{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_57071/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_57071","id":"gutenberg_57071","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/57071","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Happiness"],"text":"Produced by Julia Miller, Carol Brown and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  THE\n  PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS\n\n  A BOOK OF\n  STUDIES AND STROWINGS\n\n  BY\n  DANIEL G. BRINTON, A.M., M.D., LL.D.\n\n  AUTHOR OF \u201cRACES AND PEOPLES,\u201d \u201cTHE MYTHS OF THE NEW WORLD,\u201d \u201cESSAYS\n  OF AN AMERICANIST,\u201d ETC., ETC.\n\n  PHILADELPHIA\n  DAVID MCKAY, PUBLISHER\n  NO. 23 SOUTH NINTH STREET\n  1893\n\n\n\n\n  COPYRIGHT, 1892, BY D. G. BRINTON.\n\n\n\n\n  WM. F. FELL & CO.,\n  ELECTROTYPERS AND PRINTERS\n  1220-24 SANSOM ST.,\n  PHILADELPHIA.\n\n\n\n\n  TO THE\n  HON. GEORGE PIERCE ANDREWS,\n  JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK,\n\n  This Book is Inscribed,\n\n  IN MEMORY OF A FRIENDSHIP WHICH HAS CONTINUED\n  UNINTERRUPTED SINCE OUR EARLIEST\n  COLLEGE DAYS.\n\n\n\n\n\u201cWe hold these truths to be self-evident,\u2015\u2015that all men are created\nequal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable\nrights; that among these are life, liberty, and THE PURSUIT OF\nHAPPINESS.\u201d\u2015\u2015_The Declaration of Independence of the United States of\nAmerica._\n\n\n  \u201cThe sun and stars that float in the open air,\n   The apple-shaped earth and we upon it, surely the drift of them is\n        something grand,\n   I do not know what it is except that it is something grand, and\n        that it is Happiness.\u201d\n                                    _\u2015\u2015Walt Whitman._\n\n\n\n\n  CONTENTS.\n\n\n  PART I.\n  Happiness as the Aim of Life.\n\n  I. _Is a Guide to Happiness Possible? And if Possible, is it\n     Desirable?_\n\n  Objections to the Pursuit of Happiness as a Low and Selfish\n    Aim.\u2015\u2015Answered by the Fact that we Cannot do Otherwise than Pursue\n    it.\u2015\u2015Enjoyment is not a Sin, but a Duty.\u2015\u2015No One Can Impart\n    Happiness who does not Possess it Himself.\u2015\u2015It is Desirable,\n    therefore, that Men be Taught How to become Happy.\u2015\u2015Nor is this a\n    Commendation of Selfishness,                             pp. 9-14\n\n  II. _The Definition of Happiness._\n\n  Happiness is not Pleasure, but is Built Upon it.\u2015\u2015Explanation of\n    Pleasure and Pain in Sensation.\u2015\u2015Happiness Dependent on the Will\n    and Self-consciousness.\u2015\u2015Difference Between Self-feeling and\n    Self-seeking.\u2015\u2015Happiness is the Increasing Consciousness of\n    Self.\u2015\u2015It may be Derived from Other than Pleasurable\n    Feelings.\u2015\u2015The Yearning for Joy is a Cry of Nature.\u2015\u2015It is the\n    Secret of Evolution,                                     pp. 15-20\n\n  III. _The Relative Value of Pleasures._\n\n  All Pleasures are Inseparably Connected.\u2015\u2015The Error of Religions and\n    Philosophies which Condemn Any.\u2015\u2015Escape from Pain the Lowest Form\n    of Pleasure.\u2015\u2015Indifference to Pleasure a Sign of Mental\n    Failing.\u2015\u2015Contentment is not Happiness.\u2015\u2015Happiness means Expansion\n    and Growth.\u2015\u2015Practical Difficulty in Comparing Pleasures.\u2015\u2015The\n    Hierarchy of Enjoyments.\u2015\u2015The Blunders of Asceticism.\u2015\u2015The\n    Equality of Pleasures, as Such,                          pp. 21-25\n\n  IV. _The Distribution of Happiness._\n\n  Relation of Happiness to the Means of Happiness.\u2015\u2015Law of the \u201cRate\n    of Pleasure.\u201d\u2015\u2015The Extremes of the Social Order Equally\n    Unfavorable.\u2015\u2015Civilization does not Increase Personal\n    Enjoyment.\u2015\u2015Social Evils Diminish, but Personal Sufferings\n    Increase.\u2015\u2015The Motive of the True Civilization.\u2015\u2015Women Have Less\n    Happiness than Men.\u2015\u2015Partly through their Physical Nature, Partly\n    through Social Impositions.\u2015\u2015Pernicious, Legal and Ecclesiastical\n    Restrictions.\u2015\u2015The True and False Education of Women.\u2015\u2015Man will\n    Profit by Woman\u2019s Improvement.\u2015\u2015Childhood and Youth not the\n    Happiest Periods of Life.\u2015\u2015Enjoyment Should Increase with Mental\n    and Physical Vigor.\u2015\u2015Old Age is not the Period of Wisdom.\u2015\u2015Spurious\n    Enjoyments of the Aged.                                  pp. 26-35\n\n  V. _Principles of a Self-Education for the Promotion of One\u2019s Own\n     Happiness._\n\n  Happiness is the Reward of Effort.\u2015\u2015The Greatest Efficiency is not\n    the Greatest Happiness.\u2015\u2015The Principles of a Self-Education:\u2015\u2015I.\n    The Multiplication of the Sources of Enjoyment\u2015\u2015What these Sources\n    Are\u2015\u2015The Avoidance of Profitless Pain\u2015\u2015The Value of Knowledge\u2015\u2015The\n    True End of Culture\u2015\u2015Falsity of \u201cContentment with Little.\u201d\u2015\u2015The\n    Kind of Knowledge Required:\u2015\u20151. Of Our Bodily Constitution\u2015\u20152. Of\n    the Elements of the Sciences\u2015\u20153. Of the Nature of the Mind\u2015\u20154. Of\n    the Principles of Business\u2015\u20155. Of the Value of Evidence.\u2015\u2015II. The\n    Maintenance of a Sensibility to Pleasure.\u2015\u2015The Criteria of\n    Pleasurable Sensations.\u2015\u2015The Anatomy of Ennui.\u2015\u2015III. The Search\n    for Variety of Impressions.\u2015\u2015Variety Necessary to High\n    Pleasure.\u2015\u2015Pleasure must be Remitted.\u2015\u2015The Individual should Seek\n    Novelty.\u2015\u2015The Evil Effects of Habit.\u2015\u2015IV. The Proper Proportion\n    Between Desire and Pleasure.\u2015\u2015The Wisdom of Counting the\n    Cost.\u2015\u2015Precepts for the Regulation of Desire.\u2015\u2015V. Make all\n    Pleasures a Part of Happiness.\u2015\u2015All Pleasures are\n    Excellent.\u2015\u2015Error of the Contrary Doctrine.\u2015\u2015All Pleasures should\n    be Brought into Relation.\u2015\u2015The Bond of Sense to what is Beyond\n    Sense.\u2015\u2015The Reality of the Ideal.\n\n  STROWINGS                                                  pp. 36-56\n\n\n  PART II.\n\n  How Far Our Happiness Depends on Nature and Fate.\n\n  I. _Our Bodily and Mental Constitutions._\n\n  Life as a Synonym of Happiness.\u2015\u2015Necessity and Chance the Arbiters\n    of Life.\u2015\u2015The Endowment of the Child.\u2015\u2015The Laws of\n    Heredity.\u2015\u2015Hereditary and Congenital Traits.\u2015\u2015The Heritage of the\n    Race.\u2015\u2015Family Jewels and Family Curses.\u2015\u2015The Avenue of\n    Escape.\u2015\u2015Precepts for Self-training.\u2015\u2015Words for Women.\u2015\u2015Beauty and\n    its Cult.\u2015\u2015Its Perils and its Power.\u2015\u2015The Ideal of the\n    Beautiful.\u2015\u2015The Four Temperaments.\u2015\u2015Cheerfulness and its Physical\n    Seat.\u2015\u2015Diseases that are Cheerful and those that are Not.\u2015\u2015What to\n    do in an Attack of the Blues.\u2015\u2015Old Age and its Attainment.\u2015\u2015The\n    Fallacious Bliss of Youth.\u2015\u2015Men who Outlive Themselves.\n\n  STROWINGS,                                                 pp. 57-80\n\n  II. _Our Physical Surroundings._\n\n  Clothing and its Objects.\u2015\u2015The Dress of Women.\u2015\u2015The Value of Good\n    Clothes.\u2015\u2015The Room and its Furniture.\u2015\u2015Our Living Rooms.\u2015\u2015Own Your\n    Own House.\u2015\u2015Foes to Fight in House-building.\u2015\u2015A New Principle for\n    Architects.\u2015\u2015Love of Home and Homesickness.\u2015\u2015How Climate\n    Influences Cheerfulness.\n\n  STROWINGS,                                                 pp. 81-91\n\n  III. _Luck and its Laws._\n\n  What Solon said about Happiness.\u2015\u2015Destiny in Human Affairs.\u2015\u2015The\n    Calculation of Chances.\u2015\u2015Results of the Laws of Luck.\u2015\u2015They Cannot\n    be Escaped.\u2015\u2015Runs of Luck and their Results.\u2015\u2015\u201cA Fool for Luck,\u201d\n    and Why.\u2015\u2015The Story of Polycrates and its Moral.\u2015\u2015The Fetichism of\n    Gamblers.\u2015\u2015Luck Does Less Than Many Think.\u2015\u2015The Miracles of\n    Insurance.\u2015\u2015The Dark Hand of Destiny.\u2015\u2015Trifles Rule the World.\u2015\u2015We\n    Are the Slaves of Chance.\u2015\u2015But What is Chance?\n\n  STROWINGS,                                                pp. 92-108\n\n\n  PART III.\n\n  How Far Our Happiness Depends on Ourselves.\n\n  I. _Our Occupations\u2015\u2015Those of Necessity and those of Choice._\n\n  The Washerwoman\u2019s Ideal of Happiness.\u2015\u2015Labor is the True Source of\n    Enjoyment.\u2015\u2015Selection of an Occupation.\u2015\u2015How to Find Pleasure in\n    Its Pursuit.\u2015\u2015Fitness and Unfitness for Certain\n    Occupations.\u2015\u2015Dangers of Diligence in Business.\u2015\u2015The Rare\n    Complaint, Over-Conscientiousness.\u2015\u2015Making a Living a Mean\n    Business.\u2015\u2015Occupations of Choice.\u2015\u2015Reflections on Recreations.\n\n  STROWINGS,                                               pp. 109-117\n\n  II. _Money-making, Its Laws and Its Limits._\n\n  The Universal Prayer.\u2015\u2015Property the Foundation of Progress.\u2015\u2015Wealth\n    is Welcome to All.\u2015\u2015What Riches Give.\u2015\u2015\u201cEffective\u201d and\n    \u201cProductive\u201d Riches.\u2015\u2015The Author Discovers the Fortunate\n    Isles.\u2015\u2015But is Promptly Disenchanted.\u2015\u2015How to Get Rich.\u2015\u2015Another\n    Way to Get Rich.\u2015\u2015New Lamps for Old.\u2015\u2015Riches and Happiness.\n\n  STROWINGS,                                               pp. 118-127\n\n  III. _The Pleasures we may Derive from Our Senses._\n\n  The Elect of God are those who Improve their Faculties.\u2015\u2015Division of\n    the Faculties.\u2015\u2015The Rules of Pleasure.\u2015\u2015The Rule of\n    Moderation.\u2015\u2015The Rule of Variety.\u2015\u2015Pleasures of the Muscular\n    Sense.\u2015\u2015Of the Sense of Touch.\u2015\u2015Of the Sense of Smell.\u2015\u2015Of Tobacco\n    Using.\u2015\u2015Eating as a Fine Art.\u2015\u2015The Symmetry of a Well-served\n    Dinner.\u2015\u2015Gastronomic Precepts.\u2015\u2015Pleasures of the Sense of\n    Hearing.\u2015\u2015Of the Sense of Sight.\n\n  STROWINGS,                                               pp. 128-141\n\n  IV. _The Pleasures we may Derive from Our Emotions._\n\n  Hope and Fear.\u2015\u2015The Folly of Philosophies.\u2015\u2015Hopes which are\n    Incompatibles.\u2015\u2015A Most Useful Suggestion.\u2015\u2015Fear is a\n    Safeguard.\u2015\u2015Worry and its Remedies.\u2015\u2015Courage and Apathy.\u2015\u2015Remorse\n    and Regret.\u2015\u2015Anger, Hatred, and Revenge.\u2015\u2015The Imagination.\u2015\u2015The\n    Esthetic Emotions.\u2015\u2015The Contemplation of Nature.\u2015\u2015The Arts of\n    Pleasure.\u2015\u2015The Excellence of Good Taste.\u2015\u2015Plot-Interest.\u2015\u2015The\n    Emotions of Pursuit.\u2015\u2015The Emotions of Risk.\n\n  STROWINGS,                                               pp. 142-155\n\n  V. _The Pleasures we may Derive from Our Intellect._\n\n  The Search for Truth.\u2015\u2015Advantages of Intellectual\n    Pleasures.\u2015\u2015Especially to Women.\u2015\u2015Riddles and Puzzles.\u2015\u2015Reading,\n    and Rules for It.\u2015\u2015My Own Plan.\u2015\u2015What Line to Read In.\u2015\u2015A Plea for\n    Poetry.\u2015\u2015Thinking About Reading.\u2015\u2015What Meditation Means.\u2015\u2015Social\n    Intellectual Pleasures.\u2015\u2015Writing and Letter Writing.\u2015\u2015Keeping a\n    Diary.\u2015\u2015The Pursuit of Truth.\u2015\u2015What Truth Is.\u2015\u2015The Study of\n    Science.\n\n  STROWINGS,                                               pp. 156-168\n\n  VI. _The Satisfaction of the Religious Sentiment._\n\n  Happiness the Only Standard of Value.\u2015\u2015The Strange Law of\n    Evolution.\u2015\u2015The Ideal of Humanity.\u2015\u2015The Position of Dogmatic\n    Religion.-The Unhappiness Produced by Religions.\u2015\u2015The Happiness\n    Derived from Religions.\u2015\u2015The Doctrine of Faith.\u2015\u2015Morality and\n    Religion.\u2015\u2015Erroneous Estimate of the Moral Life.\u2015\u2015True Religious\n    Unity.\u2015\u2015The Religion of the Future.\n\n  STROWINGS,                                               pp. 169-180\n\n  VII. _The Cultivation of Our Individuality._\n\n  The Prevailing Lack of Individuality.\u2015\u2015Examples of Great\n    Teachers.\u2015\u2015The Man of Strong Personality.\u2015\u2015What Individuality Is\n    and Is Not.\u2015\u2015Value of Self-knowledge.\u2015\u2015The Pains of\n    Diffidence.\u2015\u2015Dangers of Self-conceit.\u2015\u2015The Tyranny of\n    Opinion.\u2015\u2015The Foolishness of Fixed Principles.\u2015\u2015Obstinate\n    Asseveration.\u2015\u2015Giving and Taking Advice.\u2015\u2015Decision of\n    Character.\u2015\u2015Importance of Reserve.\u2015\u2015Sincerity is\n    Essential.\u2015\u2015Veracity at Least to Oneself.\u2015\u2015Seek Many-sidedness of\n    Character.\n\n  STROWINGS,                                               pp. 181-193\n\n\n  PART IV.\n\n  How Far Our Happiness Depends on Others.\n\n  I. _What Others Give Us: Safety, Liberty, Education._\n\n  Man\u2019s Dependence on Society for his Safety.\u2015\u2015Security the Aim of\n    Government.\u2015\u2015Two Theories of Government.\u2015\u2015Justice as the Aim of\n    Government.\u2015\u2015Freedom the Aim of Law.\u2015\u2015Another Theory of\n    Government.\u2015\u2015Knowledge the Brother of Liberty.\u2015\u2015Education a\n    Necessity.\u2015\u2015Defective Education of Women.\u2015\u2015What it Should\n    Be.\u2015\u2015Study Should Be Made a Pleasure.\u2015\u2015Man\u2019s Dependence on Others.\n\n  STROWINGS,                                               pp. 195-205\n\n  II. _What we Owe Others: Morality, Duty, Benevolence._\n\n  Happiness and Virtue are Independent Aims.\u2015\u2015Morality and the Moral\n    Sense not the Same.\u2015\u2015What Morality Is.\u2015\u2015No Universal Moral\n    Precepts.\u2015\u2015The Dualism of Morals.\u2015\u2015The Sense of Duty.\u2015\u2015The\n    Pleasures of the Moral Sense.\u2015\u2015What \u201cA Clear Conscience\u201d\n    Means.\u2015\u2015What is \u201cThe Chief End of Man.\u201d\u2015\u2015The Moral Sense Opposes\n    Moral Laws.\u2015\u2015The Benevolent Emotions.\n\n  STROWINGS,                                               pp. 206-215\n\n  III. _The Practice of Business and the Enjoyment of Society._\n\n  The Value of Association.\u2015\u2015Society Should Not Ask the Sacrifice of\n    the Individual.\u2015\u2015Maxims for Dealing with Men: First, Distrust;\n    Second, Trust.\u2015\u2015What \u201cSociety\u201d is.\u2015\u2015The Drawing-room as the Shrine\n    of Civilization.\u2015\u2015Good-will the Basis of Good Society.\u2015\u2015Ordinary\n    People are the Most Agreeable.\u2015\u2015Maxim for Success in Society.\u2015\u2015The\n    Aim of Society.\u2015\u2015Good Society Not Selfish.\u2015\u2015The Power of\n    Society.\u2015\u2015What Politeness is.\u2015\u2015Society Conversation.\u2015\u2015The Expert\n    in Small Talk.\n\n  STROWINGS,                                               pp. 216-227\n\n  IV. _On Fellowship, Comradeship, and Friendship._\n\n  Man\u2019s Highest Pleasure is in Humanity.\u2015\u2015What Fellowship\n    Means.\u2015\u2015Mutuality of Interests the Basis of Social Progress.\u2015\u2015But\n    the Individual must be Respected.\u2015\u2015Comradeship is Based on Tastes\n    in Common.\u2015\u2015It is a Substitute for Friendship.\u2015\u2015Examples of\n    it.\u2015\u2015The Meaning of Friendship.\u2015\u2015What Weakens and what Strengthens\n    it.\u2015\u2015It should be Carefully Cultivated.\u2015\u2015Friendship Between Men\n    and Women.\u2015\u2015Examples of it.\n\n  STROWINGS,                                               pp. 228-237\n\n  V. _Love, Marriage, and the Family Relation._\n\n  The Single Life Ever Incomplete.\u2015\u2015The Holiness of Maternity.\u2015\u2015The\n    Emotion of Love Explained.\u2015\u2015Love and Beauty.\u2015\u2015Love Immortalized in\n    Posterity.\u2015\u2015The History of Marriage.\u2015\u2015The Three Conditions of\n    Marriage.\u2015\u2015The Question of Divorce.\u2015\u2015What True Marriage\n    Means.\u2015\u2015Opinions of Thinkers About Divorce.\u2015\u2015The Family as the\n    Object of Marriage.\u2015\u2015The Family Tie Among Us.\n\n  STROWINGS,                                               pp. 238-247\n\n\n  PART V.\n\n  The Consolations of Affliction.\n\n  I. _The Removal of Unhappiness._\n\n  Suffering is Unavoidable.\u2015\u2015Where to Look for Consolation.\u2015\u2015Two\n    Consoling Reflections.\u2015\u2015Advantage of a Multitude of Miseries.\u2015\u2015The\n    Habit of Unhappiness.\u2015\u2015Some Require Ill Fortune.\u2015\u2015Two Popular\n    Methods of Consolation.\u2015\u2015Talk It Over, and Why.\u2015\u2015Our Strange Claim\n    for Happiness.\u2015\u2015The Tolerance of Suffering.\u2015\u2015The Universal\n    Panacea.\u2015\u2015Look Before and After.\u2015\u2015Deal Justly by Yourself.\u2015\u2015How to\n    Regard Incivility and Ingratitude.\u2015\u2015Success Arising from\n    Failures.\u2015\u2015Resignation, Sympathy.\u2015\u2015Remember Your\n    Advantages.\u2015\u2015Thoughts About Time and Death.\n\n  STROWINGS,                                               pp. 248-280\n\n  II. _The Inseparable Connection of Pleasure and Pain._\n\n  Pleasure Requires Pain, and Joy Sorrow.\u2015\u2015The Words of\n    Socrates.\u2015\u2015Physiological Relations of Pleasure and Pain.\u2015\u2015Their\n    Analogy to Joy and Sorrow.\u2015\u2015The Oneness of the Pleasure-Pain\n    Sensation.\u2015\u2015The Rhythm of Sensations and Emotions.\u2015\u2015Pleasure\n    Derived from Pain, Joy from Sorrow.\u2015\u2015Quotation from Leigh\n    Hunt.\u2015\u2015Quotation from Sir Richard Steele.\u2015\u2015Sadness the Best\n    Preparative for Gladness.\u2015\u2015Influence of Time on Pleasures and\n    Pains.\n\n  STROWINGS,                                               pp. 263-272\n\n  III. _The Education of Suffering._\n\n  What is Suffering?\u2015\u2015The Human Passion of Sorrow.\u2015\u2015Sorrow as the\n    Initiation into the Mysteries of Life.\u2015\u2015The Noblest Prizes Won\n    Only by Suffering.\u2015\u2015It is the Highest Inspiration of Religion and\n    Art.\u2015\u2015It Alone Teaches the Elder Truths.\u2015\u2015The Ministry of\n    Grief.\u2015\u2015The Sweetness of Departed Joys.\u2015\u2015The Compensations of\n    Loves that are Lost.\u2015\u2015The Despair that is Divine.\n\n  STROWINGS,                                               pp. 273-280\n\n\n\n\nPART I.\n\nHappiness as the Aim of Life.\n\n\n\n\nI. _Is a Guide to Happiness Possible? And, if Possible, is it\nDesirable?_\n\n\nThe pursuit of happiness,\u2015\u2015the pursuit of one\u2019s own happiness,\u2015\u2015is it\na vain quest? and, if not vain, is it a worthy object of life?\n\nThere have been plenty to condemn it on both grounds. They have said\nthat the endeavor is hopeless; that to study the art of being happy is\nlike studying the art of making gold, which is the only art by which\ngold can never be made. Nothing, they add, is so unpropitious to\nhappiness as the very effort to attain it.\n\nThey go farther. \u201cLet life,\u201d they proclaim, \u201chave a larger purpose\nthan enjoyment.\u201d They quote the mighty Plato, when he demands that the\nright aim of living shall stand apart, and out of all relation to\npleasure or pain. They declare that the theory of happiness as an end\nis the most dangerous of all in modern sociology\u2015\u2015the tap-root of the\nworst weeds in the political theories of the day, for the reason that\nthe individual pursuit of enjoyment is necessarily destructive of that\nof society at large. Moreover, they urge, who dares write of it? For\nhe who has not enjoyed it, cannot speak wisely of it; and in him who\nhas attained it, \u2019twere insolence to boast of it.\n\nOver against these stands another school, not, by any means, solely a\nmodern school. If that boasts Plato as its leader, this can claim\nAristotle as its master. It is with the single aim to become happier,\nsaid that wise teacher, that we deliberately perform any act of our\nlives. This is the final end of every conscious action of man. That\nalone is the true purpose of existence, which, by itself, and not as a\nmeans to something else, makes life worth living and desirable for its\nown sake; and happiness\u2015\u2015happiness alone\u2015\u2015fulfills this requirement.