The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-11-12

ing to the death a habit of Incidence pro-
orastination, and unfui6lled purpose, he has
not much time left for pondering the exact
number Of courses or the precise poorness of
wine which perfect virtue would prescribe or
permit. All moral ends are not of equal value.
The right minded person, with just views of
what living means and is and comes to, sinks
little ends in great ones. The little ends are
not worthy of being called ends at all, except
in so far as they become means to large pur-
poses. The practices which the ascetio urges
upon others and prizes so ineffably in himself
are the merest trumpery unless they are
paths to nobler goals.
A fatuous form Of spiritual pride, however,
is not the only principle on which people
constrain themselves to den hair shirts. For
the too numerous class who make themselves
uncomfortable in this way, one can have no
kindly or compassionate feeling. They are
prigs of the first water, and the prig is alb
horTed of the goods and despised of men. But
there are self-tormentors of another sort,
whose lives seem bound in what Antonio
called ga wapt-wit sadness" who insist upon
elevating depression into o aoonsummate virtue.
Of all hypotheses for explaining this or that
uncertainty of ofcircumstance, they always choose
that which is the most disastrous, though it
may be the least probable. If they are at sea,
they reflect for themselves, and remind their
neigh ors, how many ships as strong and great
as the one they are in have gone to the bottom
before now; if some one whom they are ex
pecting by train is an hour or two late, they
call up instant pictures OF an Abergee acci-
dent; if they or their friends are out of health,
they clutch the impression that mortal dis
ease has struck its root. They make it rule
to place the gloomiest available Interpretation
on every thing that happens, and more than
this, they never lose chance Of insisting
that the gloomiest combination of events
which their imagination can conjure up is GER
tainly on the point of happening. This ANA
zipg and truly miserable temper is mere
often than not constitutional infrmity. In
such case it is hard to battle against it; it 10
one of the most inaccessible and intangible of
nervous diseases. Where want-wit sadness is
not due to physical arrangement, however
caused, it is sometimes defended by those who
practise it or give way to it as a compliance
with the maxim that we should be prepared
for the worst. Having stated this, the self
tormentor-partly so called, on we'll
known principle, because he is a tormer.
of other people--belisves that the wisdom
ana virtue OF his habitual mood are
pey ond retutation Yet, II common sense is
worth anything, what wisdom or virtue either
can tnere Oe in a course which daily trans
ioip p.s the worst from a mere possibility into
an actual and real misery2 Nothing can be
more senseess than to fill life with forebodings
and presentiments, except the persuasion that
such habit arms us against misfortune, So
far from doing this, it enervates us; there is no
protection against the cold winds of adversely
in the hair-shirt. 1t is the weakest and most
doleful costume in which to face ones enemy.
People who have trained themselves to
believe that things always go wrong
are in the poorest possible spirits
for stretching out resolute arm to put
them right. A rooted conviction that what
ever is and will be is worst cripples one alb
solutely in all endeavor for securing the best.
| The world is a hard place enough, and full OF
battle, but men fight better and not worse for
having within their coat of iron mail warm
and soft doublet, sitting easy on the skin, and
breskipg the hard impact of outer circum-
stance.-London Saturday Review.