INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT 355 



Only that environment and training is good 

 which leads to the development of good habits 

 and traits and to the suppression of bad ones. 

 What we commonly call "good environment" 

 is frequently the worst possible, what is often 

 called a bad environment may be the best pos- 

 sible. We are all strangely blind with regard 

 to these matters. We know of many cases in 

 which men began their careers on a farm, in 

 the backwoods, on a flat-boat, amidst hard- 

 ships and discomforts of every sort and yet 

 who achieved great distinction. And we 

 speak of such men as winning in spite of dis- 

 advantages, forgetting that often these very 

 disadvantages, hardships, discomforts, have 

 proved stimuli which have given them sturdy 

 bodies, good judgments, good morals, and 

 have called forth all their best qualities. On 

 the other hand under different circumstances 

 or with different men such conditions may 

 prove to be too hard, too severe, and the result 

 be disastrous. But environment may be too 

 good as well as too hard. Food may be too 

 rich and too abundant for good health, life 

 may be too easy and luxurious for the develop- 