\n\nThrough the ages this conflict has continued. We find the thoughtful\nPascal declaring that every free act of the will has, and can have, no\nother end in view than the increase of the individual happiness, be it\nso seemingly inconsistent as drowning or hanging oneself; while the\ndistinctively modern school of social philosophers, without any\nexception, pin to their banners the maxim of their master, Jeremy\nBentham, \u201cThe common end of every person\u2019s efforts is happiness;\u201d and\nthey love to confound the ascetics by proclaiming, with Spencer, that\n\u201cWithout pleasure there is no good in life;\u201d or asserting, with Ward,\nthat the sole aim of a right sociology is the organization of\nhappiness. Nay, they have gone so far as to project a series of\nsciences by which the human race is to reach a condition of entire\nenjoyment. They give us \u201cEud\u00e6monics,\u201d or the art of the attainment of\nwell-being; \u201cHedonism,\u201d or the theory of the securing of pleasure; and\neven the \u201cHedonical Calculus,\u201d by which we can to a nicety calculate\nhow much any object, if secured, will add to our felicity.\n\nThese excellent authorities have therefore answered the inquiry\nwhether the pursuit of happiness is a possible occupation, by showing\nthat in fact we cannot of our own wills do anything else; and though\nwe often pursue it blindly and by false routes, we can, by taking\nthought and learning of others, follow it up successfully. So also\ntaught Aristotle, who tells us in his _Ethics_, \u201cIt is possible for\nevery man by certain studies and appropriate care to reach a condition\nof happiness.\u201d\n\nSince the aim of enjoyment is thus natural, even thus necessary, to\nman, since it is the motive of his every action, how important that it\nshould be guided by the dictates of wisdom, and not condemned and\ndiscarded as evil! Have not those who declared it criminal smothered\nthe germ which they should have nursed?\n\nAway with the cold and cruel doctrines which for ages have darkened\nthe lives of men by teaching them that enjoyment is folly and pleasure\na sin! If the reasoned pursuit of happiness conflicts with current\nmorality, so much the worse for that morality. Away with it, and in\nthe light of a younger day seek a better one. What is right is\nreasonable, and what is reasonable is right. Enjoy yourself; it is the\nhighest wisdom. Diffuse enjoyment; it is the loftiest virtue. Not only\nare the two compatible; they are inseparable; as the sage Rasselas\nsaid to the Princess: \u201cIt is our business to consider what beings like\nus may perform; each laboring for his own happiness by promoting\nwithin his circle, however narrow, the happiness of others.\u201d\n\nAll agree that we should strive for the happiness of others; it has\neven been said that this is the only moral justification of any act of\nour lives. But the cup which we are to proffer to all, we are,\nforsooth, forbidden to taste ourselves! What is good for everybody\nelse is bad for oneself!\n\nThere is something radically wrong here, both in fact and logic.\nMental moods are contagious, and the man who enjoys little will prove\na kill-joy to others. Who are more disagreeable than those Philistines\nand Pharisees who insist on making you happy against your will, and\ncontrary to your inclinations? I have noticed that the usual pretext\nfor annoying people is solicitude about their welfare. But, as a rule,\npeople are not happy whose pleasures are assigned them by others.\nNobody\u2019s vegetables are so sweet as those from my own garden, and if\nthe whole world set to work to please me, I am sure I should be\ndiscontented. These moralists put the cart before the horse. Before we\nare qualified to make others happy we must compass happiness in some\ndegree for ourselves; and our success with others will be just to that\ndegree and no more. The quality and intensity of enjoyment which we\nourselves have is alone that which we are able to impart to others. To\nassert, therefore, that we should make no effort to obtain or increase\nthis, is as illogical as can be.\n\nHere some one may think I am caught in my own trap. For if people\ncannot assign pleasures to others, is it not an impertinence to offer\ninstruction on the subject? Can anybody tell me better than myself\nwhat I like and what I desire?\n\nTrue, but the difference is wide between telling me what things should\nplease me, and telling me how I can best please myself; and the latter\nis the aim of right instruction in this matter. That it is badly\nneeded, one who runs may read. Most people pursue unhappiness more\nsteadily than happiness. Only fools find life an easy thing; to the\nwise it is a perpetual surprise that they get along at all. To them,\nlife is a lesson to be learned, and happiness is a science the first\naxiom in which is to seek knowledge. To be happy one must work for it,\nand not merely have the wish and possess the requisites; as Aristotle\nso prettily expresses it, \u201cAs at the Olympic games, it is not the\nstrongest or handsomest who gain the crown, but only those who join in\nthe combat.\u201d\n\nThere is boundless need for a clear statement of the true theory of\npersonal happiness. It has been neglected, misconceived, and decried\nlong enough, and countless lives have been darkened in consequence.\nSuch a theory, to be true, must be applicable to all men, of all sorts\nand conditions, because the desire of happiness is the common motive\nof all. Has it yet been discovered? That is the object of the present\ninquiry\u2015\u2015for it is little more than an inquiry; but be sure that when\nit is discovered and set forth, it will come not as something new or\nstrange, but like some half-forgotten, long familiar truth.\n\nNot only, therefore, is it desirable, it is the bounden duty of every\nman to consider his own highest happiness, to learn what that is, and\nto go to work to secure it. It is his duty to his neighbors as well as\nto himself; more than that, it is his first duty to his kind. It is\nincumbent on every generation to transmit an increased store of social\nand personal felicity to posterity. This is the only good reason for\nthe continuance of the race. But a generation does nothing except\nthrough its individual members; hence, it all comes back to the\npersonal effort for happiness.\n\nBut the moralist will object, Is not this doctrine one of absolute\negotism, of stark selfishness?\n\nThis objection is what has nullified and cast into disfavor every\nessay ever written, from the Nichomachean Ethics downward, which\nattempted a reasoned and practical art of increasing personal\nhappiness. They have all been frowned down as selfish and, therefore,\nimmoral.\n\nIt is time for this opposition to cease. It rests on a misunderstanding\nof terms, on a confusion of different sensations, on the bad books of\nsome writers, but mostly on ancient prejudice and an ignorance of\nfacts. Let the subject be approached with a mind free from bias; let\nthe false beacons hung out by some schools be disregarded; above all,\nlet a clear understanding of what happiness consists in be gained; and\nthis potent objection will be dismissed from the case.\n\nLet us turn, then, to the definition of happiness.\n\n\n\n\nII. _The Definition of Happiness._\n\n\nIn science a definition is not a resting-place, but a stepping-stone.\nIt is needless, therefore, to call the catalogue of obsolete and\nobscure definitions of happiness. Some, indeed, say that the\ndefinition, like the thing itself, is still unfound.\n\nI do not think this is so. Between the physiologists and the\npsychologists, I believe we are in a position to explain what\nhappiness is; and if in parts the explanation is a trifle subtle, it\nis not really obscure.\n\nHappiness is not the same as pleasure, but it is generally built upon\nor grows out of pleasurable feelings. We must begin, therefore, our\nanalysis with these, and with their opposites\u2015\u2015the painful feelings.\n\nPleasure and pain are both ultimate and undefinable experiences of the\nmind. We cannot resolve them further; but we can note certain\nunfailing relations they bear to the organism, which explain their\nsignificance. Pleasure characterizes the normal and unimpeded exercise\nof physiological functions of all kinds. There are as many elementary\npleasures as there are sensations. Pain is present only in the reverse\nconditions. Modern physiologists have established, therefore, the\nfundamental law, that pleasure connects itself with vital energy, pain\nwith its opposite; in which they have not gone beyond, even if they\nhave caught up to, the maxim of Spinoza: \u201cPleasure is an affection\nwhereby the mind passes to a greater perfection; pain is an affection\nwhereby it passes to a lesser perfection.\u201d\n\nSuch is the meaning of pleasure or of pleasurable feelings; and there\nis no lack of writers, and weighty ones, too, who maintain that\nhappiness is merely the excess of pleasure over pain; or the utmost\npleasure we are capable of; or the aggregate of continued pleasurable\nfeelings. All such phrases are wide of the mark. They confound\ndistinct things, and ignore the boundaries between the different\nrealms of mental action.\n\nWe must leave the physiologists and turn to profound analysts of\npurely mental action, such as Hume and Kant, for the right\nunderstanding of the meaning of happiness. For these, its inseparable\nfactors, are the Will and Self-consciousness. As Kant expresses\nit,\u2015\u2015\u201cThe Desire of Happiness is the general title for all subjective\nmotives of the Will.\u201d Desire is really stimulated, not by the image of\npast pleasure, as Locke and his followers teach, but by the conception\nof Self. The satisfaction of desire is not merely such, but is the\nsatisfaction of the Self, in thus reaching a greater perfection, to\nuse Spinoza\u2019s phrase. Only by discriminating the object from the Self\ncan the pleasure of the subject become an end in itself. Hence the\nreal aim of the pleasure-seeker, though he is rarely intellectually\nconscious of it, is to feel his own Self, his own being, more keenly.\nAristotle expressed this when he wrote,\u2015\u2015\u201cPleasure is the feeling\nwhich accompanies Self-realization.\u201d\n\nTo the extent, therefore, that pleasure develops the sense of\nSelf-consciousness it partakes of a higher nature than mere sensation,\nwhich man shares in common with the brutes; and to that extent it can\nclaim the name of Happiness, a feeling inseparable from free will and\nconscious individuality. In man a true pleasure must always be a\npleasure in something else than the pleasure itself; that is, it must\nheighten the sense of personal existence.\n\nIt is only the conception of Self as a permanent subject to be\npleased, that stimulates man to fresh endeavors, that makes him seek\nknowledge and freedom, that lifts him above the beast, contented with\nthe satisfaction of its appetites. This is what Fichte meant when he\nsaid that the consciousness of Self alone enables us to understand\nlife and enjoy it. Nothing is truer than the motto, \u201c_\u00catre heureux,\nc\u2019est vivre_,\u201d\u2015\u2015to be happy is to live.\n\nHere, again, some uneasy moralist will point the finger and raise the\ncry of \u201cselfishness.\u201d It is time to have done with this purblind, this\nhigh-gravel-blind moralist, who refuses to distinguish between\nself-feeling and self-seeking. There are two self-loves. The one is\ninseparable from personal existence, the necessary point of departure\nof every conscious action, whose activity and whose end are alike in\nthe object outside of the self; the other is that egoism which directs\nboth the action and its end toward itself. The former is fecund,\nennobling, inspiring; the latter is sterile and enfeebling. Rightly\nunderstood, nothing is so admirable as self-love; but love yourself,\nnot for what you are, but for what you may be. The wisest of teachers\nset no higher mark for duty than, \u201cLove thy neighbor _as thyself_.\u201d It\nwas a modern and unphilosophical derogation which substituted for it,\n\u201c_Vivre pour autrui_.\u201d In living the best for ourselves, we live the\nbest for others.\n\nThe conclusion which we have now arrived at, that happiness is the\nincreasing consciousness of Self, leads us to reflect whether this\nmental state is brought about solely by what is generally known as\n\u201cpleasures,\u201d or whether some other feeling, not usually classed as\nsuch, may not have the same effect. Man can enjoy only through action,\nand all his happiness depends on action; but there may be a great deal\nand very intense activity in spheres of experience to which the terms\npleasure and pain, in their physiological sense, do not apply. Indeed,\nsuch activities may be present along with physical pain and mental\nsuffering, and yet the law hold good: that if these are of a nature to\nexalt the consciousness of self, they may be a well-spring of\nhappiness under circumstances the most unfavorable. This explains a\npassage of Epictetus which I thought over a long time before I\nmastered its significance,\u2015\u2015\u201cHappiness is an _equivalent_ for all\ntroublesome things;\u201d not that it excludes or abolishes them, but that\nit is a compensation for them. This puts the whole art of happiness in\na different light. It may teach us to avoid some pains and troubles,\nand this is well; but the best of it will ever be to give us an\n_equivalent_ for the many that remain. Any text-book of felicity which\nleaves this out of account may as well be burned by Monsieur de Paris.\n\nNow we can understand what Plato meant when he said that the right aim\nof living should stand out of relation to pleasure or pain. He had in\nmind these other activities which give in some natures an intenser\nsense to self-consciousness than any mere nerve reaction. The ancient\nideal was the greatness of the individual, the richness of his\nimagination, the reach of his intellect, the strength of his will, the\nfirmness of his friendship, the devotion of his patriotism, the\nsingleness of his life and purpose in some noble aim. This it was that\nfloated before the intellectual vision of Plato and led him to scorn\nthe pleasures of the sense and the charms of tranquillity.\n\nLet us applaud him; for we moderns are not ignorant of the luxury of\ntoil and the joy of strong endeavor; we too, like Othello, \u201cdo agnize\nan alacrity for hardness;\u201d with Seneca we can say, \u201c_Res severa est\nverum gaudium_.\u201d But we hold it needless and unwise to leave any sunny\nfield uncultured on whose soil may be trained to bloom the fragrant\nflower of pleasure.\n\nThe yearning for joy is a cry of nature which can never be stifled.\nGive heed to it and obey it. It calls you to wider horizons, to warmer\nsympathies, to a fuller growth, to a completer development. It holds\nthe secret of Evolution. It is the incessant prompter to a higher form\nof existence. Biologists have discovered that the avoidance of painful\nand the search for pleasurable sensations are the first principles of\norganic animal life, and are those which have developed the am\u0153ba into\nthe man. In him, this general consciousness has blossomed into\nSelf-consciousness, and to this he owes all the growth of his higher\nnature, his essentially human powers. To the extent that this is\nbrought into harmony with the sum of his faculties and with his\nsurroundings, he wins that something greater than pleasure which we\ncall happiness. From the culture of this, if from any source, he must\nlook for the advent of those new spirit-powers which more fortunate\ngenerations in the hereafter may enjoy. Who knows but those, our dear\nchildren of after days, may gain a still higher form of consciousness,\none through which they will be brought into harmony with the perfect\nworking of the Cosmos, and the ancient fable be realized, of men who\nwalked the earth as gods?\n\n\n\n\nIII. _The Relative Value of Pleasures._\n\n\nThe learned have established what they call \u201ca hierarchy of the\nsciences,\u201d a scheme which shows the relative value and scope of the\nvarious departments of knowledge, and how the one rises upon the\nother. So in the Science of Happiness there is a series of degrees, a\n_gradus ad gaudium_, which measures the relative value of human\nenjoyments and the dependence of the higher upon the lower.\n\nThe ignorance or the disregard of this fact has led to the ruin of\nmore individual lives, and to more fatal misfortunes to the race, than\nany other error whatsoever. The poison of all false religions and\nphilosophies lies either in condemning pleasure or in commending low\nforms of it; and the one is as hurtful as the other. The religion\nwhich to-day numbers more believers than any other, Buddhism, aims its\nloftiest aspirations to the extinction of all desire and the abolition\nof all enjoyment. These are the words of Buddha himself:\u2015\u2015\n\n     \u201cLet no man look for what is pleasant; for not to find it is\n     pain.\n\n     \u201cLet no man love anything; for the loss of the beloved is\n     sorrow.\n\n     \u201cAfter pleasure follows grief, and from affection comes\n     fear.\n\n     \u201cI have run through many births, and painful it is to be\n     born again and again; but now, O Thou Builder of this house,\n     Thou hast been seen, and not again shalt Thou rebuild it.\n     The mind has attained to the extinction of all desire.\u201d\n\nThis is the ideal of happiness that four hundred millions of human\nbeings hold before their minds to-day. If there is any truth in the\nmodern philosophy which teaches that pleasure lies in functional\nactivity, no more pernicious message could be commended to mankind\nthan that which Buddha brought.\n\nHe is far from the only preacher of such a gospel. \u201cTo rest in peace,\u201d\n\u201cto sleep in the Lord,\u201d\u2015\u2015is not this the religious hope and aspiration\nof millions of Christians? It is not a whit higher than the Nirvana of\nthe Buddhist.\n\nThe avoidance of pain is the lowest form of happiness; more correctly,\nit is its mere negative, and scarcely deserves to rank as one of its\ngrades. Yet, alas! to how many millions is it the highest form\nimagined! To how many is the only escape from unhappiness to forget\nthemselves! This is the cause of that thirst for intoxicants and\nnarcotics which undermines and infects modern society. Dr. Johnson\nwould still find the multitude agree with him in his opinion, that a\nman is never happy except when he is drunk!\n\nThose Quietists who preach tranquillity and contentment as the goal\nwhich all should seek are but one step higher. Indifference to\npleasure, or a reduction of the number of pleasures, is a sign of\nweakening of the reason and of a retrogression in development. No man\nhas a right to be happy because he is contented; though he may well be\ncontented because he is happy. To be \u201cvoid of strong desire,\u201d set free\nfrom hope and fear, snugly harbored from all storms of feeling, so far\nfrom being the condition of the sage, is the aspiration of the fool.\nKeen sensations awaken the sentiments, emotions fertilize the\nintellect, passions educate the reason. The brute goes through life\nwithout a smile or a tear; man\u2019s proud privilege is to weep and to\nlaugh.\n\nThe ancients taught that philosophical happiness is to want little,\nand that it is the error of the vulgar to want much and to enjoy many\nthings. The truer doctrine is that happiness is expansion and growth,\nthe enriching of our natures by manifold experiences, and the securing\nthis by the multiplication of our desires. The avoidance of pain and\nthe limitation of our hopes to our powers are sometimes valuable\npreliminaries to the pursuit of happiness, but are not always\nessential to it, and in many instances an over-solicitude about them\ndestroys all chance for a higher felicity. Happiness does not come of\nitself. It has to be worked for, fought for; and courage and endurance\nare as necessary in this as in any other struggle. In the path of\nevery pilgrim to the Celestial City stand from time to time the giant\nfigures of Death and Pain, and shake their spears, saying, \u201cWilt thou\ndare?\u201d\n\nThe sources of pleasure should, therefore, be multiplied to the\nutmost, and they should be classified, so that undue value should not\nbe assigned any one class. Theoretically, there is nothing troublesome\nabout this; practically, it is often an insurmountable difficulty. The\npleasures of the senses are inferior to those of the emotions, and\nthese in turn are ranked by the enjoyments which pertain to the\nexercise of the intellectual powers. No one of these can wholly\nexclude the others. They are all inseparably united in the individual\nentity; but the individual can enjoy only with the faculties he\npossesses, and in proportion to their relative strength. It is as\nabsurd to ask more of him, as it were to invite the gouty to a foot\nrace, or the blind to admire the colors in a painting.