196 AN ESSAY. 



former with the latter, and then, by synthesis, try to 

 frame what you know of practice and theory in a sort 

 of vade-mecum, to guide you in dayly 1 (or daily ?) 

 routine, and not say, "It does not or will not pay?' 

 For, how do you know if it will or not without you 

 try ? You might say you have heard men of business 

 say so, or that you guess. It is very well to guess, but 

 it is much better to be certain. Besides, one may fail 

 in an undertaking while another will succeed. Since 

 some twenty-five years or more my brain feels sore 

 from the frequent concussions of that phrase, " It does 

 not pay " words that most of the time have no more 

 meaning than a " How do you do " exchanged between 

 parties who care as much for each other as all of us 

 care for Buddha or Buddhism. An acquaintance of 

 mine has often thrust that saying in my face with the 

 remark, that if I had done so and so, as he had done, I 

 suppose, I would be much better off, etc. 

 According to that principle, the one who HAS NEVER 

 DONE any thing but what pays, and another who has 

 ALWAYS done what does not, it would follow that the 

 former ought to be "better off than the latter ; that which 

 I have not been able to see yet, although I have ob- 

 served with a MOKAL MAGNIFYING glass / but probably 

 my sight is not like that of a great many people, who 

 can see an atom in their neighbor's eye. Now, my 

 friends, if I was not afraid to have already abused the 



