THE PATH OF EVOLUTION 



"What shall my life be?" is equally imperative. 

 If health and strength are given and often even 

 when they are not he can to a great extent make his 

 life as he wishes it to be. The pleasures of life must 

 then lie in the fulfilment of its duties. The mere 

 animal pleasures thereof must be relegated to the past 

 he has left behind. 



Most of us succeed in what we try for. The youth 

 who only seeks for happiness in the pleasures of even 

 innocent sport, who delights in hunting, in horses, in 

 social joys, to the neglect of the duty of improving 

 his mind and of providing for the future, or does 

 so perfunctorily, gains often what he strives for ; but 

 he gains that only. He finds when too late that neg- 

 lected duties cannot be reassumed at will, and that the 

 openings to his success in life are closed forever. He, 

 on the other hand, who hopes for happiness in the 

 fulfilment of his duties, and places pleasure secondary 

 thereto, looks to the future, and willingly gives up for 

 its sake the passing joys of the moment, which can 

 only be taken by sacrificing something else that 

 should be done. As in all other things, the force of 

 habit asserts itself; the sense of duty grows stronger 

 and the temptation to forsake it grows weaker. 

 Pleasures of a better sort are found, and the hopes of 

 the past become realized in the results of the early 

 living present. 



340 