\n\nIt is well to establish and to recognize this hierarchy of enjoyments,\nbeginning with those of the sensations common to animal life\neverywhere and culminating in those of pure reason, whose crowning\nfelicity is the pursuit of truth; it has been done, and well done, by\nmany writers; but what has been generally overlooked is that this\nscheme can have small practical application to the conduct of life if\nit is not fully recognized that no one of these roads to happiness can\nbe successfully pursued while the others are neglected, or branded\nwith the sign, \u201cEntrance forbidden.\u201d\n\nThis is where Asceticism has committed its fatal blunder, and for\nthousands of years has made miserable the lives of millions. Instead\nof self-control, it has demanded self-abnegation; instead of the due\nand proportioned exercise of all the powers, it has ordered the\nabsolute disuse of some of them; quite as often of the highest as of\nthe lowest, of reason as often as lust. Under this baleful doctrine\nnations have become misshapen in mind, atrophied in culture, distorted\nfrom honest nature\u2019s rule, mean, miserable, and inefficient. Yet this\nsame doctrine is preached to-day from thousands of pulpits in lands of\nhighest civilization. Is it not time for the common sense of most to\nrise in protest against such a survival from the Dark Ages of the life\nof the race? Reason blushes only for pleasures which she cannot\nexplain, and he who acquaints himself with the whole nature of man\nknows that all his powers and faculties have their appropriate use.\nThe ascetic may claim a happiness all his own; but so do the\nextravagant and the vicious; both stand condemned before the results\nof their own successes.\n\nThe intellect has no right to chide the enjoyments of the senses.\nPleasures differ in degree and permanence, but not in kind. _As\npleasures_ they are on a par, whether derived from objects of sense,\nfrom the emotions, or from the understanding. Such analysts of mind as\nKant and Epictetus agree that there is no _essential_ distinction\nbetween the most refined and the coarsest gratifications. \u201cIt is one\nand the same vital force expressing itself in the Desires, which is\naffected by all objects which cause Pleasure.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nIV. _The Distribution of Happiness._\n\n\nHaving reached an understanding about what happiness means, and some\nnotion as to its various grades, it will next be worth while to study\nits distribution in the several classes of society, in contrasting\ngrades of civilization, in the two sexes, and at various ages. This\nwill be dealing with the subject according to the methods of natural\nscience, and it ought to lead to some interesting conclusions.\n\nOne might expect to find a general agreement as to the main facts. Far\nfrom it. The common belief is that happiness increases with the means,\nor at least with the capacity, for happiness. It is this belief which\ninspires men to labor for the means and improve their capacities. But\nthe philosophers nowise concede its correctness. Hume argued that all\nwho are happy are equally happy; and Paley maintained that happiness\nis about equally distributed among all orders of the community; that\nthe plowman gets as much real enjoyment out of life as the\nphilosopher, and the beggar at the gate as much as the monarch on the\nthrone. To which Dr. Johnson replied that a small glass and a large\none might be equally full, but the latter holds more. The capacity, he\njustly argued, of the philosopher to receive a multiplicity of\nagreeable impressions is greater than that of the peasant, and\ntherefore, other things being equal, the quantity of his enjoyment\nwill be greater.\n\nThe learned Doctor, indeed, sometimes insisted that felicity increases\ndirectly with the means of enjoyment. Representing the latter by\nmoney, he would say that a man with six thousand pounds a year should\nbe ten times as happy as the one with six hundred a year; and if he is\nnot, it is because he is an ass.\n\nHere he was certainly wrong. Some of the main elements of ordinary\nhappiness are in the possession of every class of society, high and\nlow, poor and rich; such as the means of self-preservation, family\nties, friendship, amusement, and repose. What wealth and power add to\nthis common stock becomes less and less at each remove. This\nconsideration led Bentham to question whether the prince is twice as\nhappy as the laborer, and to doubt whether ten thousand times the\nwealth brings with it twice the enjoyment. His followers have\nattempted to frame the relation in a mathematical formula, and have\nexpressed it in the maxim, \u201cThe rate of increase of pleasure decreases\nas its means increase.\u201d\n\nThe conclusion is a satisfactory one for several reasons, and appears\nto be borne out by the experience of mankind. Gibbon quotes the saying\nof the potent Sultan Abderrahman, who at the close of his brilliant\nreign of forty years asserted that during the whole of that time he\nhad had but fourteen days of happiness; on which the historian\ncomments that he himself could claim many more than the famous Prince.\n\nThe moral of the story is, that it is not the multiplication of the\n_means_, but of the _sources_ of pleasure which is the secret of\nhappiness.\n\nThe extremes of the social conditions are almost equally unfavorable,\nthe one through the privations it entails, the other through the\nburdens it imposes and the distractions it brings. Both are\nunpropitious to self-culture, and this alone lays substantial\nfoundations for a considerable enjoyment of life.\n\nA similar debate has taken place in reference to the distribution of\nhappiness in the different grades of civilization. Rousseau and his\nfollowers never tired of portraying the delights of the savage state.\nLike the ancient Greeks, he placed the Golden Age in some Arcadia of\nuntutored shepherds and lawless huntsmen. It is the fashion to smile\nat his notion as the vagary of a crank; but the scientist of our own\nday whose studies of the conditions of savage tribes stand ahead of\nall others, has deliberately expressed almost the same opinion as the\nresult of his long researches. \u201cCivilization,\u201d writes Dr. Theodore\nWaitz, \u201chas proved itself impotent to increase the sum of human\nenjoyment.\u201d\n\nWhat a sad conclusion to reach! And what a comment on the jubilant\nshouts of those optimistic philosophers who have been telling us how\nvastly better off we are than any of our ancestors!\n\nYet these also are right in a certain sense. The most careless reader\nof history must hug himself for joy to think of the multitude of\nmiseries and oppressions which have disappeared from society in the\nlast few centuries. The inquisition, slavery, trial by torture, the\npress gang, are but a few of them. At that time the fate and the\nhappiness of the individual were in the hands of priests and kings and\nnobles; now, thank Heaven! in most countries, especially in our own,\nthey are chiefly in the control of the individual himself.\n\nNevertheless, it is quite possible in a given state of society that\ngeneral evils may diminish while personal suffering increases, owing\nto an undue exaltation of sensitiveness, a sort of moral\nhyperesthesia, together with the multiplication of desires beyond the\nmeans of satisfying them. This is, in fact, the condition of modern\nsociety; and these traits, together with its instability and rapid\nchanges, and the bitter competition instigated by its enlarged\nfreedom, have unquestionably very greatly diminished the amount of\nhappiness which might have been expected from the ameliorations of the\nlast few centuries.\n\nThere is but one remedy which will be of permanent avail, and that is\nto educate the individual into some other ideal of happiness than that\nwhich is filled by the acquisition of property or the gratification of\nthe senses. The main purpose of all social institutions which have\nbeen created up to the present time has been the getting and the\nkeeping of property; the motive of the higher civilization which is to\ncome will be the preparation of the race for a life which will be\nfilled and sustained by its intellectual and spiritual contents.\n\nThe Greek philosopher thanked the gods especially for two\nblessings,\u2015\u2015that they had created him a Greek and not a barbarian, and\na man and not a woman. Evidently he held strongly to the opinion that\nin his own country, at least, the men had the better part in life.\n\nThough woman held an honorable position in Greek society, it was\ninferior to what she enjoys in the United States to-day; yet the\nphilosopher, were he among us, would probably repeat his thanks. It is\nquite certain that in the distribution of happiness the stronger sex\nhas seized the lion\u2019s share.\n\nTo be sure, there are certain advantages in the struggle for life\nwhich a woman seems to be conceded, and others which she by nature\npossesses. She is less exposed to dangers than men; she escapes\navocations of the greatest hardship and risk; she is generally\nsupported by the labor of others, and she is allowed privileges in\nmany small matters of daily life which are denied the other sex. Of\nher own nature she is less the slave of passion, less reckless, less\nof an egotist, less inclined to deeds of violence and crime. In all\ncivilized countries the convictions of women for criminal offenses are\nless than one-third those of men.\n\nThese points are in favor of her securing a larger share of happiness;\nbut they are checked by many and serious countervails. She is born an\ninvalid. Her periodic sickness, the burden of pregnancy, the pains of\nchildbed, the years of distress at her climacteric age, place her for\nthe best part of her life at a fearful disadvantage. Enter the library\nof a physician and turn the leaves of his thick volumes on obstetrics\nand the diseases of women if you would have your sympathies harrowed\nby a long list of dreadful maladies of which men know nothing.\n\nAnother thought disables a woman, and must lessen and darken the\nenjoyment of her life in every rank and condition of society. Unless\nunder immediate protection, she is always exposed to the possibility\nof insult and assault, and no general safeguards will ever entirely\nremove this danger.\n\nOutside of these inevitable disabilities, the unfortunate elements in\nthe modern condition of women are owing to the legal and religious\ntyranny of men. The dogmas of Christianity distinctly lowered her\nposition compared to what it was in the Roman Republic or the cities\nof Etruria. At Delphi, the thoughts of the gods found expression\nthrough the mouth of the priestess; but the founder of Christian\ninstitutions forbade women to speak in the churches. The ancient Greek\nprayed to the goddesses, Minerva, Aphrodite, and Demeter, as the\ngivers of the good things of life, of wisdom, of love, and the fruits\nof the field; but to the Christian, evil and death and pain were what\nthe first mother of the race brought as a dower to her husband and\nleft as a legacy to her children.\n\nThese pernicious teachings led to a steady oppression of woman in all\nages of Christianity, our own included. So thoroughly did they become\ningrained in the minds of men that the most liberal scarcely\nrecognized their presence. The priest laid on the bride the obligation\nof obedience to her husband; and the philosopher, Rousseau, servile in\nthis to the ideas of his time, when he has completed the education of\nhis Emile, contents himself with saying to Sophie, \u201cThis is the man\nwhom it is your duty _to endeavor to please_!\u201d Not until a man arose\nemancipated from all tradition, did the teaching of Plato that the\nsexes should be socially and politically equal find a modern\nphilosopher to echo it; that was when John Stuart Mill wrote his essay\non the freedom of woman; though it would be unfair to the growth of\nreligious thought not to add that he had been anticipated in most\npractical points by the despised dissenter, George Fox. Only when the\nspirit of teachers such as these will have permeated the institutions,\nthe religions, and the social traditions of the day, will women have a\nfair chance with men at the common stock of happiness possible for the\nrace.\n\nMost fatal of all measures to the happiness of woman has been the\nunceasing effort of ecclesiasticism to make marriage, for her, an\nindissoluble sacrament of servitude, instead of an equal civil\ncontract, in which no obligation is assumed on the one side which is\nnot as fully accepted on the other. Mill well remarks that the\nmiseries produced in the lives of individual women by subjection to\nindividual men are simply incalculable. Guarantee the wife every right\nand every privilege that the husband has, and the increased happiness\nof both will be sure to crown the concession.\n\nThe remedy for this state of things is the proper education of girls\nand women. But it is a remedy not likely to be administered soon, in\nspite of the talk about it. Men prefer ignorance in women, as women\nadmire blind devotion in men; because these enable each sex to cheat\nthe other more easily. Nothing is more essential to her happiness than\nthat she should be taught the hygiene of her sex early in life; but\nthe popular voice says ignorance means innocence, and thousands of\nwomen are condemned to life-long misery in consequence. I had a\nmedical friend who wrote a volume of excellent advice to mothers, and\nhis profession almost ostracized him for it. Beyond all things, a\ngirl\u2019s education should be directed toward manual training and\nexercises of the understanding; instead of that, she is taught the\nfine arts and regaled with poetry and fiction. Her imagination is\nfostered by lectures on esthetics, and her memory crammed with moral\nplatitudes which have no place in real life; while the principles of\nbusiness and the maintenance of her own rights are left out of her\ntraining. I cannot but attribute to this the most common and fatal\ndefect of the female mind,\u2015\u2015its lack of the sense of abstract justice.\n\nMen are so selfish and ignorant that they do not understand how much\nthey themselves forfeit by thus reducing the position of woman. In my\nstudies of ethnology, I first inquire the position occupied by woman\nin a given tribe or nation; for I have discovered no better common\nmeasure of civilization. The profoundest thinkers of the age have\nrecognized the principle here involved. Goethe closes the second part\nof Faust\u2015\u2015which is a poetic presentation of the evolution of European\nculture\u2015\u2015with the significant words,\u2015\u2015\u201cThe forever feminine leads us\nonward.\u201d His friend, Wilhelm von Humboldt, expressed a double fact in\nthe phrase,\u2015\u2015\u201cThe Woman stands nearer the ideal of Humanity than the\nMan; but she more rarely attains it.\u201d She does not, because she is\nprevented by prejudice, by dogmas, and by laws. Until these weeds are\nscorched to ashes by the growing flame of free intelligence, neither\nwill she secure the meed of happiness which is her due, nor will man\nhave found the right road to his best prosperity.\n\nPlato proposed to banish poets from his ideal Republic because they\nare such liars. The prevalent notion that childhood and youth are the\nhappiest periods of life is largely owing to this mendacious crew. I\nhave rarely met an intelligent person of years who held the opinion.\nIt arises from forgetfulness of early sorrows, from false pictures of\nyouthful joys, and from undue attention to present pains. Most of\nthose who really feel such regret are the moral or literal prodigals,\nwho have wasted their substance in riotous living, and bewail, not the\nlost happiness, but their inability to repeat their follies.\n\nThe rule of honest nature is that enjoyment should steadily increase\nup to the full maturity of the powers, mental and physical. This,\nunder favorable circumstances, is between forty-five and fifty years\nof age. After that, physical decadence sets in, and only by\nexceptional strength or by increased effort can its fatal progress be\nfor a while stayed. From inquiry of many persons, I am persuaded that\nthe rule of the increase of enjoyment up to this turning-point is on\nthe average correct.\n\nThat old age is synonymous with wisdom is a comical deception which\nthe graybeards have palmed off on the world, because by laws and\ncustoms they hold most of the property, and want most of the power as\nwell. In fact, diminution of the physical powers means decay all\nround. \u201cAs we grow old,\u201d observes Thoreau, \u201cwe cease to obey our finer\ninstincts.\u201d It is an error to talk of the accumulated wisdom of years.\nThe experience of youth serves but to lead old age astray; and this is\nseen nowhere so plainly as when an old man pretends a zest for the\npleasures of the young. \u201cNo fool like an old fool\u201d is the proverb.\nSuch men are \u201cout of their class,\u201d as a trainer of athletes would say.\nEvery age has pleasures sufficient, which are appropriate to it, and\nthese alone should be sought for. To those who know and respect these\nlaws of nature, old age is very tolerable. It brings many\ncompensations for its inevitable losses; and though not likely to be\nso happy as the best of middle life, it should be and often is\nsuperior in this respect to youth. Probably it would generally be so\nwere it more willing to learn the lessons appropriate to it.\nBonstetten goes so far as to say, \u201cNo one can be happy till he is past\nsixty;\u201d but the proverb of the ancient Rabbis holds forever good,\u2015\u2015\u201cHe\nwho teacheth the old, is like one who writes on blotted paper.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nV. _Principles of a Self-Education for the Promotion of One\u2019s Own\nHappiness._\n\n\nThe purpose of this chapter is not to enter into practical details of\nan education for happiness\u2015\u2015that is the mission of the rest of the\nbook,\u2015\u2015but to establish certain general theoretical principles on\nwhich such an education must be carried out in order to be successful.\n\nAnd first, I must repeat what I have already intimated, that any\npermanent and even moderate stock of happiness does not fall into the\nopen mouth, like the roasted quails in the fairy story, but can be\nobtained only by methodical pursuit and constant watchfulness. Eternal\nvigilance is said to be the price of liberty; and liberty is only one\nof the necessary elements of happiness. Meditation, forethought, and\nthe formation of a clearly defined Plan of Life are all required, and\neven then success is far from certain.\n\nAt the outset, I must attack as unsound a maxim which has been\nassiduously disseminated by the school of economists of which Herbert\nSpencer is the leader. It is put in the form,\u2015\u2015\u201cThe greatest\nefficiency is the greatest happiness.\u201d It would be a calamity if this\nwere true. The pursuit of happiness would be hopelessly circumscribed,\nas but few in the world can attain maximum efficiency in anything.\nFortunately, it is historically false. Those men who have won fame by\ntheir enormous personal capacity have certainly not been the happiest\nof their kind. Far from it. They have been men of one idea, absorbed\nby some \u201cruling passion,\u201d to which they have sacrificed all else, and\nconsequently, so far from gaining happiness, have usually ended by\nwrecking their own and others\u2019. It is not the reach of a man\u2019s\nabilities, but the use he makes of them, that decides his fortune.\nSpencer\u2019s maxim is precisely the reverse of the principle which should\ngovern an education intended to secure the utmost enjoyment for the\nindividual and those around him. Such an education should not be\nconcentrated on one faculty of the mind nor on one subject of study,\nbut should extend in all directions, be broad and many-sided. It is an\neducation within the reach of every one, which requires no\nschoolmaster but oneself; and yet confers a degree on its graduates\nmore valuable than any university can bestow.\n\nIts leading theoretical principles may be grouped under five\npropositions:\u2015\u2015\n\nI. The multiplication of the sources of pleasure and the diminution of\nthose of pain.\n\nII. The maintenance of a high sensibility to pleasurable impressions.\n\nIII. The search for novelty and variety of impressions.\n\nIV. The establishment of a proper relation between desires and\npleasures.\n\nV. The subjection of all pleasures to the increase of happiness.\n\nThese principles are not speculative or doctrinal, but are based on\nthe physiology of the nervous system and the constitution of the human\nmind.\n\nI. Let us begin with the first, for it is the basis of the whole Art\nof Pleasure. Differently expressed, it means that the sum of our\nenjoyment must be enlarged by increasing our sources of enjoyment. In\nother words, we must set to work to acquire tastes in addition to\nthose which we already have by nature or previous education. The most\nuseful instruction is that which teaches us to profit by all our\nchances. People are never so unhappy as they think they are, because\nat the moment they forget how many sources of pleasure remain for\nthem.