THE RELIGION OF NATURE 



and that from that point his happiness or unhap- 

 piness depends upon what happens next. 



We make the same sort of mistake in looking 

 at men and women who have been unfortunate, as 

 we do in looking at other animals. We regard 

 them from our own particular point of view, which 

 throws everything that concerns them out of 

 perspective. 



Every reader of these lines has his own stand- 

 point on his own level. He envies those who are 

 far above him because they seem to have all the 

 elements of happiness at command. He pities 

 those who are far below him because their lives 

 appear sordid and miserable. Every reader will, 

 I think, admit this. 



Yet between the very highest and the very low- 

 est levels of human life there are a great many 

 grades which are envied as " happy " by those 

 below, and at the same time are pitied as " un- 

 happy " by those above. The office-boy who turns 

 up his collar at Waterloo Station in preparation 

 for a wet walk over the windy bridge, envies his 

 employer, who jumps into a hansom; while that 

 employer, compelled to risk his health and suffer 

 discomfort in coming to office in town in all 

 weathers, is pitied by his neighbor, a man of 

 wealth and leisure. 



But all this has many times been better said 



[106] 



