OUR COUNTRY LIFE 



that the nearer he approaches those lofty peaks of per- 

 fection, the more humble-minded he grows ; the more 

 simpatica, as the Italians say, he becomes toward his 

 fellow-man ; the more charitable with regard to the 

 weaknesses of mankind. Is it because he has, like Bun- 

 yan's pilgrim, met and fought so many of the demons 

 besetting his way through life, that he feels he has 

 barely escaped from their clutches, and so knows and 

 appreciates the temptation of others? 



I wonder whether I dare tell an experience of the 

 Rev. Mr. M — 's which he related at our dinner table. 

 When returning to his house in Dublin late one even- 

 ing, a Salvation Army lass accosted him, "Man, is your 

 soul saved?" The reverend gentleman, surprised by 

 this abrupt descent into the sacred recesses of his being, 

 hesitated, when the question was repeated, "Man, is 

 your soul saved?" By this time the Irish humor of 

 the good professor came to his rescue and he answered, 

 "It is, my lass, it is; but it was such a close shave that 

 I 'm not going around bragging much about it." 



We are taught from our earliest infancy that we 



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