\n\nReview the field. Take an \u201caccount of stock.\u201d Most people have five\nsenses in tolerably good order. How many have seriously calculated the\nnumber of different gratifications each of these senses is capable of\nyielding? Beyond these lie the inviting fields of the Agreeable\nEmotions, whose prolific soil needs but to be stirred to teem with\nflower and fruit; and still beyond, but in easy reach, the uplands of\nReason and Thought rise into the purer air, and offer perspectives of\nentrancing beauty.\n\nAll these resources are, to some extent, open to every one. But most\nsit like a peasant at the table of a prince, refusing to taste the\nchoice viands which are before him, because he cares only for the\nbeans and hodge-podge of his daily fare.\n\nAlong with the multiplication of the sources of enjoyment must go the\nstudied avoidance of profitless pain. I say _profitless_ pain, because\nthere is pain which is profitable, and to avoid that would be to miss\nthe best of life, as I shall try to show on a later page,\u2015\u2015a\ndistinction too often forgotten by those political economists who are\npreparing the race for the era of universal happiness.\n\nAll pain is profitless which is incurred by a deliberate violation of\nnatural law, such as needless neglect of health or disregard of social\ncustom. When we confess that we have \u201cmade fools of ourselves,\u201d we\nsuffer what our knowledge could have prevented, and we recognize it.\nThe part of wisdom is to avoid such suffering.\n\nHere lies the incalculable value of knowledge in this pursuit. I do\nnot mean extensive learning or erudition, but knowledge of ourselves,\nof our immediate natural surroundings, and of our own sphere of\nprobable activity. The chief value of Knowledge, says Epictetus, is\nthat it destroys Fear. We do not dread the known, but the unknown. Its\nworth does not stop there. It enables us to escape disasters, to\nlessen pain, to mitigate suffering in ourselves and others, and to\nsecure many joys. Three verbs, observes the philosophical Littr\u00e9,\nexpress the ideal perfection of human happiness\u2015\u2015to know, to love, and\nto serve.\n\nThe true end of what is called \u201cculture,\u201d or a \u201cliberal education,\u201d is\nnot to store the mind with a variety of facts useful in managing men\nor in making money, but to expand our sympathies, to bring us in touch\nwith all that is beautiful and enjoyable in our lives; it is to\nincrease the sensitiveness of our finer instincts, so that they will\nrespond more readily to the delicate stimuli of pleasurable\nimpressions. Thoreau, walking behind the farmer\u2019s cart, claimed to\nhave stolen the best part of the load of apples when he inhaled the\nfragrant aroma from the fruit. To him it was more gratifying than to\nhave filled his stomach with the acid pippins.\n\nOf all false maxims for happiness, that to be \u201ccontent with little\u201d is\nthe falsest. We should want immensely, but want wisely. To supply such\nwants there is no need of the revenue of a kingdom or the lore of a\npedagogue. Not one man in a thousand exhausts the means of wise\nenjoyment which are daily within the reach of his hand. Why go far\na-field to seek the treasure buried neath his own hearth-stone? What\nhe needs is to study himself and his environment, so as to protect\nhimself from the dangers to which he is exposed, and to draw from such\ncircumstances as he is placed in, and from such faculties as he is\npossessed of, the maximum of gratification which they can render him.\nIf all persons acted consistently on this principle, the general sum\nof human happiness would be indefinitely increased.\n\nThe kind of knowledge which is most serviceable to this end is by no\nmeans difficult to acquire. It falls within the range of a common\nschool education, and ought to be made a part of it, with the definite\naim of promoting personal happiness. Professor Alexander Bain, who\nbelongs to the Scotch common-sense school of philosophers, and who\ntreats all questions in a business-like manner, has drawn up a scheme\nof such an education, which any one can carry out for himself. It is\nso excellent that I present its main features, with amplifications of\nmy own.\n\n_a._ A Knowledge of the Bodily Constitution.\n\nThis means an acquaintance with the outlines of anatomy and\nphysiology, the rules of personal and general hygiene, some\nunderstanding of the most prevalent diseases in the locality in which\nwe live and those to which we are individually most liable, and the\nsimplest means for their prevention and treatment; what best to do in\ncases of sudden accidents and emergencies; and last, though not least,\nthe precepts for training, strengthening, and beautifying the body and\nthe features.\n\n_b._ The Elements of the principal Physical and Chemical Sciences.\n\nEven a rudimentary knowledge of the sciences of chemistry, geology,\ngeography, astronomy, of mechanics, steam, electricity, etc., such as\ncan be acquired from primary text-books, increases wonderfully our\ninterest in the world around us and in what we see and hear every day\nof our lives, and thus furnishes a thousand sources of enjoyment,\nbesides being certain to find numerous practical applications of\nutility.\n\n_c._ The Study of the Mind.\n\nThis is at once a delightful pastime and an indispensable art for\nsuccess in many lines of business. It means an acquaintance with the\nmotives which actuate men in their decisions, the personal traits\nwhich make up their characters, their passions and their ambitions,\ntheir weaknesses and their prejudices. Men distinguished for what is\ncalled \u201cexecutive ability,\u201d statesmen, diplomatists, promoters and\nmanagers of great enterprises, all either possess by nature or have\nacquired by study this insight, and to it they owe their success. To\nsome degree, all can attain it by observation of those around them,\nand by the perusal of works which explain the constitution of the mind\nand the dominant motives of human action. To this should be added an\nunprejudiced reading of modern politics and history, especially of\none\u2019s own country and State.\n\n_d._ A Knowledge of the Principles of Business.\n\nWorry about business affairs is probably the commonest cause of\nunhappiness. A great deal of it is inevitable; but a large share of it\nwould be prevented were both sexes taught early in life the general\nrules and customs of business, and those principles of financial\nmanagement, investment, prudence, and economy, which are nearly as\nfixed in their operation as those of the motions of the stars. There\nare many popular handbooks on this subject, and one such ought to be\nin every household.\n\n_e._ A Study of the Value of Evidence.\n\nA remarkable writer, De Senancour, who under the name of Obermann\ncomposed some strange books early in this century, maintained that if\nmen would tell the truth and could predict the weather, nearly all the\nsufferings which afflict humanity would disappear. There is a great\ndeal in his opinion. At present, all men have a rooted aversion to\ntruth, and neither wish to tell it nor to hear it beyond a strictly\nlimited amount. But as a knowledge of facts is essential to right\naction, the estimation of evidence and the calculation of\nprobabilities are necessary to a prosperous life. A man who has this\nfaculty is said to be gifted with \u201csound judgment,\u201d but it is quite as\nmuch an acquirement as a gift. There are well-known principles by\nwhich the value of testimony is balanced and the weight of evidence\ndecided. They are in daily application in our courts, and can be\napplied at least as successfully to affairs outside.\n\nSuch are the outlines of an education directed toward increasing the\nsources of enjoyment and diminishing the causes of suffering; and what\nremains to be said is little more than an extension of the principles\nthus laid down.\n\nII. The second principle is the maintenance of a high sensibility to\npleasurable impressions.\n\nTo reach the right meaning of this we must begin with physiology. All\nimpressions of the nervous system, that is to say, all feelings, may\nbe compared or studied with reference to three criteria, their\nQuality, their Intensity, and their Persistence. Feelings of the same\nquality, as a rule, heighten each other\u2019s intensity, but persistence\nis usually inversely to intensity. The keener the sensation, the\nshorter its duration. The story is told of a French scholar who, for\nsuspected heresy, was subjected to judicial torture on the rack. When\nthe instrument was extended the first time, dislocating several of his\njoints, he uttered a cry of agony; but at the second extension he\nburst into laughter. \u201cAt my own ignorance,\u201d he explained, \u201cto suppose\nthat I could feel such suffering twice.\u201d\n\nIt is essential to anything like a constant flow of pleasurable\nfeelings that we maintain a high state of vigor in the organs of\nsensibility; and this can only be accomplished by a careful limitation\nof intensity in favor of persistence of feeling. Occasional nervous\nimpressions of a very high degree of intensity are not only consistent\nwith health, but increase it; but their frequent repetition, and\nespecially the determined effort to maintain them for long periods,\ninevitably result in a deadening of the sensibility and a lack of\nresponse to ordinary and healthful stimuli.\n\nThe ignorance or disregard of these physiological laws explains some\nof the most disastrous and conspicuous failures to attain happiness\nwhere every circumstance seems propitious. The neglect of them is the\norigin of that morbid condition of the mind which has been called \u201cthe\ndisease of the century,\u201d _la maladie de la si\u00e8cle_,\u2015\u2015Ennui.\n\nThe bitter pessimist, Schopenhauer, delighted to show the\nworthlessness of life, whose only variety is from the toil of pursuit\nto the ennui of possession; while the sweet mystic, Pascal,\ndiscovering in the same feeling the greatest misery of man, saw in it\nthat which would prove his salvation, for it would lead him to\nrenounce the vanities of the world and give himself unto God. The one\nopinion is worth as much as the other.\n\nIf we make an anatomy of Ennui, as Burton made an anatomy of\nMelancholy, we shall find that two different, though allied, mental\nconditions have been grouped under the name.\n\nThe one is that sense of immeasurable boredom which we feel when\nplaced in uncongenial conditions, especially such as ought to be\nwelcome to us, as listening to good advice, or hearing instructive\nlectures, or reading useful books,\u2015\u2015like this one. We are driven to\nany revolt by such inflictions. The scholar will turn gypsy and the\nvirtuous youth a vagrant to escape them. As a boy, at stiff company\ndinners, I used to suffer from a keen desire to throw a plate through\nthe window, or commit some other outrageous breach of decorum.\n\nWhat is the meaning of this innate revolt against conventionalism and\nformality and respectability? The divines are ready to tell you that\nit is a clear case of original sin. It is nothing of the kind. It is\nthe inherited and unquenchable thirst for freedom in the human heart,\nand in some temperaments the strength of this passion for liberty is\nsuch that any sacrifice is cheap to purchase it.\n\nPerhaps these have not the worst of the bargain. \u201cWho is the happiest\nman in France?\u201d some one asked the academician, D\u2019Alembert. _Quelque\nmis\u00e9rable_, \u201cSome wretched fellow,\u201d he replied. There is infinite\nphilosophy in his answer. Browning, in _Fifine at the Fair_, discusses\nthe question with amazing insight into human motive. He demands,\u2015\u2015\n\n  \u201cWhat compensating joy, unknown and infinite,\n   Turns lawlessness to law, makes destitution\u2015\u2015wealth,\n   Vice\u2015\u2015virtue, and disease of mind and body\u2015\u2015health?\u201d\n\nHe finds the answer in the \u201cfrenzy to be free\u201d which is the ruling\npassion in such characters as he describes. He is right, for ennui of\nthis kind is unknown in conditions of the largest personal freedom, as\nin the savage state and among the vagabonds of society.\n\nThe other form of ennui arises not from external conditions, but from\nthose which are within. It is a species of dissatisfaction with self.\nA man is generally his own stupidest companion. According to the\nproverb, \u201cPoor company is better than none;\u201d because the poorest of\nall is oneself. A curious paradox that has been noted is that the more\na man thinks about himself, the less he cares to be alone with\nhimself! We no longer shun solitude from the dread of bandits or\nghosts, but to escape the sight of the specters which arise within\nourselves. How many of us can boast of the \u201csessions of sweet silent\nthought\u201d which the poet praises as the crown of felicity? Amid the gay\nthrong of pleasure-seekers at Ranelagh, Dr. Johnson felt himself\ndistressed by the reflection, \u201cThat there was not one in all that\nbrilliant circle who was not afraid to go home and think.\u201d\n\nThere is a moral virtue which the Roman philosophers called\n_sufficientia_ and the Germans _Selbstgen\u00fcgsamkeit_, which terms are\nnot at all translated by the English \u201cself-sufficiency.\u201d Let the word\ngo; the thing is what is needed. Make yourself an agreeable companion\nto yourself, and this form of ennui will be known to you no longer.\nThis can only be accomplished by the constant and well-directed\nexercise of your personal activities, and by the maintenance of a high\ndegree of sensibility to pleasurable impressions.\n\nIII. The search for novelty and variety of impressions.\n\nThe Art of Happiness prescribes that instead of cultivating a limited\nnumber of pleasurable impressions up to a high degree of intensity, we\nshould seek a large variety, diverse in quality, moderate in\nintensity, considerable in persistence. This precept, properly\nunderstood, is consistent not only with a high, but perhaps with the\nhighest degree of gratification, for it is supported by another\nphysiological law of the greatest interest. This is, that the utmost\nzest of pleasure is invariably conditioned on the entire novelty of\nthe sensation. This fact is so familiar that it is embalmed in common\nproverbs, as that \u201cVariety is the spice of life,\u201d and the like. But\nthe deep significance and the manifold applications of these sayings\nare rarely considered.\n\nEntire novelties are within the reach of few, and come of themselves\nbut seldom. Fortunately, their agreeable effect can be closely\nimitated by influences quite within our own control; that is, by the\nremission and alternation of the pleasures already our own. This alone\nwill maintain the efficacy of any pleasure, for it is a sad fact that\nin impressions on the nervous system, persistence can never become\npermanence. Remission and reaction in all sensations are demanded by\nthat eternal and infinite law of Periodicity, or Rhythmical\nRecurrence, which is the last and highest in the Universe of mind or\nmatter. This in turn enforces on us the importance of aiming for a\nmultiplicity of sources of pleasure, so that we may heighten their\nimpressions by frequent variety.\n\nHere again we come into conflict with that cherished delusion which\nmakes contentment and tranquillity the chief elements of happiness.\nWith political economists, it often arises from a confusion of the\nspheres of the State and the Individual. The State properly aims at\npeace, established order, routine, and material ends; but the\nIndividual should seek variety and activity, he should try untrodden\npaths and risk unknown crises. This alone will make him a many-sided,\nstrong character, responsive up to the full measure of his powers to\nall impressions of natural enjoyment.\n\nThe foe he has to guard against in this joyous quest is Habit. This is\nthe tyrant whose iron scepter enslaves most men. The promptings of\npleasure and pain are far from being the only incentives; probably\nthey are by no means the most numerous or potent. The \u201cruling motives\u201d\nof most persons are simply the associations, customs, ideas, and aims\nwith which they have been longest in contact. A given mental tendency\nsoon becomes predominant, its easy yoke becomes adjusted to the neck,\nand the man pursues his way in life without more resistance than the\nox to the wain. Vain the attempt to break his fetters and sever the\nbonds of his habits. He is satisfied to reply, as the Arab to the\nvisitor, who would teach him a better agriculture\u2015\u2015\u201cThus did my father\nbefore me and thus my mother taught me; and in this manner shall I\ncontinue.\u201d\n\nAll attempts to make men happier on a large scale have been shattered\nagainst the rock of this stubborn conservatism. Only at rare intervals\nhas it been riven by the shock of some mighty emotion which has swept,\ntornado-like, over the soul of a nation, uprooting the tangled growths\nof bigotry and routine. The only hope is that here and there an\nindividual will arise and say to himself, \u201cI shall believe nothing\nmerely because those around me believe it; I shall do nothing merely\nbecause I am accustomed to do it; I shall render to myself a reason\nfor my every decision and act.\u201d\n\nIf some one asks, Why this invective against Habit, easy Habit, soft\nas a padded chair, comfortable as an old shoe? the answer must come\nfrom an analysis of mind. I have before shown that all true motives of\nthe Will are directed toward the avoidance of pain or the attainment\nof pleasure. These alone are clearly conscious motives, distinguishing\nbetween Self and Object, and therefore heightening to the sense of\nindividual life. Whatever we do \u201cby habit,\u201d on the other hand, we do,\nin a greater or less degree, by what physiologists call \u201cunconscious\ncerebration,\u201d and through the involuntary action of our nervous and\nmuscular systems. This automatic action of our organism is constantly\nencroaching on our consciousness, submerging it, like the tide the\nshore; darkening it, like the night the landscape; swallowing it inch\nby inch, like the boa his prey. The struggle against Habit, therefore,\nand all that Habit means, prejudice, bias, bigotry, authority, is a\nstruggle for life, and the nation, the society, the individual, who\nsuccumbs in the contest is, by the very fact, bound hand and foot and\ncast into utter darkness.\n\nIV. The establishment of a proper proportion between desire and\npleasure.\n\nThrough the mouth of Hamlet Shakespeare makes the philosophical\nreflection\u2015\u2015\u201cThere is nothing either good or bad but _thinking_ makes\nit so;\u201d in other words, the value of anything reckoned in the currency\nof enjoyment, lies not in the thing itself but in the strength of our\nwish for it. Most of the aims of effort are like curios, whose price\nis gauged entirely by the anxiety of the amateur to obtain them, and\nnot by any intrinsic quality.\n\nIn life there is no more useful faculty than to be able to put the\nright price on pleasures. The best of prudential maxims is \u201cCount the\ncost.\u201d The outlay of effort should be in a just relation to the return\nwhich can be reasonably reckoned upon. A given pleasure should be\nsought with an energy strictly in proportion to the gratification\nwhich it can actually yield,\u2015\u2015not in proportion to a false ideal of\nthat gratification as portrayed by the exaggerations of passion or\nmorbid desire. When infatuation or fascination or an over-heated\nimagination leads the chase, horse and rider will be soon landed in\nthe ditch. Pain and disappointment ever follow an end sought in excess\nof its real value. Again to quote the great dramatist, the \u201cexpense of\npassion\u201d is sure to be succeeded by \u201ca waste of shame.\u201d\n\nThe precept of education which is thus enforced is the regulation of\ndesire by reflection and deliberation. Proceed to an appraisement, as\nin business affairs. Ask yourself the grounds of your desire. Is it\nfrom experience, or merely on hearsay, and from a groundless imagining\nof what the object might yield if attained? If it is from experience,\nand the tasted sweet whets anew the appetite, recall the reaction and\nthe consequences, and if they were unpleasant, present them fully\nbefore the bar of your judgment. If imagination alone influences you,\nremember that you are playing the children\u2019s game of \u201cswapping in the\ndark,\u201d and are liable to exchange solid value for dross. \u201cDepraved\naffections,\u201d observes Lord Bacon, \u201care false valuations.\u201d\n\nV. The last of the five principles stated is the crown of all of\nthem,\u2015\u2015Make all pleasures a part of happiness.