannot hide,
To think she is obliged to walk while other folks can ride.

But if she drives, why then she weeps--it is so hard to be
Perched stiffly in a carriage seat while other girls run free.

She used to cry herself quite sick to think she had to go
Month after month to dreary schools; that was her constant woe.

But on her graduating day, my, how her tears did run!
It seemed so sorrowful to know that her school life was done.

One day she wept because she saw a funeral train go by--
It was so sad that she must live while other folks could die.

And really all her friends will soon join with her in those tears
Unless she takes a brighter view of life ere many years.

The conceited girl or woman is tiresome and unpleasant as a companion,
but the morbidly dis