ourse of
envying the good fortune of their neighbors and attribute it all to
luck.

Whenever you hear any one expatiating upon what he calls the luck of
some one else, you may be sure that he is a person entirely deficient in
those qualities which could attract what he calls luck, but what is
really, in the majority of cases, merely the result of hard work based
upon a reasoned poise.

Here we may add that this quality is often the key to good fortune,
since it permits the head of a family, who is possest of it to establish
about him sympathetic currents, based upon the confidence that he
inspires.

It is a matter of common knowledge how courage communicates itself from
one to another.

The man who dreads the idea of doing something will attempt it without
hesitation if he finds himself supported by some one who seems to have
no doubt as to the happy outcome of the enterprise.

It is, therefore, most essential, in order to exercise a beneficent
influence upon his household, that the head of a family should be
possest of poise, which will awaken in them a sense of protection, while
at the same time making them aware of a kindly authority.

It must not be inferred from this that every head of a family should
pose as being infallible.

This would be a most foolish proceeding on his part. It would often
happen that circumstances, by proving his predictions untrue, would
destroy the faith in him that those in his household must possess.

It is only the presumptuous and the egotistical who pride themselves on
their infallibility, as we have pointed out at length in preceding
chapters.

The man of real poise will be more than careful not to pose as a
prophet, still less as an autocrat.

He will study to establish about him an atmosphere of confidence suited
to the development and the strengthening of the bonds which unite him to
those of his household.

Nothing is more touching than the blind faith shown by some children
toward their parents.

People of timidity will never arouse a feeling of this sort.

However real the affection of children may be for such parents, there
will always be mingled with it a modicum of indulgent pity, caused by
their distrust, if the parents happen to be people of timidity, of what
seem to them mediocre abilities.

They will feel themselves more willingly attracted toward a stranger, if
his attitude toward life appears to be one that may support and assist
their weakness. Thei