CHAPTER II. 



PERSONAL KEMINISCENCES. 



"Human experience, like the stern-lights of a ship at sen, illumines 

 only the path which we have passed over." COLERIDGE. 



ALKING past a respectable shop in a 

 great city some time ago, and, like many 

 others, being attracted by the display of 

 the pretty things exposed for sale in its 

 \vindows, I said to the master on entering, 

 " It is quite a temptation to come in here ; " 

 when he quietly replied, " Yes, the secret of our 

 business is to create new wants, not to supply them." 



That is a maxim I have endeavoured to practise all 

 my life, and which I sincerely desire to practise still. It 

 is good for the mind as well as the body that we leave off 

 with an appetite. " The joy of existence is that there is 

 so much to learn," and the chief object I have in writing 

 these pages is that I may stimulate some of my readers, 

 should there be any that need it, in the pursuit of know- 

 ledge, and help and encourage them in its constant 

 application. And surely, to a mind rightly constituted, no 

 happiness can be greater than that which arises from the 

 consciousness that it has been instrumental in advancing 

 the happiness of others. 