\n\nI have already explained the difference between mere pleasurable\nsensation and happiness in the true sense of the term. While the\nformer belongs to man\u2019s animal nature, the latter is intimately\nassociated with the consciousness of Self. The power of\ndiscriminating one\u2019s Self from the rest of the universe, and\nmaking one\u2019s Self the subject of one\u2019s own observation is a\nfaculty peculiar to man alone. There is nothing which lends him\nmore potent aid to accomplish this than his pleasurable\nsensations. This alone imparts to them any real value in the\nhistory of the individual or the race, and through this their\nvalue becomes inestimable.\n\nThis has always been recognized as true of some of them; but the error\nof most teachers has been that they have refused to acknowledge the\nvalue of all pleasure to this end, the excellence of all enjoyment,\nwhen it is brought into relation to the full nature of man. Some have\nclaimed that the charms derived from the esthetic and benevolent\nemotions are enough to fill our lives; others advocate intellectual\njoys; many preach that the religious sentiment offers all that man\nneeds; while counselors of an opposite tendency cry, \u201cEat, drink, and\nbe merry, for to-morrow ye die.\u201d\n\nAll are wrong. The spirit of sound culture will recognize the whole\nnature of man and the solidarity of all his parts, and will insist on\nrespecting that unity, if his true development is to be accomplished.\nFor this reason it will strive to render the pleasures of the senses\nand emotions as intellectual as possible; and with not less\nearnestness will aim to keep the pleasures of the intellect in touch\nwith the emotions and the senses. Its principle will be that the more\nintimately the gratifications of sense are infused with emotion and\nthought, the more they will be both purified and strengthened; and the\ncloser the web into which we can weave the austere joys of the reason\nalong with the emotions and the feelings, the more sympathetic,\nwide-reaching, and ennobling will those joys become. As the ancient\nmason mingled water from the sky with clay from the earth to make the\nbricks wherewith to build the temple, so the permanent structure of\nhuman progress can be erected only by combining in due proportion the\nextremes of man\u2019s delights.\n\nA real though mysterious bond unites sense with that which is above\nand beyond sense. Toward this Unknown it is ever striving, though\nblindly and unconsciously. In lower forms of life this has led to that\nmarvelous series of transformations which, at last, have reached their\nculmination in man. In him the struggle no longer expends itself in\nphysical changes, but frames the ideals which float before his mind,\nconstantly spurring him to attempt the impossible. Rest assured that\nthe analogy which holds good throughout all organic nature fails not\nin him, its most perfect production. Somehow, by unknown ways and\nunder the guidance of unseen laws, his unwearying effort to discover\nthe invisible in the visible, the permanent in the transient, the\nideal in the real, will infallibly lead him in triumph to the final\ngoal of all Life. Whenever, without ulterior aim and for its own sake,\nwe give ourselves up to the admiration of some grand scene in nature\nor masterful production of human art, we feel and recognize how near\nto us, how much a part of us, is that invisible and ideal world in\nwhich are set up the goals of man\u2019s noblest aspirations. To unite\nthese opposites, to illuminate the pleasures of sense with the light\nof the ideal, and, on the other hand, to capture its evanescent rays\nby entangling them in material enjoyments, is the final precept of the\nArt of Happiness.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nAnthropology, the Science of Man, is the point of convergence of all\nthe other sciences; and the one aim of the Science of Man is the\nHappiness of man; thus the Pursuit of Happiness is the end of all\npursuits. Pope displayed the inspiration of the poet when he devoted\nthe final epistle of the Essay on Man to a discussion of,\n\n  \u201cHappiness, our being\u2019s end and aim.\u201d\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe study of Philosophy, said Socrates, is the studying how to die. I\nadd, that the study of Happiness is the studying how to live; and that\nhe who acquires either, possesses both.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nRules for happiness are worth studying, even if they are no better\nthan the rules for writing poetry: which are said to prevent ill\npoets, if they never make good ones.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nFortunately, happiness is a tree with many roots. It does not depend\nentirely on outward circumstances; nor entirely on temperament or\nhealth; nor entirely on ourselves or on others; nor entirely on\nprudence or study. By cultivating any one of these, the tree will bear\nsome fruit. So bounteous are the gifts of nature, that if we simply\nreduce the evils of life to something manageable, our happiness will\noften take care of itself.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nAll history teaches that those who renounce pleasure for themselves\nare least scrupulous about inflicting pain on others.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nGenuine pleasure has this unique trait: the more you get for yourself,\nthe more you provide for others.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nPleasure and pain are common to all animals; and man\u2019s most exalted\njoys and sorrows bear a family likeness to these universal sensations.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIn a certain sense, every pleasure is a victory, every pain a defeat;\nthe former is allied to movements of attack, the latter to those of\ndefense or submission.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nPains are pains to all; while there are many pleasures which are such\nto but a few; though there is no reason but ignorance why they are not\nshared by the many.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe bliss of ignorance consists in not knowing how much we never had,\nand in living unaware of the worst of our mistakes.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nSpiritualize your senses; the lowest of them may become first in the\nkingdom of culture. Sensualize your intellect; only thus can you\nattain the companionship of those noble brethren, Humanity and\nUrbanity.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nOur happiest moments are those in which we believe we can realize our\nideals.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThose who condemn the pursuit of Happiness reveal the baseness of\ntheir own conception of it.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe doctrine that we should get rid of our wants by extinguishing our\ndesires is suited to the clown in the story, who cut off his ears\nbecause they were cold.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nSelf-realization is widely different from self-manifestation.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nAn error that persuades us we are happy is more welcome than a truth\nwhich shows us we are not.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nLife is a sphere with an infinite number of sides; but, like the\nterrestrial globe, to each individual it seems a plain, bounded by his\nown horizon, with himself in its center.\n\n\n\n\nPART II.\n\nHow far our Happiness depends on Nature and Fate.\n\n\n\n\nI. _Our Bodily and Mental Constitutions._\n\n\nTo live happily, we must in the first place _live_. Transparent\ntruism, but how often forgotten! How many of our pleasures tend to\nweaken life, rather than to strengthen and to lengthen it!\n\nSome philosophers have found the sense of existence a sufficient\nsynonym for happiness. Sir William Hamilton expressed this opinion\nwith perhaps an ambiguous under-meaning when he said,\u2015\u2015\u201cTo lead a\nhappy life is to live all the days of one\u2019s life;\u201d but Dr. Johnson,\nmoralizing on the learned pig, expanded the idea more clearly when he\nmaintained that the mere prolongation of existence is a sufficient\ncompensation for a very considerable amount of suffering. We see the\ncorrectness of his observation in the multitude of examples of those\nwho cherish their years when poverty, old age, and disease would seem\nto have robbed them of all value. When nothing else is left but life,\nlife alone becomes worth all else.\n\nSelf-preservation, therefore, which means the care of life and health,\nis the first and a necessary condition of personal happiness. But what\na task is this!\n\nWhen the child wakes to consciousness and surveys the scene around\nhim, he finds himself on a battle-field divided between two mighty\ncombatants in unremitting conflict\u2015\u2015Necessity and Chance, the laws of\nNature and the caprices of Accident. Not even the gods, said the\nancient Greeks, can struggle with Fate and Fortune, those elemental\npowers, Anangke and Tyke. What is man that he dare venture the fray?\n\nEach individual is scarcely more than a volume of quotations from the\nworks of his ancestors, selected with little appropriateness to the\nEssay on Life which he has himself to compose. Mysterious and\nunrecorded influences extending over untold generations have combined\nto make him what he is, and to endow him with a personality which he\ncan never escape from, nor transcend. The boy, the man, can no more\nrun away from his parents than he can from himself. He may renounce\nand cast out the traits which he has inherited, but he cannot get rid\nof them. Unbidden and unnoticed, they will slink back and abide with\nhim forever. They are not his servants, but belong to his family, his\nclan, his race. He can change or dismiss them no easier than he can\nthe color of his skin or the shape of his skull.\n\nThese are the laws of Heredity. They bind the individual as with a\ntether to an immovable stake. But the tether is not a fetter. It\nallows him a certain freedom, so that within the limits of those laws\nhe can wonderfully modify himself and better his fortunes. More than\nthat, he can \u201ccozen the gods,\u201d and outwit both Fate and Fortune, if he\nsets about it right. And how is that? By learning the laws of his own\nnature and of the physical surroundings which environ him. Knowing\nthem, he can turn them to his own advantage.\n\nLet us see what these are; and first, those which concern the bodily\nand mental constitution of the individual, so far as they bear upon\nhis happiness in life.\n\nThose who have studied this subject, physicians and physiologists,\ndraw a twofold distinction in the traits of the individual,\ndiscriminating between those which he has by birth, and those which\ncan be traced to incidents in his own history after birth. Of the\nformer, some are \u201chereditary,\u201d that is, traceable with reasonable\nsurety to his ancestors; and others \u201ccongenital,\u201d meaning those which\nappear to be due to incidents in his own history before birth. To this\nlatter curious class belongs the development of what anatomists call\n\u201cmonsters;\u201d and there are thousands such in the moral world from\nallied causes, of whom the anatomist takes no heed, the whole\ncomplexion of whose lives has been changed by some light impression at\nthis infinitely susceptible period.\n\nOf hereditary traits, the most salient are those which stamp on the\nindividual his racial and ethnic characteristics. He is a white man or\na negro, a Mongolian or an American Indian; he is, within these\nlimits, a Jew or a Greek, a Chinaman or a Japanese; each with his own\nfeatures, color of skin, straight or crisp hair, and all the other\nmarks, mental and physical, which belong to his particular race and\npeople. Each one of these will help or handicap him in the pursuit of\nhappiness.\n\nLess prominent, but yet indefinitely potent, are those characteristics\nwhich he inherits from his family or clan, and from his immediate\nparents. To these he generally owes his stature, his physical\nstrength, his symmetry and beauty, or his lack of these, his\nconstitutional diseases, his longevity, and his language,\u2015\u2015all mighty\nagents in turning the kaleidoscopic pictures of his future life. From\nthis source he probably also derives that which physicians call his\n\u201ctemperament,\u201d which is in many instances the trait which decides on\nhis general happiness or unhappiness in life; for it is often observed\nthat a particular temperament descends for generations in the same\nfamily.\n\nThe \u201ccongenital\u201d peculiarities are those which especially mark the\nindividual. Sex is one of these. Physiologists now know that the human\nindividual commences of the neuter gender, and that the decision as to\nwhether it shall be masculine or feminine is an incident, or more\njustly an accident, of its later life. Certain diseases,\nmalformations, and bodily marks are also congenital, as well as those\nslight variations of the form and features which make up the physical\npersonality; and more than all, to the obscure and momentous period\nwhen the spirit is folded in the womb does the individual owe his\nstrongest tastes and inclinations, his talents, and, when he possesses\nit, the divine endowment of genius. Therefore the physicians of\nancient times established the maxim,\u2015\u2015\u201c_Ingenium est ingenitum_.\u201d\n\nWith this miscellaneous stock of heirlooms, with this farrago of\nfestering rags and family jewels, poisoned fangs of serpents and\nfragments of holy crosses, ancient formulas of withering curses and\nsaintly blessings whispered by a thousand generations of ancestors,\nthe babe is born into the world. His one duty in life is to battle\nwith these unseen but fateful influences, to defend his freedom\nagainst their subtle approaches, to master their armories, and to\nmaintain and develop ever more and more his own separate\nindividuality, utilizing his inherited powers and tendencies or\ndestroying them, as they make for or against his own true happiness.\n\nTo accomplish this, he will call to his aid such powerful allies as\neducation, self-training, personal hygiene, the establishment of\ndesirable habits, and the assistance of trusty friends. By such aids\nhe can modify his own nature, and Fate cannot wholly prevail against\nhim. He will realize the meaning of the noble words of Buddha, the\nAwakened,\u2015\u2015\u201cSelf is the Lord of Self; who else should be the Lord?\u201d\n\nLet us see in some detail what he has to contend with, and how he\nshould set about it.\n\nNature is equitable. The more inflexible her laws, the wider the\nliberty they allow; the stronger the rivets of her chains, the longer\nthey are. Thus it is that racial peculiarities, though the most\nindelible of all, do not stand in the way of man\u2019s enjoyment. They do\nindeed limit the quality, but probably not the quantity, of pleasure\nin life. The race which anatomists consider the lowest, the African\nnegroes, is famous for its gayety and buoyant spirits. Danger,\npoverty, even slavery, do not quench their cheery, care-free\ndisposition. The majority of them are like Hamlet\u2019s friend, Horatio,\nwith naught but their good spirits to feed and clothe them. Little\nreck they of the future. Music and song, talk and laughter, are all\nthey want to fill their days.\n\nHow different the American Indian! not that he is the solemn and\ntaciturn savage whom the romance-writers depict. In his native state\nhe is light-hearted, too; but there is one poison a single drop of\nwhich embitters all his cup of joy, the poison of restriction. Lessen\nhis liberty ever so little, and all light is shut out of his days.\nEverywhere the race is the same. Its surroundings count as nothing. In\nthe long Arctic night the Eskimo is blithe and carolsome, far from the\napproach of the white man; while amid the glorious scenery and\nEden-like climate of Central America, the native languages have a\ndozen words for pain and misery and sorrow for one with any cheerful\nsignification.\n\nThe white race has a greater range and a higher quality in sensation\nand emotion than any other. Modern psychologists\u2015\u2015who are in fact\nphysiologists\u2015\u2015have demonstrated this by experiments. The white race\nalone responds to the most delicate stimuli in art, in religion, and\nin scientific thought; and probably its members alone are, as a race,\ncapable of the highest degrees of happiness; though single individuals\nof the other races doubtless may equal them in this respect.\n\nLet the individual of any race not despair of joy. Let him pursue it\nwith a firm intent and a clear understanding of what it is, and he\nwill surely receive it to the capacity of which his nature is capable.\nThe barriers of race or nation fence him off from no flowery fields or\nsun-lit pastures. There are gates, if he will seek them, which open on\nthem all.\n\nMore ominous to his welfare are the traits he inherits from his own\nfamily, his immediate ancestors. How true it is that a man\u2019s worst\nenemies may be those of his own household! How dreadful it is that\nthey may be those who love him most, who brought him into the world,\nwho would die for him! As in Ibsen\u2019s terrible drama, the ghosts of the\nfollies of our fathers may ever hover near us, poisoning our blood,\ndarkening our daylight, blighting our lives, transmitting to us the\nseeds of insanity, the mortal leaven of consumption, or the loathsome\nvirus sucked from the breasts of illicit pleasure. Who can deliver us\nfrom the body of this death?\n\nNo one but ourselves. Here more than elsewhere it is vain to sit by\nthe wayside and cry to the passers-by for aid. Scant is the\nconsolation and slight the assistance they can proffer us. We must\nourselves search the arid plains for such meagre roses and shriveled\nleaves as remain for us to twine the chaplets of pleasure. He who is\nborn to an inheritance of disease\u2015\u2015and the majority are\u2015\u2015should boldly\nrecognize it as his special danger, and should study the means of its\nprevention. If of the serious character of those I have mentioned, he\nshould make it his main business to escape its inroads by choosing an\nappropriate avocation, by removal to other surroundings, and by\nadopting a course of life which medical science prescribes as that\nmost likely to postpone indefinitely its outbreak. There are thousands\nof such wise men in every civilized community, who were born with\nthese blood-taints, but who successfully escape them,\u2015\u2015till they fall\na victim to some other malady. Nor have these by any means the worst\npart of life. The habit of constant watchfulness and forethought thus\nengendered is one of the most valuable guarantees of personal\nhappiness; this is why among confirmed and chronic invalids we often\nmeet a degree of cheerfulness and even gayety which surprises us.\n\nThese beings are doubly fortunate; for they have escaped not only\ntheir particular malady, but another not less dangerous to their own\nwell-being and that of those around them\u2015\u2015a morbid valetudinarianism,\na perpetual fussiness about their own ills and ails. The victims of\nthis complaint are the _malades imaginaires_, constantly coddling\nthemselves, thinking of no one but themselves, of whom we meet an\nendless number in the wealthier classes of society. It must have been\nof such as these that old Dr. Johnson blurted out his rough\njudgment,\u2015\u2015\u201cEvery sick man is a scoundrel!\u201d They usually forfeit more\nthan they win by such selfish concentration. It is a symptom of\ndisease to think constantly about one\u2019s health. The most effectual\nremedy for it is to think about increasing the comfort of others.\n\nThere is no need for me to go into details of what such a training\nshould be to protect one as much as possible against the development\nof hereditary diseases. The precepts must be adapted to the particular\ncase and circumstances, and in this age Personal Hygiene is a science\nby itself, with abundant and competent instructors. Its scope is not\nlimited to the prevention of disease, but extends to the strengthening\nand symmetrical development of the whole body. No one who\nintelligently pursues his happiness will omit the study and practice\nof its precepts. Health is not indispensable to happiness.\nFortunately, no one condition is indispensable. But there is no other\ncondition which so generally and potently contributes to it.\nTherefore, he who intelligently seeks enjoyment will pay early and\nfrequent attention to athletic culture; he will seek some healthful\nand agreeable physical exercise; his posture will be erect and his\nbreathing full; his periods of effort will be prolonged to positive\nfatigue, and will be judiciously alternated by others of changed\nactivity or complete repose.\n\nThe trainer of athletes lays down for his pupils a rigid discipline.