The Excellence of Misfortune 



tip-toe or lean far forward, and then success 

 crowns the effort. This is the exertion the world 

 demands, and, though we count it a misfortune 

 not to possess without effort, it is really a 

 blessing. Let ingenuity die and courage lan- 

 guish, and we might better die with it than con- 

 tinue on earth. Our presence ceases to be of 

 advantage to others. We all love to be lazy, I 

 admit, but this is because degeneracy has set 

 in, or development has not progressed; and in- 

 dolence should not be confounded with the 

 healthy reaction following the intoxication of 

 success. There is a time to rest from our la- 

 bors, but many labor only as an excuse for rest- 

 ing. Dreamland is the nearest foreign shore, 

 and the stream of travel flows always in that 

 direction. We incline to be lazy when the spur 

 of ambition is dulled. We do not feel its prick- 

 ing and gradually lose knowledge of ourselves. 

 To meet with disaster is the only efficient cure. 

 Our first effort a success, we are too prone 

 to be content therewith and disinclined to make 

 a second. As if the sapling oak was so pleased 

 with its first acorn, it willingly remained a bar- 

 ren tree thereafter. Such things are not known 

 in Nature, but man, with a mistaken view of Na- 



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