cts there is a God, and that he himself is but a man. No
mortal is then the object of his envy, his admiration, or his contempt."
"In sickness," says Shakspeare, playing with his prepositions, "let me
not so much say, 'Am I getting better of my pain?' as 'Am I getting
better for it?'"

LET US THEREFORE GIVE UP THE IDEA

of those great reformations which we formulate upon our mattresses of
misery, and rather confine ourselves to a few betterments of our lives
which are possible. If we are spendthrifts, we should vow to spend our
money for goods of more solid worth than a taste of this thing, a whiff
of that, or a sight of the other. If we are proud, let us resolve to
speak kindly at least to those who have been lately ill. If we are
stingy, let us make ready to give, notwithstanding, to those who need as
badly as we have needed. If we are doubtful of the goodness of the
gentle sex, let us at any rate thereafter except forever their
qualities as a faithful succor of

THE MOST MISERABLE OF CREATURES,

a sick man who cannot move from his bed of pain and discontent. If we
are impenitent, let us arise out of our wearying couch respectful to
those who worship God, and reverent also before God in the presence of
other worshipers. Perhaps if we aim our sudden goodness at a lower mark,
we may make a record that will not entirely proclaim (as the quick eye
of Pope has cynically perceived) our unpromising folly, and our
unteachable ignorance of human nature.

[Illustration]

SORROW.

When sorrows come, they come not single spies,
But in battalions.--Shakspeare.

But sorrow returned with the dawning of morn,
And the voice in my dreaming ear melted away.--Campbell.

Gathering clouds crowd thickest round the tallest
mountain, yet do their summits, far up above, forever gaze out upon the
undimmed sun. So is it with the great heart smitten with deep sorrow.
There is no soul upon whom the glory of God's love falls more serenely
and uninterruptedly. There is no better friend, no lovelier associate.
"Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." And comfort
does come, in the broad and kindly love and mercy toward humanity which
those who have known suffering so frequently evince, "Out of suffering
have emerged the strongest souls;" says Chapin, "the most massive
characters are seamed with scars; martyrs have put on their coronation
robes glittering with fire, and through their tears