Tlie Excellence of Misfortune 



tree did not have an apple fall into his mouth. 

 His brother, who climbed among the branches, 

 went away filled. Did the opposite prove true, 

 the world would not advance ; and he who labor- 

 iously climbs, seemingly in vain, will reach the 

 fairest fruit, at last. 



Better than this, the wrong tree must often 

 be climbed over. Our efforts must gain us only 

 bitter fruit, at first. How else can we know of 

 that which is sweeter? The world is an aggre- 

 gation of comparative excellence. If our dis- 

 comfort satisfied, comfort would be unsuspect- 

 ed. If we knew all things, there would be no 

 effort; omniscience would reduce us to an aim- 

 less hulk. Life is a struggle to attain and ob- 

 tain. Our goal is a direction, not a fixed point 

 in space. 



Defeat, disaster, destruction, despair, a 

 gloomy procession of ill-boding words, the four 

 walls of a chamber of horrors ; but what of de- 

 cision, determination, development, delight? 

 We are free to choose. The effective sermon 

 can come only from outside ourselves. We are 

 children of Nature, and back to her we must 

 turn when the path taken has proved to be the 

 wrong one. The platitudes of brother man irri- 



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