orld eagerly on the look out for any sign of sympathy, and not apt to
scrutinise too closely the character of the sympathy offered. And the
best part of having once forced oneself to exhibit sympathy, at
whatever cost of strain and effort, is that one is at least ashamed to
withdraw it.

I remember a foolish woman who was very anxious to retain the hold upon
the active world which she had once possessed. She very seldom spoke of
any subject but herself, her performances, her activities, the pressure
of the claims which she was forced to try to satisfy. I can recall her
now, with her sanguine complexion, her high voice, her anxious and
restless eye wandering in search of admiration. "The day's post!" she
cried, "that is one of my worst trials--so many duties to fulfil, so
many requests for help, so many irresistible claims come before me in
the pile of letters--that high," indicating about a foot and a half of
linear measurement above the table. "It is the same story every day--a
score of people bringing their little mugs of egotism to be filled at
my pump of sympathy!"

It was a ridiculous exhibition, because one was practically sure that
there was nothing of the kind going on. One was inclined to believe
that they were mugs of sympathy filled at the pump of egotism! But if
the thing were really being done, it was certainly worth doing!

One of the causes of the failure of nerve-force in age, which lies
behind so much of these miseries, is that people who have lived at all
active lives cannot bring themselves to realise their loss of vigour,
and try to prolong the natural energies of middle age into the twilight
of elderliness. Men and women cling to activities, not because they
enjoy them, but to delude themselves into believing that they are still
young. That terrible inability to resign positions, the duties of which
one cannot adequately fulfil, which seems so disgraceful and
unconscientious a handling of life to the young, is often a pathetic
clinging to youth. Such veterans do not reflect that the only effect of
such tenacity is partly that other people do their work, and partly
also that the critic observes that if a post can be adequately filled
by so old a man it is a proof that such a post ought not to exist. The
tendency ought to be met as far as possible by fixing age-limits to all
positions. Because even if the old and weary do consult their friends
as to the advisability of retirement, it is very hard fo