HOW TO MAKE THE BEST 

 OF LIFE 1 



I HAVE been asked to speak on the question 

 how to make the best of life, but may as well 

 confess at once that I know nothing about it. 

 I cannot think that I have made the best of 

 my own life, nor is it likely that I shall make 

 much better of what may or may not remain 

 to me. I do not even know how to make the 

 best of the twenty minutes that your com- 

 mittee has placed at my disposal, and as for 

 life as a^ whole, who ever yet made the best 

 of such a colossal opportunity by conscious 

 effort and deliberation ? In little things no 

 doubt deliberate and conscious effort will help 

 us, but we are speaking of large issues, and 

 such kingdoms of heaven as the making the 

 best of these come not by observation. 



The question, therefore, on which I have 

 undertaken to address you is, as you must all 



1 An address delivered at the Somerville Club, February 27, 

 1895. 



69 



