THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 177 



practical ring in the guidance which most of the writers 

 have to give in this matter of living wisely and living 

 well. It seems perfectly clear that many of the scribes 

 who discuss that topic in the papers require a guiding 

 clue to close argument. They become discursive and 

 often aggravating in their discussion of the thousand 

 and one ills of life, until, as I heard a peppery old 

 Anglo-Indian remark at Dinant the other day, "life 

 would be worth living, if it weren't for the asses who 

 write to the papers ! " This was not a fair or just 

 remark, however, and judging from the physique of 

 the critic, one may presume that years of broiling 

 beneath a tropical sun may have tinged his view of 

 life and its value in a very decided fashion. 



The first essential to a pleasurable life, in my 

 humble opinion, is a sound body. Let us, at least, 

 begin with this plain dictum. It offers us a sound 

 footing in a perfect quagmire of absurdities and trivial 

 talk about the aims and ends of life. 



What was it that Charles Reade made that delight- 

 ful Dr. Sampson (" th' Author an' Invintor of th' Great 

 Chronothairmal Therey o' Midicine, th' Unity Perrio- 

 dicity an' Remittency of all disease ") say, when he 

 was dilating on the value of life "Jin'yus ! Jin'yus ! 

 Tak' care o' your carkus ! " ? There was great, very 

 great, wisdom in the worthy doctor's remark. The 

 possession of perfect health is the first great essential 

 for happiness : it is equally the first essential for the 

 perfect exercise of mind ; and it therefore forms the 

 first item for our consideration when we ask the 

 question, Is life worth living ? To the healthy man 

 or woman who takes care of his or her " carkus " all 

 things in the way of advance and enjoyment, physical 

 and mental, are possible. 