\nHe is as far from encouraging overstrain and excessive exercise as he\nis indolence. He condemns stimulants and narcotics beyond a most\nmoderate use; and he is solicitous about such things as sleep, and\nfood, and cleanliness. If his pupils find it repays them to submit to\nhis stringent dicta for the hope of winning a champion\u2019s belt or a\nsilver medal, is it not worth while to accept the much less severe\nregimen necessary to obtain the Olympian garland woven of the joys\nwhich a sound and elastic health offers?\n\nAll that I have said on this subject applies with even greater force\nto girls and women than it does to youths and men. Women, alas, as I\nhave before remarked, have the worser part in life. No one but a\nphysician sees how much of their wretchedness is owing to ignorance or\nneglect of the laws of physical health. There is no excuse for this in\nthis day. The wicked old doctrine which taught that ignorance of their\nown nature is a necessary condition of innocence in girls ought long\nsince to have been cast out of window. It is as false as that the\nseclusion of a harem is necessary to insure the virtue of wives. In\nnine cases out of ten a woman\u2019s health in life depends on the care she\nexercises between early puberty and the birth of her first child; and\nthis is the precise period when the prejudices of society strive to\nkeep her in profoundest ignorance of the laws which govern her own\nbodily functions!\n\nMore delightful to any true woman than the pleasures of health or the\npraise of her faculties is the adoration compelled by her beauty.\nMadame de Stael regretted that she could not exchange her magnificent\npowers and her literary fame for the personal charms of Madame\nRecamier. She was right. Let no woman be persuaded to abate one jot or\ntittle in her cult and culture of the comely in face and form. Only\ncramped bigots and dull pedants cheapen the value of beauty.\n\nBeauty is real; it is that which alone is permanent and visible; it\nlurks behind a thousand masks and distorted countenances, ever\nstruggling to body itself forth; it is the manifestation of potent and\nmysterious natural laws, which but for it would remain forever hidden\nfrom us. Its proud power is to awaken Love with all her joyous train;\nand Love means the unconscious attraction of the Ideal, the noblest\nincitement to human endeavor.\n\nThese are not mere phrases. They are facts proved by the life-history\nof the human race. As nations advance in civilization from the savage\ncondition to one of enlightenment, their ideals of physical beauty\nsteadily near a definite and the same conception of the perfect human\nform, the underlying motive of which is the highest function and a\nperfected capacity. This progress is rapid in proportion as that which\nis peculiarly human in man is cultivated beyond that which is merely\nanimal. Not that any rigid canon of proportion or mechanical norm will\never be attained; because the endeavor is toward the Ideal, and this\nis beyond the reach of mortals.\n\nThese are the teachings of the learned in the Science of Man; they are\nconstantly supported by the experience of history. Beauty is and ever\nhas been the Desire of all Nations. For it, in all time, men have\ncounted as nought their honor, their gold, and their hopes of heaven.\nFor it, they have poured their heart\u2019s blood on a thousand stricken\nfields, and laughed at death and hell. Think you that the noblest of\nthe race would have thus reckoned the world well lost, and paid all\nthat, wisdom holds precious for a smile from the lips of loveliness,\nwere there not some strange and wondrous compensation, some immortal\nand unearthly significance, in Beauty itself?\n\nThere is such significance, and nowhere is it so visible as in the\nperfect female face and form. This is the most beautiful of all\nobjects in nature or art. To it we turn to gaze, forgetting the works\nof the greatest masters which may be spread before us; unmindful of\nthe sublimest scenes which mountain and lake may combine to show us.\nNearer than anything else does it bring us to that Ideal World whose\nmargin forever recedes as we approach it; louder in its presence sound\nthe tinkling bells of that Fairyland which guards the fruition of our\nsweetest hopes and dreams.\n\nThe beauty of woman has been the incentive of physical progress in the\nrace and the inspiration of its noblest arts. It shadows forth the\nembodied ideal of humanity, and in its resistless strength binds men\nas slaves to its chariot. But does it confer happiness on the\npossessor? Sad and faithful is the reply of the poet,\u2015\u2015\n\n                    \u201cIn every land\n      I saw, wherever light illumineth,\n  Beauty and Anguish walking hand in hand\n      The downward slope to death.\u201d\n\n_La fatale donna di bellezza_, \u201cthe fatal gift of beauty,\u201d says the\nproverb of the Italians. Perilous is the path of mortals who walk too\nnear the gods. The brightest beacons are those which most attract the\nfoul birds of night. The men or the women who shine beyond their\nfellows through the bounteous gifts of nature are the chosen targets\nfor envy and hatred and calumny and all their ugly crew. In the clash\nof violent emotions excited by the radiance of fair faces, in the\ncontention of love and jealousy, despair and passion, it is rare that\nthe cause of it all escapes scot free. Her wisdom is also weakened by\nthe adoration she receives; she assumes that it is for herself,\nforgetful that a passing disease or the accident of a moment may rob\nher of her charms forever. She has yet to learn that those alone are\nworthy of admiration to whom it is not a necessity.\n\nThus it happens that the _vis superba form\u00e6_, the \u201cproud strength of\nbeauty,\u201d so often proves a fatal weakness to its possessor. American\nwomen who have followed the fortunes of generations of belles tell me\nthat those distinguished for their physical charms have as a rule met\nwith less success and less happiness in their after life than their\nplainer sisters. This is not as it should be. Regularity of features,\nmobility of expression, harmony of coloring, symmetry of form, and\ngracefulness of motion are the five sides of the mystic pentagram of\nbeauty, and, like that of the ancient astrologers, it should have\npower to exorcise and banish all evil spirits, and constrain men and\ndemons to the willing service of ennobling joys.\n\nA beautiful woman is the nearest approach we have to the perfected\nideal of humanity in general. When in their statues of Apollo, Adonis,\nand the Hellenized Antinous, the ancient Greek sculptors portrayed\ntheir highest conception of manly beauty, in many points they\napproximated the male to the female form, recognizing in the lines of\nthe latter a superior artistic excellence and the consummate\nexpression of the ideal of the beautiful; nay, even the embodiment of\nthe supreme of intellectual gifts. \u201cSomething feminine,\u201d observed\nColeridge in his Table Talk, \u201cis discoverable in the countenances of\nall men of genius.\u201d Therefore the artists represent angels as of that\nage when the male is most similar to the female,\u2015\u2015_tra giovane e\nfanciullo_, between youth and childhood, as Tasso describes the\narchangel Gabriel.\n\nGreat is the value of physical culture; but let there be no\nmisunderstanding as to what this value is. Such culture, under\nwhatever title it appears, is but a means to an end. They miss its\nmeaning who make it an end in itself. Its sole worth is to aid in\nbringing about that mental condition or process which we term\nfelicity, or joyousness.\n\nThis point is more easily carried in some constitutions than in\nothers. Much depends on what is called the \u201ctemperament,\u201d and so much\nhas been written about temperaments that I cannot afford to omit a\nreference to them. To be sure, they do not fill so many pages in\nmodern writings as in those of an earlier age; but this may be because\nthey are not now so well marked as they once were. Functions, like\nfashions, are subject to the law of periodicity.\n\nThe four leading temperaments with their mental traits are as follows:\nthe sanguine, characterized by buoyant hope and strong self-confidence;\nthe nervous, with rapid alternations of confidence and anxiety, prone\nto enthusiasm and to dejection; the phlegmatic, equally remote from\nthe extremes of exaltation and despair, collected, temperate, and\nslow; and the bilious, inclined to take the gloomy view of events and\nto dwell on their darker side.\n\nMost people can be classed under the one or the other of these, and\nthe arrangement is not useless in self-culture, for it will furnish\nhints as to the manner of training required to correct unwholesome\nmental tendencies.\n\nThe temperament toward which they should all be modified is not\nincluded in the list. It is the _cheerful_ temperament, that which is\nlighted by the rays of reasonable hope and a confidence in one\u2019s own\npowers grounded on a knowledge of their strength.\n\nCheerfulness, however, is a coy favorite, and is not to be had for the\nasking. It is a condition of mind which a man cannot think himself\ninto, nor reason himself into, nor directly acquire by an effort of\nthe will. No man can seat himself in his chair and say to\nhimself,\u2015\u2015\u201cGo to! I will be merry!\u201d It can in part be secured by a\nskillful disposition of the emotions at our command; but it is, in the\nmain, the mental result of physical processes, and the profitable\nstudy of it must begin with these.\n\nSo very physical is it, that physiologists have undertaken to locate\nits exact seat in the human body. They place it in the great ganglia\nof the sympathetic nervous system, near the stomach and the heart,\nwhere also is located the seat of the sense of general miserableness\nthat the French call _malaise_. No one feels happy in his head or in\nhis foot; but we do speak of being light of heart, as well as\nheart-heavy and heart-broken. Those savage tribes who believe that the\nsoul dwells in the pit of the stomach are not the worst physiologists.\n\nThe mental condition in certain diseases show how correct this is.\nThose which directly involve the stomach, the liver, the heart, and\nthe intestinal canal are always associated with undue depression of\nspirits; while those which are confined to the lungs or the brain,\nthough of the most fatal gravity, may be connected with undiminished\ncheerfulness. The _spes phthisica_, the hopefulness of the\nconsumptive, is proverbial among physicians, but as deceptive to them\nas to others. A friend of mine, a medical man, who had fought this\ndisease for three years, wrote me three days before his death,\nsketching a series of literary schemes which he had decided to\nundertake! Another malady of similar character is a variety of\nparalysis, always fatal, not uncommon among overworked business men of\nmiddle life. The patient will never acknowledge that he is ill or\nfeels badly, and when so paralyzed that he cannot rise from his couch\nwill insist that he is in splendid health and is merely lazy! How\ndifferent from the dyspeptic, always magnifying his symptoms; from the\nhypochondriac with engorged liver; or from the sufferer from heart\ndisease, with his long and inexplicable spells of low spirits!\n\nThe moral of these facts is evident. If we wish to have a cheerful\ndisposition we must begin with attention to our physical functions.\nEven slight symptoms of dyspepsia, liver complaints, and disturbances\nof the digestive organs must receive appropriate treatment. In this\ncountry malarial poisoning is common, and as it spends its force on\nthe spleen, it is always associated with low spirits. Hemorrhoids,\nwhich are usually connected with deficient action of the liver, and in\nwomen many diseases peculiar to their sex, act directly in inducing a\ncondition of gloom and anxiety.\n\nOf course, it is no part of my plan to suggest the proper treatment\nfor these ails. But it does come within its purview to offer some\nhints to those who, without assignable physical cause, are subject to\nperiodic depression of spirits, to what we familiarly call \u201can attack\nof the blues.\u201d\n\nThis is generally a reaction from mental overstrain or mental\nlethargy,\u2015\u2015from the too intent pursuit of an object, or from having no\nobject to pursue. A life without leisure and a life without labor are\nequally fatal to cheerfulness. The hurry and rush of business affairs,\nthe atmosphere of excitement and unrest which surrounds them, are\ndangerous to a mind not extremely well poised. Not less so are the\nalternate phases of gloom and exaltation which attend religious\nrevivals, prayer meetings, and the various manifestations of\nfanaticism. \u201cThat way madness lies,\u201d and our asylums show a heavy\npercentage of inmates who have lost their reason from religious\nexcitement. The prolonged concentration of attention on one\u2019s heavenly\ninterests is just as detrimental as on those of this world.\nSelf-isolation is fatal; and anxiety for self-salvation is but one of\nits varieties.\n\nWhile the multiplicity of rapid impressions leads to exhaustion and\nmental lassitude, variety and novelty are desirable. Change of diet is\nas salutary for the mind as for the body. One should have some\nagreeable occupation outside of his business, to which he can turn in\nhis leisure moments and at the time when he quits active affairs. How\nmany have I seen with enough to retire _on_, but with nothing to\nretire _to_! They are the unhappiest of mortals.\n\nAn occasional fit of depression can be broken by some simple measures.\nThe hot bath is one of these. It is highly physiological, as its\nimperative summons of the nervous force to the periphery of the body\nbreaks up the stagnation about the ganglionic centres. For the same\nreason the cold shower is excellent. No man leaves it in the same\ntrain of thought with which he entered it. Active exercise, society,\ngames, and amusements will occur to all. Stimulants and narcotics are\nperilous palliatives. Better try Lord Lytton\u2019s advice, and resolutely\nattack a new language; or Ruskin\u2019s, to drive a restless horse or sail\na cranky skiff, where the least inattention to what you have in hand\nmeans immediate danger to your life. You will have no time for the\nblues.\n\nSelf-preservation, I have said, is the prime condition of happiness. A\nlong life, therefore, is the desire of all sane minds. Old age, that\nwhich all abhor, is the hope of all. It alone justifies a man to\nhimself and before others. The sage is he whose life is a consistent\nwhole, and who carries out in his age the plans which he laid in\nyouth. They are not many; but even they deceive us by their number. On\nthe ocean of existence, who counts the shipwrecked? We see the votive\nofferings of the saved displayed with ostentation, but who notes the\nnumber of the drowned? In the scenery of the drama of human life, the\nmost conspicuous buildings are the hospitals and asylums, and into\nthese sooner or later most of the actors disappear.\n\nA learned French physician has maintained that the normal duration of\nhuman life is one hundred years; only a fifth of those born reach one\nhalf that age. Longevity is partly a birthright; it runs in families;\nbut it is still more a question of occupation, mode of life, and\npersonal hygiene. The Jews of Frankfurt average ten years more of life\nthan the non-Jewish citizens, because they avoid unsanitary avocations\nand observe wiser rules of diet. I know a skillful physician who\nclaims that he can lengthen the life of an individual a decade beyond\nthe average of his ancestors by a judicious system of safeguards. Such\nan adviser is acquainted with the special dangers to which age is\nexposed. He knows, for instance, that at seventy-five exposure to cold\nis thirty-two times more dangerous than it is at thirty years of age.\n\nThe sorrows of age are usually the returns of the investments of\nyouth, these proving of that sort which levy assessments instead of\npaying dividends. \u201cA short life and a merry one,\u201d is the maxim of many\na youngster. The hidden falsehood at the core of his philosophy is the\nbelief that happiness belongs to youth alone. I have already referred\nto this dangerous fallacy. The bliss of youth, as portrayed by poets\nand romancers, did not belong to the youth I had, nor does it to the\nyouths I know. The admiration of the early periods of life is one of a\ncommon class of illusions. There is greater charm in beauty\nhalf-concealed than wholly shown, in the dawn rather than in the day,\nin the promise of youth rather than in the maturity of manhood.\nPotentialities please more than actualities, because they excite our\nimagination and release us from the fetters of facts.\n\nHe who would work securely for his own welfare will not be led astray\nby the belief that any one period of life contains solely or in any\nlarge measure the enjoyments of life as a whole. He will, therefore,\nnot eat to-day the bread of to-morrow. Rather he will consider the\nproblem of life akin to a problem of Euclid, the _quod erat\ndemonstrandum_ of which is reached only in the last line. He will guard\nthe fires of youth, that he may not in age have to sit by the cold\nashes of exhausted pleasures.\n\nSad indeed is the fate of those men who live to outlive themselves.\nYou find them in every community, and especially in those classes of\nsociety which offer the greatest opportunities for early liberty and\nenjoyment. They suffer from a kind of premature senility. They have\nfallen in the struggle, though they are not visibly wounded. To them,\nlife has lost its zest and action its aim. Usually this is the result\nof the early exhaustion of irrational enjoyments; but it may proceed\nfrom some blow of disappointed ambition, from a violent shock to the\nemotions, from the vertigo of unlooked-for prosperity, or the\ndiscouragement of persistent adversity. The stroke has fallen, and no\nvoice can awake them to action again.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe continuing satisfaction of an intense love of living,\u2015\u2015that would\nbe a fairly good definition of happiness, and not far from one which\nFichte proposed.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nFew at any age could say with Fontenelle at ninety-three,\u2015\u2015\u201cHad I my\nlife to live again, I should change nothing.\u201d\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWhat nobler compliment could be paid a man than this, which Vittoria\nColonna wrote to Michael Angelo,\u2015\u2015\u201cYou have disposed the labor of your\nwhole life as one single great work of art.\u201d\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nNo road is the right one to him who knows not whither he is going.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIf you _will_ stand in the rain, why pray the gods to keep you dry?\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nMany a defeat, claimed as a victory, passes for one.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nJoys that are present are alone those that are real.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThere is wisdom in the Spanish saying, \u201cThe water of your own village\nis better than the wine of Rome.\u201d\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThink over this, that Walt Whitman wrote:\u2015\u2015\n\n  Will you seek afar off? You surely come back at last,\n  In things best known to you finding the best, or as good as the\n     best,\n  In folks nearest to you finding the sweetest, strongest, lovingest,\n  Happiness, knowledge, not in another place but in this place, not\n     for another hour but this hour.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe two misfortunes of life are, that we are born young, and become\nold.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nTrue, the mind of a child is a plot of virgin soil; but, like this, it\nis made up of strata of incalculable antiquity.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe moral lessons of our youth are like our old love letters,\u2015\u2015carefully\npreserved, but never read.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nTime wears out masks; the old show what they are.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe mellowest fruits of life should ripen in its autumn; but if the\nspring had not its seeding, and the summer its flowers, what harvest\ncan we look for?\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nMany a man passes his youth in preparing misery for his age, and his\nage in repairing misconduct in his youth.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe old story says that the flowers you gather in Fairyland prove to\nbe withered weeds on your return.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIt is folly to be youthful unless you are young.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nAn old man who indulges in love-making had better derive his pleasure\nfrom his own sentiments, than from the hope that they will be\nreciprocated.