Traddles and his dear
little wife used to please themselves by selecting in the shop windows
their contemplated service of silver, so also many honest, hopeful
toilers fix upon the chairs and curtains that are to adorn their homes
long before they possess them. The dream and the object is a great
gain morally to them. Perhaps they might have other ones, but it is
equally possible that the possession of this very furniture is the
very condition that makes higher ones possible.

Depend upon it "A Society for the Improved Furnishing of Poor Men's
Homes" would be a step taken in the seven-leagued boots for _the
elevation of poor men's and women's lives_.

People Who Have Good Impulses

There is a raw material in humanity--often very raw--called impulse,
or enthusiasm; and some people are very proud of possessing this
spasmodic excellence. They talk glibly of their "good impulses," their
"noble impulses," their "generous impulses," but the fact is that the
majority of impulses are neither good nor noble; while they are, of
all guides in human affairs, the most questionable. For impulses do
not come from settled principles, but rather from a loose habit of
mind--a mind just drifting along, and ready to accept any new
suggestion as an "impulse," an "inspiration," a "command." We believe
far too readily the cant about emotion, and erratic genius, and suffer
ourselves to be imposed upon by fussy, impulsive people; for if we
are at all allied with such, it is impossible to escape imposition;
since we have to be patient enough for two, and so bear an undue
burden of civility and good manners.

It may be said that such a discipline is not to be despised, and could
be made a lesson of spiritual grace. But if we are not sick, why
should we take medicine? Lessons God sets us, He helps us to learn,
but there are no promises for those who impose penance upon
themselves. And it is a penance to associate with impulsive, fussy
persons; for no matter how good their impulses are, they are simply
nowhere--as far as noble, enduring work is concerned--beside
well-considered plans, carried out by cool, consistent people, who
know what can be done and do it,--just as much next year as this year;
just as well in one place as in another.

Ministers of the gospel know this fact perhaps better than any other
mortals. They are constantly finding out how uncertain a quantity good
impulses are to depend upon. For they have not the habit o