106 PHILLIDA ay? CORIDON. 
child, possibly, or a poet; certainly not a phi- 
losopher. And happiness, too, — is that some- 
thing of which the scientific mind can render 
us a quite adequate description? Or is it, 
rather, a wayward, mysterious thing, coming 
often when least expected, and going away 
again when, by all tokens, it ought to remain? 
How is it with ourselves? Do we wait to 
weigh all the good and evil of our state, to take 
an accurate account of it pro and con, before 
we allow ourselves to be glad or sorry? Not 
many of us, I think. Mortuary tables may 
demonstrate that half the children born in this 
country fail to reach the age of twenty years. 
But what then? Our * expectation of life” is 
not based upon statistics. The tables may be 
correct, for aught we know; but they deal with 
men in general and on the average; they have 
no message for you and me individually. And 
it seems not unlikely that birds may be equally 
illogical ; always expecting to live, and not die, 
and often giving themselves up to impulses of 
gladness without stopping to inquire whether, 
on grounds of absolute reason, these impulses 
are to be justified. Let us hope so, at all events, 
till somebody proves the contrary. 
But even looking at the subject a little more 
philosophically, we may say — and be thankful 
to say it — that the joy of life is not dependent 
ee S te RE ey Of Ube tee ert se 
ee ee we? 
otte- 
