THE SECRET OF HAPPINESS 247 



It is equally a mistake to suppose we shall be hap- 

 pier to-morrow or next day than we are to-day. When 

 the future comes it will then he the present, no longer 

 a matter of imagination, but of actual experience. 

 This prosy, care-burdened self will be there, and the 

 rainbow tints will still be in the distance. 



The man who is hampered and constrained by the 

 circumstances of his life, thinks his happiness would 

 be greatly augmented by greater freedom, if he could 

 go here or there, do this or that. But the chances 

 are that such would not be the case. For instance, 

 when I see a man going up and down the country 

 looking for a place to settle, to build himself a home, 

 and when I think of my own experience in that 

 direction, I say, happy is the man whom circum- 

 stances take by the collar and set down without any 

 choice on his part, in a particular place, and say to 

 him, " There, abide there, and earn thy bread there." 

 He is a free man then, paradoxical as it may seem, 

 — free to make the most of his opportunities without 

 regret. He is not the victim of his own whims or 

 follies. He is not forever tormenting himself with 

 the notion that he has made a mistake, that if he had 

 gone here or there, he would have been happier. 

 Now he accepts the inevitable and makes the most 

 of it. He goes to work with the more heart be- 

 cause he has no choice. He wastes no time in re- 

 grets, he makes no comparisons that disturb him, 

 but devotes all his strength to getting all the satis^ 

 faction out of life that is possible. 



If one were to make a choice of going on foot 