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\n\u201cOld men become frivolous,\u201d once said to me Weir Mitchell, poet,\nphysician, philosophic observer of life. Yes, frivolous and\nsense-bound. Youth is earnest and spiritual, because it is sentient of\ncreative force.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIt is with health as with money; we wait till our stock is diminishing\nbefore we give it careful attention.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nA Chinese proverb says, it is easy enough to die, but difficult to die\nat the right time. Many a man has lived to destroy his own well-earned\nreputation or fortune.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe danger of shipwreck is less in mid-ocean than near shore.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nHurry to reap ruins the harvest. To garner the grain we must bide from\nthe sowing till the seed-time.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nPleasure is an expenditure of stored force. We must save up in order\nto have a good time. Nature is a merciless usurer, and demands heavy\ninterest on her advances.\n\n\n\n\nII. _Our Physical Surroundings._\n\n\nPalpably the nearest to us of all our physical surroundings is our\nclothing. Philosophers do not agree whether man originally adopted\nsome covering for his body out of the desire of warmth, the sense of\nmodesty, or the love of decoration. Enough that at present all these\nmotives are operative, and all are to be respected.\n\nThe first purpose of clothing is to preserve the health by keeping out\nthe cold. There is more in this than mere comfort. Warm clothing\neconomizes nervous energy, which otherwise has to be expended on the\nextremities of the nerves to maintain the capillaries in activity. A\nman when comfortably warm can think more clearly than when he feels\nchilly. Mind and body are alike benumbed by extreme cold. Exposure to\neven a moderately low temperature is dangerous to the aged and the\nfrail. Those who have studied the meteorology of health have\nestablished the maxim,\u2015\u2015\u201cWaves of cold are waves of death.\u201d\n\nIn his clothing the sensible man will conform to the customs and\nstation of society in which he moves. He will leave to his tailor the\ncut of his coat. It is a sign of greater weakness to affect a fashion\nof one\u2019s own than to follow that of others. He will not be without a\ndress suit in civilized lands, and will not wear top boots in drawing\nrooms, as did in London a semi-celebrated American poet.\n\nA century or two ago the dress of men was far more costly and\nsignificant. That they have now adopted a simple and uniform style\nshows that higher interests are occupying their minds. The first sign\nthat women are approaching the same level will be their\nenfranchisement from the slavery of dress and fashion, to which so\nmany of them devote the best part of their lives. To woman, clothing\nwill always be more a question of art than utility. But most of the\nmodes which she now follows are caricatures of art. For them, however,\nshe will sacrifice not only good taste but good morals. Vanity in\ndress, not the deception of men, leads the majority of fallen women to\ntheir life. They feel more degraded by an unbecoming costume than by a\ntarnished reputation.\n\nA man changes his character with his garments. Dirty clothes excuse\ndirty actions. I heard of a carpenter who was at a fire where he could\neasily have carried off articles; but he explained that he had on his\nbest clothes, and that prevented him. The reason why sermons have so\nlittle effect is that we lay aside our Sunday suits on Monday morning.\nThis is the value of uniform. Dress a hundred men alike, and they will\nthink alike. The character is subdued to what \u2019tis clothed in.\nOutward, develops inward conformity. The world recognizes this, and\naccepts the clothing as the index of the mind. A well-dressed man is\nsupposed to be a gentleman, and an officer with sword and epaulettes\nis regarded as a tactician and a hero. Would you change the current of\nyour thoughts, change your raiment, and you will at once feel the\neffect. Would you assuage your grief, lay aside your mourning.\n\nNext to our clothing, our immediate surroundings are the room and its\nfurniture. A third of our lives is passed in our sleeping apartment,\nand most of the remainder in sitting-room, library, or office. It is\nwell worth while, therefore, to give it attention. How much pleasure\nit can be made to render! The genial Xavier de Maistre consumed a\nmonth in making his celebrated _Voyage autour de ma Chambre_, and then\nregretted his time was so short. What harmonies of light and color,\nshade and perspective, even the humblest adornment of a room is\ncapable of yielding! How each article of furniture comes to take its\nplace in our lives and memories! The clock, the desk, the lounge,\nthese are what make up the sense of Home. Even the noble sentiment of\npatriotism is founded upon them. To defend our hearth is its intimate\npurpose, and love of our easy-chair is a large share of our love of\ncountry. To all women and many men the most constant happiness of life\nis centred in the room and its furniture. Here is the temple of the\nGoddess of the Household, and her name should be L\u00e6titia.\n\nHow much, therefore, depends on the selection of our living rooms!\nThey should be light, bright, dry, airy, well-ventilated, equably\nwarmed, appropriately furnished, free from bad odors, far from brutal\nnoises, screened from impertinent curiosity. All these requirements\nought to be easily obtained and at no great cost. But so little does\nmodern architecture consider the true comfort and the real happiness\nof house-dwellers that it is rare that one can find all combined.\n\nIf he can, therefore, the wise man will prefer to build his own house.\nSome will question this. Somewhere in his works\u2015\u2015they are too\nvoluminous for me to look up the reference\u2015\u2015Rousseau argues that a\nphilosopher will not desire a house of his own, but will prefer to\nlive in one that is rented. He will thus consult his independence, be\nfree to come and go, not engage his affections on inanimate objects,\nfind his fatherland wherever he may be, and the like.\n\nFor myself, I incline rather to the opinion of Abraham Cowley, less of\na philosopher than Rousseau but more in sympathy with the general\nsentiments of mankind. I agree with him that \u201cthe pleasantest work of\nhuman industry is the improvement of something which we may call our\nown.\u201d There is something in itself delightful in the mere sense of\nownership of a part of the surface of the earth. It was not mere greed\nin Cosmo de Medici, who, when asked why he preferred his villa in the\nApennines to his palace in Florence, replied,\u2015\u2015\u201cBecause there, every\nfoot of land I see is my own.\u201d No prospect is quite so pleasing as\nthat of our own acres, and those governments are strongest which base\ntheir institutions on the personal tenure of land.\n\nThe old proverb prescribes the chief duties of a man to be to build a\nhouse and beget a child. The character of his child he can but\nslightly control; the plan of his house is in his own hands, and his\nhealth and happiness are deeply involved in it. \u201cHe that builds a fair\nhouse on an ill site,\u201d observes Bacon, \u201ccommitteth himself to prison;\u201d\nand I may add, he that builds an ill house on any site, sends himself\nand family to a hospital. One half of the deaths in England are from\npreventable causes, and one-half of these are causes connected with\ndefective house building. The most perfect buildings are the gaols.\nBoth in England and America the best care is taken of the worst men.\nThe chances of life for the convict who is in prison is seven times\nbetter than when he is at liberty. If health is the highest good, we\nhad better all apply to be sent to gaol.\n\nThe principal foes to fight are dampness, darkness, chilliness,\ndraughtiness, insufficient ventilation, sewer-gas or other poisonous\neffluvia, contaminated or scanty water supply, and unhealthful\nsituation. Architects know little about these matters. Decorative\neffects rather than sanitary perfection are what occupy their\nattention. Every house-builder should be his own architect to the\nextent of clearly knowing what he wants, and seeing that it is looked\nafter in the plans.\n\nA beautiful feature of American life is the ease with which every one\ncan acquire his own home. Rapid transit facilitates this even for\nthose who dwell in great cities.\n\nThe possession of his own house is within the reasonable ambition of\nevery man, and should ever form a part of it. What if it must be a\nsmall house? He can say with Socrates\u2015\u2015\u201cLucky me, if I have friends\nenough to fill it!\u201d\n\n\u201cCosiness!\u201d how much that word implies! What pictures of intimate\ndelights it brings before the mind! But who can imagine it in great,\nstraggling mansions, or in \u201cpalace chambers far apart\u201d? In the vast\nand gloomy palace of the Escorial, the only rooms I saw which would\nnot induce an attack of melancholia to live in were a suite not larger\nthan those in an ordinary American house, in which the royal family\nsought escape from the pressure of their own magnificence in their\noccasional visits to this famous pile. Happiness dwells not in\nspacious halls and stately apartments, and he who seeks it will not\nenvy their possessors.\n\nHas a house ever been built with an eye solely to the highest\nhappiness of its inmates? to their health, sometimes; to their\ncomfort, occasionally; to the parade of their riches, constantly; but\nto their happiness? I doubt. Conveniences, sanitary arrangements,\nagreeable vistas, balconies, porches, fireplaces, these would not be\nomitted, but would be merely the beginning of the plan. How to\nconciliate isolation with social relations, how to promote harmony\nbetween those serving and those served, how to provide that the\nemployments of one do not jar with those of others, these would be\nsome of the questions to consider. How many family troubles could be\navoided by a properly built house! Faulty architecture is more\nfrequently the ruin of family felicity than is heterodox doctrine.\n\nThe Greeks called man the \u201cearth-born,\u201d and the love of his native\nplace is ever one of the most responsive of his heartstrings. Some say\nit is lacking in Americans, because they are so restless, but this is\nan error. The poor boy who wanders away from his native village to\nmake his fortune does not forget the scenes of his childhood, and\nshould his dreams be realized, returns to the old familiar places to\nleave at least some token of his affection. More than half the public\nlibraries in New England towns have been given wholly or in large part\nby those who were to the manor born, but who had found fortune under\nstrange skies.\n\nThe scenery of our dreams is generally that with which we were first\nfamiliar, and the dying old man babbles of the green fields of his\nboyhood. We may admire grand views from foreign belvederes, but those\nwhich we first saw remain unsurpassed. I crossed the ocean with an\nintelligent woman returning from the Rhine and the Alps; but her\nlonging was for the vast, treeless prairies of Illinois, her girlish\nhome, where sky meets earth all round the horizon, and the soul feels\nno confinement of mountains or forests.\n\nLove of place rather than love of persons leads to the unhappy\ncondition of homesickness. As \u201cnostalgia,\u201d it becomes an actual\ndisease of body and mind, and men will die of it, unless allowed to\nreturn to their native land. Haunting, imperious thirst of the soul\nfor the scenes of its early pleasures! Heaven cannot be imagined\nwithout them.\n\nThe thoughtful writer, Herder, who was the first to cultivate history\nas the seed-field of philosophy, was of opinion that it is less the\nearth on which we tread, than the air we breathe, which gives the\npeculiar charm to the scenes of childhood; meaning that it is the\nclimate, and the sequence of the seasons which leave the chief impress\non the budding observation of our surroundings. The eternal summer of\nthe tropics becomes monotonous to the native of temperate latitudes,\nand the Eskimo or the Laplander in the more genial climes pines for\nthe short, hot summer and bitter winter to which he has been\naccustomed. The desire, therefore, for more favorable climates, except\nfor purposes of health, is an illusion. The \u201csummer isles of Eden\u201d\nwould fatigue with their monotony and enervate by their excellence.\nThe enjoyment of life is independent of the thermometer, if we\ndetermine it shall be. Sunshine within more than compensates for its\nabsence without.\n\nBy climate we usually mean the weather, and this unquestionably exerts\na powerful influence on human happiness. That of most portions of the\nUnited States keeps the character which William Penn gave it two\nhundred years ago\u2015\u2015\u201cconstant in nothing but inconstancy.\u201d Many a\nproject of pleasure does it mar, and many a discomfort does it create!\nbut in its very changeableness there is something attractive, as\nalways lurks in the unexpected. If we travel the same road every day\nin the year, on no two are sky and landscape the same. Daily, new\nscenes are offered to our sight, each with its peculiar charm, if we\ntake the trouble to look for it. Almost can one reason himself into an\nequality with that unapproachable philosopher, the Shepherd of\nSalisbury Plain, who, when asked what the weather would be on the\nmorrow, replied that it would be just what he preferred; and on\nfurther inquiry as to what this might be, triumphantly answered,\n\u201cWhatever the Lord sends.\u201d\n\nOn some temperaments, a low barometer produces a peculiarly depressing\neffect. The advice often given them is to make renewed exertion at\ntheir customary employments, and combat the disinclination with the\nWill. My advice would be more agreeable; they should lay aside the\ncustomary routine, if possible, and seek in change, recreation, and\namusements the cheerfulness which their ordinary employment refuses\nthem. Do not spur the jaded horse, but rather offer repose and variety\nof motion.\n\nThe pressure of the atmosphere as indicated by the barometer has a\ngreat deal to do directly with health and spirits, and therefore with\nhappiness. Those with a tendency to heart disease should seek a\nresidence at the sea level, while many who have weak lungs will\nimprove where the air is rarefied by a high altitude. What the Swiss\ncall _le mal des montagnes_ is a general sense of discomfort which\nsome feel a few thousand feet above the sea, and which even prolonged\nresidence does not entirely banish. An asthmatic can have no pleasure\nin life unless he finds the climate where he can breathe with comfort.\n\nWorst of all for personal happiness is a malarial climate, and,\nunfortunately, they are very common in this country. The miasmatic\npoison is peculiarly depressing to the mind, and is always associated\nwith debility and despondency. Malarial regions cannot be left\nuninhabited, but those whose evil fortune it is to be condemned to\ndwell in them have a heavy additional burden laid upon them in life.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWe are all more or less like those lower animals whose colors change\nwith their surroundings.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nSeek the open air; the fruits which grow outdoors are alone those\nwhich ripen in season.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nHe who loves his country more than he does his kind, loves himself\nmore than either.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nTo die for our country is truly noble, when our country is the world\nand our fellow-citizens all mankind.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nLove of country is sometimes a fine phrase for love of comfort.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWoman, like the Emperor Tiberius, is smothered with clothes.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWoman is philocosmic because she is philanthropic.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nFine clothes are the stilts to individuality.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nA new suit is a new sensation.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWe do not wholly leave our bed-room all day long.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nMake the places you must occupy as pleasure-giving as possible.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nFrugality is never better displayed than in furnishing.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nOutdoors, let Action rule in the ascendant; indoors, Repose.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nHouses used to be built to protect from foes without; the need now is\nmore protection for friends within.\n\n\n\n\nIII. _Luck and its Laws._\n\n\nWhen the wisest of the seven wise men of Greece was asked to name some\nhappy person, he cited several, all of whom were among the dead. \u201cAnd\ndo you know none living who is happy?\u201d queried his royal host, who had\nexpected his own name to be mentioned among the fortunate few. \u201cCall\nno man happy,\u201d replied the sage, \u201cuntil he is dead.\u201d He forgot not\nthat in the temples of his native land, Tyche, Goddess of Chance, was\nrepresented holding in one hand a rudder, for it is she who guides the\naffairs of men; but in the other hand a sphere, to warn of the\ninstability of her favors. Like the King of Lydia, most of her modern\nvotaries remember her former but forget her latter attribute.\n\nScience preaches that the progress of thought has been from a time\nwhen Caprice and Chance were deemed everything in nature and Law was\nnothing, to the present day, when Law is known to be everything and\nCaprice and Chance are nothing.\n\nScience may preach till it is hoarse, but there is something in the\nhuman mind ever insisting that the ancient Goddess, or some other\ninscrutable fatality, coerces the history of the individual; and that,\nfrom his birth, luck, good or bad, merriment or melancholy, marks him\nfor her own. Rarely have I asked a man of large experience who denied\nthe mighty influence of the unforeseen and unforeseeable in practical\naffairs. Some of the most extensive enterprises are based on the\nrecognition of this truth, and it is mathematically demonstrable; for\nmathematicians are prepared to show that disorder itself is orderly,\nand that the vagaries of chance are bound by laws, and pinned in a\nstraight jacket of formulas.\n\nBut what their apparatus of signs and symbols does not show, where it\ncompletely breaks down, is precisely the only point of human interest\nin the whole matter,\u2015\u2015in its application to the individual life and\nfortunes. Averages and general laws they give us; but it is also a\nmathematical law that the average is never applicable to the\nindividual. What is true of the whole series is never true of any one\nmember of the series. No man who insured his life ever died at the\nprecise minute which, according to the actuary\u2019s tables, terminated\nhis calculable expectation of life.\n\nLet us see what, from this point of view, these computations about\nluck or chance teach.\n\nIn mathematics they are included in the Calculus of Probabilities, the\ndiscovery of which is attributed to Pascal. A gambling nobleman asked\nhim what are the chances of turning a red or black card in cutting the\npack a given number of times. As all the cards are either red or\nblack, Pascal replied that it would be expressed by the formula x/2.\nIn ordinary language, this means that when two events are equally\nprobable, they will occur equally in the long run; and in practical\naffairs, when we neither know nor suspect things are unequal, we must\nassume them to be equal.\n\nOn these simple principles all calculations of chances, to be worth\nanything, must be based. But they are not so simple as they sound.\nPascal\u2019s formula, like all formulas of the higher mathematics,\nexpresses an abstract truth only, and one that can never be realized\nin fact. The longer the run, the more certain will it be that the two\nevents never will occur equally; and the more frequent will be long\nseries of the recurrence of one or the other.\n\nTurning aside from abstruse calculations, which can be readily found\nelsewhere by those who would like to see them, let us inquire as to\nthe practical results of this Logic of Chance when applied to the\nfortunes of the individual.\n\nThese observed and calculated results establish the following\ninteresting rule:\u2015\u2015In matters of pure luck, about two-thirds of any\ngiven number of persons will come out substantially even, in any large\nnumber of trials; of the remaining third, about one-half will be\nnoticeably lucky, and the remaining one-half noticeably unlucky. Thus,\nof six who venture, four will have no special fortune, good or bad;\none will be quite \u201cin vein\u201d; one quite \u201cout of vein.