HAPPINESS AND THE PURSUIT OF IT. 
able it may be, however utterly useless it may seem, 
that does not represent a die to stamp to future coin, 
however trifling. Are we unable to save or gain 
money? We may be gaining experience, which is a 
very useful die for some future coinage. Have we a 
good stock of experience, and no bullion is offered us 
to coin, then stamp it with patience, and none neetl 
be reminded of the great things experience and patience 
have attained. It is hard to wait, especially to those 
who are naturally of an energetic and active frame 
of mind.” But Mr John now raised his head, got up, 
and seemed quite cheerful, as he said, “1 wnll have 
patience and wait quietly, just as the cat does 
at the hole of a mouse!” and our friend again rubbed 
his hands, and said, “That’s the ticket for soup.” 
And moreover, without being altogether of the pro- 
pensities of the cat, we may take a lesson from her 
patient perseverance. After waiting and watching a hole 
for some time expecting a mouse to come out, and 
none comes, she thinks, perhaps there is no mouse in 
the hole! so keeps a sharp look-out under the possi- 
bility that if none is in, or coming out, one maj? be 
going into it, and, whether coining out or going in, 
it is equally the same to her, provided she catches it. 
But after watching for a long time and none is to 
be seen, if the hole is forsaken altogether, and is a 
rejected “digging” or “scraping,” with nothing more 
to “ scrape up,” why, if the proverb holds good, 
that “The mouse who only trusts to one poor hole can 
never be a mouse of any soul,” it must also prove 
equally true of the cat! If the cat is wise, she will 
look out for another hole, when without doubt 
her patience will be rewarded. But it sometimes 
happens that even cats are too hasty. Just as she has 
turned away from the old hole, out pops the mouse, 
and, while vainly making a dart to clutch it, in pops 
another into another hole, and she loses them both ! 
And so the best plan is to stick to the old hole which 
you have watched so long, for it is very probable 
that, just as you get discontented and turn you away, 
turn away from the moment of your success or the 
turning-point in it. “A bird in the hand is worth 
two in the bush.” Never let loose a small bird, because 
you think you may require both hands to cal3ch that 
large mocking-bird in the bush, lest you may find 
both hands empty, and find yourself in consequence 
looking extremely fooligh, and feeling it too. 
“The bungalow” (save the mark !) ^tood, surrounded by 
a mass of burnt logs, through which no road had been 
cut, and the only way any one could be guided in 
approaching it was by the marks of mud on the sides 
of the felled timber, which shewed that this was the way, 