\u201d\n\nSuppose the players are thirty-six, and we select the lucky six, and\npit them against each other, as in \u201cprogressive\u201d games; the same law\nwill hold good, one coming out noticeably better, one noticeably worse\nthan the rest; and so on indefinitely, the number of the extremes\ndiminishing at the rate of six to one at each new trial.\n\nThis is the Law of Luck; but it is obvious that it leaves luck, good\nand bad, a real fact; and among a million men, or in a great city like\nNew York or London, we must find extraordinary examples of\n\u201csequences,\u201d both of the favors and the frowns of fortune; not in\ngambling only, but in those thousands of accidental events which make\nup the welfare or misery of personal experience.\n\nAll the moralists I have read on the subject seem to blink and stagger\nat this obvious and necessary conclusion,\u2015\u2015that the history of many\nindividuals is and must be enormously controlled, in spite of any\nefforts of their own, by pure luck. In cutting the cards twenty times\nin succession, about twenty people in a million will cut red every\ntime and another twenty will cut black every time; and so it will be\nwith all other matters of pure chance in life. There is no use in\ntrying to dodge this certain result of a sum in simple division. We\nmust count it in, in all plans and calculations for success and\nhappiness in our individual life.\n\nThe important question is, what value must we assign to it?\n\nHere is where men make several frequent and disastrous errors.\n\nThe most common is an error in arithmetic which the little I have\nabove said on the calculus of chance should be enough to correct. It\nis putting faith in their good luck, or falling into discouragement\nfrom their bad luck. Each is equally silly. A sequence of any kind of\nluck does not offer the slightest presumption that it will continue.\nThe chances remain precisely as at the beginning, and are about six to\none against the continuance of either extreme in the same individual.\nIn matters of pure chance no sustained coincidence in either direction\nadds the least probability to its continuance. This is what is so\ndifficult for men to believe; and so it comes about that faith in good\nluck is the source of most bad luck. A \u201crun of good luck\u201d has wrecked\nthe lives of more men than has the repetition of disasters.\n\nThe reason for this is easily shown. The general rule in life is that\na man\u2019s prosperity is conditioned closely by the amount and kind of\nhis knowledge, and his skill in the use of it. But the man who \u201ctrusts\nto luck\u201d distinctly renounces the advantages of knowledge, and builds\nhis hopes on his acknowledged impotence to influence the results. He\nabandons himself to the current of events, and makes no effort to look\nforward and see whether it will suck him into a whirlpool, or land him\non some sunny shore. Scarcely any state of mind could be fraught with\ngreater peril to his future.\n\nWe have the sayings, \u201cdumb luck\u201d and \u201ca fool for luck;\u201d and the\nItalians their proverb that one must have a little of the fool in him,\n_un poco di matto_, to be lucky. Most men are fools, so it is\ninherently probable that the lucky man will belong to the majority;\nbut beyond that, _his_ folly is conspicuous who bases his hopes of\nfortune rather on luck than on labor and forethought. The immorality\nof gambling and its ruinous influence on the happiness of life lie in\nthe fact that it disclaims as useless every precept which prudence,\nskill, and knowledge lay down as essential to individual success.\n\nIt is mathematically certain that some people will have an astonishing\nsuccession of fortunate experiences which they have nowise aided in\nbringing about, ripe plums dropping into their mouths from invisible\ntrees. They are popularly called \u201clucky fellows.\u201d But the ancient\nGreeks, with that wonderful acumen in practical affairs which was\ntheir own, considered them peculiarly dangerous associates, to be\navoided as partners in regular business, scarcely safe to associate\nwith as companions. When Polycrates, King of Samos, was crowned with\nsuch repeated successes that it seemed as if the very gods might envy\nhim, his friend, the King of Egypt, advised him to throw his most\nprecious jewel, a wonderfully carved signet-ring, into the sea; and\nwhen this was brought back the next day by a fisherman, who had found\nit in the belly of a fish that had swallowed it, the King of Egypt\nwithdrew his fleet and severed his treaty; for he knew some dreadful\ndisaster awaited such unheard-of fortune; and it soon came when\nPolycrates fell into the hands of his enemy, and was crucified alive\non the Asian strand.\n\nThe story is probably a fable; but its moral is an eternal truth. The\nhour of prosperity is ever dangerous; but when the prosperity has come\nwithout labor or effort or forethought, it is nearly always fatal.\nUnexpected success enervates the will and fosters illusions of the\nmind. The ancients represented the goddess Fortuna as proffering a cup\nof intoxicating wine to her favorites. Either they recognize their\nsuccess as the result of pure chance, and persuade themselves that\nthey are fortune\u2019s favorite children, and can safely hazard any risks;\nor their vanity leads them to attribute what was the result of chance\nto their own miraculous sagacity, and they thus magnify to a dangerous\ndegree their own capacities. Either conclusion leads them surely on\nthe downward road to ruin.\n\nNowhere is this mental debility which seizes the believers in luck\nmore absurdly shown than in the return to primeval superstition which\nit brings with it. The gambler, in his faith in caprice and chance,\nsinks to the level of the primitive savage, and accepts the\nsuperstitions of that level with equal readiness. The most cultivated\nhabitu\u00e9 of Monte Carlo has his fetishes; he watches for signs and\nomens; he is as much the slave of auspicious or inauspicious auguries\nas an Australian cannibal. Pitiable retrogression of the human\nintellect! What absurdity will he not commit to \u201cbreak the run of the\nluck\u201d when it is against him! He will turn his chair thrice around; he\nwill avoid playing if a red-whiskered man opposite him stakes; he will\ngo to his hotel and change his coat. He knows that every principle of\nright reason and sound logic teaches that events cannot be modified by\nactions in no way relating to them, but he quietly renounces reason\nand logic as his guides!\n\nSurely no man who is engaged in the intelligent pursuit of happiness\nwill put himself in that position! I do not forget the pleasure of the\ngame. That will be considered on a later page. But there is no need to\nargue that a pleasure which leads to the habitual disregard of reason\nas a monitor cannot be trusted as a permanent contributor to\nhappiness.\n\nOne important practical point remains to be noted. Neither in the\ngambling room, nor outside, is there half so much mere luck in affairs\nas most people imagine. The cards are stacked, the dice are loaded,\nthe balls are weighted. Only the gulls believe the game is fair.\nShrewd men in business transactions like to conceal their hands, and\npersuade their clients and associates that much is the result of\naccident which they themselves have brought about. The plan has many\nadvantages, and plays successfully on the most responsive chords of\nhuman weakness. It is said that the late Baron Rothschild of London\ndeclined to embark in an enterprise unless its promoters were known as\nlucky men. Do not imagine that he was governed by any foolish\nsuperstition. He knew, perhaps better than any one, what is the real\nsignificance of constant luck in the stock market; and would have been\nthe last to have accepted it in the sense of the guileless gambler.\n\nMuch that in the lives of others we are apt to attribute to luck turns\nout on closer examination to be the natural though infrequent result\nof certain cultivated qualities. I have heard of several persons who\nhave had handsome legacies left them by strangers in unexpected\nacknowledgment of kindness shown. Uniform courtesy is almost sure to\nbe followed sooner or later by some such reward. People who are what\nwe call \u201cquick-witted,\u201d whose judgment is cool and action prompt, are\napt to be lucky even in misfortune. William of Normandy, landing for\nthe conquest of England, tripped and fell on the sand. It was an evil\npresage, and his soldiers shrank back in terror. But William, seizing\na handful of the soil, cried\u2015\u2015\u201cThus I grasp this earth, and, by the\nsplendor of God, I shall keep it.\u201d With this he turned the gloomy\nportent into one the most auspicious. Moderate luck with good sense\nwill repair any blunder, while folly will spoil the best of chances.\n\u201cFortune favors the bold,\u201d simply because they have the courage to\nact; but she rarely favors them when they act without knowledge and\nprudence. When Shakespeare in the familiar passage says, \u201cThere is a\ntide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood leads on to\nfortune,\u201d he assumes that the fortunate man knows when flood-tide\narrives.\n\nAs we are thus often deceived in the lives of others, so we are almost\nas frequently the dupes of our own experience. It is not easy to\ndecide, concerning our successes and failures, which are owing to luck\nand which to ourselves. Confucius advises those who fail to follow the\nexample of the archer when he misses the target, and examine first the\ninstruments employed, and then themselves, as the cause of failure is\nlikely to be in one or the other. Some minds are more exhilarated by\ngains than they are depressed by losses; others deplore losses more\nkeenly than they enjoy successes; few estimate both at a just relative\nvalue.\n\nEven the very unlucky should feel some cheerfulness when he reflects\nhow in modern times we have learned to conciliate the Fates, and\ncompel even the most adverse destiny to drop the ugliest of its masks.\nThis we accomplish through the various forms of _insurance_, all of\nthem based on the study of the very caprices of Fortune herself.\nMarvelous example of mind setting at nought the threats of brute\nnature! The very disasters before which our ancestors bowed most\nhopeless and most helpless, are those whose attacks we dread the\nleast. Hail and lightning, storms on the ocean and fire in populous\ncities, we read about with small concern providing our property is\nwell insured. By the same process we can protect our children from\npoverty and our own old age from want. Beneficent discovery, which in\nits varied forms has added incalculably to the happiness of man by\nfreeing him from the terrors of the unknown, and providing him with a\nshield behind which he can afford to smile at the gloomiest frowns of\nFate!\n\nSubtler than any beast of the field is man, and filled with Promethean\ncourage to rob the gods themselves! But behind the impenetrable veil,\nthrough which he sees not even darkly, are powers who smile in\nderision at his attempts to free himself from their eternal mastery.\nNo logic can explain and no calculus compute the workings of their\nmysterious ways. Against the elemental wrath of fire and water man can\nguard himself; but against the results of the most thoughtless of his\nwords or the slightest of his actions he has no protection, for he has\nnot and cannot form the least idea of their consequences. Here Destiny\nrules undisputed and supreme.\n\nSuch reflections led the great Goethe in his old age to dwell more and\nmore on the illimitable influence of trifling events, _bedeutende\nKleinigkeiten_. Dull critics have misunderstood and some of the\ndullest have even made merry about his insistence on this pivotal\ntruth in the history of every individual and in that of the world. The\nfate of nations has ever been decided by the most trivial occurrences.\nC\u00e6sar, going to the Senate, refused to read a letter which was handed\nhim, saying, \u201cBusiness for to-morrow.\u201d Had he opened it, the greatest\nempire that ever was would have had a different story to transmit to a\ndifferent posterity. One summer morning the pretty Arleta, daughter of\na Norman butcher, tripped down to the brook to wash her mother\u2019s\nsoiled linen. Had she waited a few minutes later, Robert the Devil\nwould have already passed, and neither their son, the bastard William\nof Normandy, nor his thousands of knights would have set their iron\nheels on English soil. Louis XVI stops at St. M\u00e9n\u00e9hould to eat a pig\u2019s\nfoot, and the great and famous line of the Bourbons of France is\nextinguished by that single dish.\n\nThese are celebrated examples. But the thoughtful man will recognize\nin his own life and in the lives of those around him how they have\nbeen altered, directed, completely transformed by such slightest of\nincidents. His decision to pursue this or that avocation, that as to\nwhere he should settle, the first meeting with her who is his wife,\nthe conversation which led to such or such an investment of the first\nimportance, these, the most momentous actions of his life, turned on\nsuch casual and insignificant incidents that it makes him shiver to\nthink of it! In such moments he is ready to exclaim,\n\n  \u201cWe do confess ourselves the slaves of chance\n   And flies of every wind that blows.\u201d\n\nThe prime motors of the thought of the world have not been the\nponderous tomes of schoolmen nor the decrees of councils and\nuniversities. What, asks a philosophical historian, were the two most\nimportant events in the intellectual history of England during the\nseventeenth century? The Paradise Lost? The King James\u2019 Version? No.\nOne was the commitment of a strolling tinker to Bedford Jail; the\nother the decision of a distempered youth to make himself a coat of\nleather and go to live in a hollow tree. The one gave us the\n\u201cPilgrim\u2019s Progress;\u201d the other the immortal doctrine that faith, the\ntrue faith, \u201cfinds center everywhere,\u201d and cares not to fix itself in\nform.\n\n\u201cSlaves of Chance!\u201d Of Chance? Have I the right word? Is it Chance\nwhich through millions of years has steadily guided the increasing\npurpose which runs through all nature, which has multiplied the organs\nof animals and widened the minds of men with the progress of the suns;\nwhich has disabled the armies of kings by the weaponless words of a\npeasant; which has confounded wisdom by folly and foiled strength by\nweakness; never anywhere losing sight of the goal, unseen of men but\nsurely divined, toward which tends the Motion of the World?\n\nChance? No. But by what other name shall I name it? Shall I take\nrefuge in the jargon of the pulpit and call these \u201cspecial\nprovidences?\u201d Helpless evasion of the question! Impotent effort to\ndistinguish between the special and the general designs of the\nDesigner, obscuring the one central point to be kept in sight, that\nthe special is the general and the general the special.\n\nBut why seek a name? A name becomes a fetish as much as a stock or a\nstone, and men bow down to it and worship it with as much abasement of\ntheir better natures. Enough, if in the fates of mighty nations and in\neach lightest act of the individual life we recognize the same\nDirecting Force, invisible but nowise unintelligible, rather speaking\nwith sun-clear words to our enlightened reason of conscious purpose\nand definite intention, to which the iron laws of Nature and the wild\nvagaries of Chance are ductile instruments and obedient servants.\n\nThis is the ultimate expression of abstract science and of that solid\nphilosophy which is built on the inductive study of both nature and\nman. Its lesson to the individual is, that he is neither the helpless\ncreature of necessity nor the slave of chance; that he is master of\nhis immediate action, but of its consequences he is not master; that\nthere are unseen forces at work arranging the incidents and accidents\nof his life, and these forces he can in no wise control; but if he is\nalert and diligent they cannot entangle his own individuality in the\nmesh of events, he can rise superior to them, can be _himself_, and\nwin happiness to some degree in any surroundings; and he may go\nforward in the sublime and certain confidence that his existence is an\nessential part of an eternal plan, which asks neither faith nor\nauthority for its recognition, for it is the logical condition of the\nvery reason by which he knows that he is Himself and not another.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe calculus of probabilities has already destroyed the gods; if it\ncould rule out the unexpected, it would promote man to their seats;\nbut the fleshless face of old Time wears a perpetual though silent\ngrin.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nFortune-tellers are put in jail because they deceive; they should be\nhanged, did they tell the truth. How dull were life, could it be read\nahead! Only a weak nature, such as his, would say with Hartley\nColeridge, \u201cHappiness is the exclusion of all _hap_, that is, chance.\u201d\nMore virile are the words of Charles James Fox, inveterate gambler\nthat he was, \u201cThe next best thing to winning is to lose.\u201d The\nuncertainty of the future is the only stimulus to exertion, and its\nobscurity is the source of our chief delights.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nAlways expect a change of luck. Then, if it is from good to bad, you\nwill be prepared for it; and if from bad to good, you will have\nenjoyed the pleasure of expecting it, as well as its arrival.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\n\u201cGive your son luck and throw him in the sea,\u201d says a Spanish proverb.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThere are men who succeed through their misfortunes rather than their\ngood fortunes.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nPeople regard bad luck as a kind of injustice. They secretly say with\nLouis XIV, when his armies were defeated in Flanders, \u201cHas God\nforgotten all I have done for Him?\u201d\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe ancients reckoned a man\u2019s luck, good or bad, among the gifts with\nwhich he is endowed by nature.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIn very strong characters there is something which eludes analysis and\ndefies definition, the very goad of destiny, driving them on their\nallotted paths with unrelenting and inevitable impulse. This is what\nthe ancient Greeks, and among the moderns especially Goethe,\nrecognized as the \u201cdemonic force.\u201d It endows a life with dramatic\nunity and historic completeness.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nFate lies in fetters, so she no longer rules the stage.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe folly of some men turns out better than the foresight of others.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWith Courage and Civility as allies you can often take captive\nGood-luck.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nHe who has well considered all the chances is prepared for the worst.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nBecause one cannot see ahead clearly, should he put out his eyes?\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe captain who prefers trusting to luck to taking an observation is\nnot the man to sail with.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nBacon advises to use such as have been lucky because of the confidence\nthey breed in others and the effort they will make \u201cto maintain their\nprescription.\u201d\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe first principle of success in the game of life is to be willing to\nlose. The player who will not sacrifice his pawns will soon have his\nking in check.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nKeep your wits about you. In the immediate exigencies of life a full\npocketbook is more useful than a fine bank balance.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nDo you ever ask yourself why you expect good fortune to come without\neffort and bad fortune to stay away without precautions?\n\n\n\n\nPART III.\n\nHow far our Happiness depends on Ourselves.\n\n\n\n\nI. _Our Occupations, those of Necessity and those of Choice._\n\n\nIn one of his novels, Emile Zola describes a conversation between the\nworkwomen of a Parisian laundry. The subject was, what each would do\nif she had ten thousand francs a year. They were all of one mind. They\nwould do just nothing at all!\n\nThis washerwoman\u2019s ideal of happiness has also commended itself to\nvarious philosophic minds. \u201cI have often said,\u201d writes Pascal, \u201cthat\nall misfortunes befall men because they do not know enough to stay\nquietly in their own rooms.\u201d What puzzled him was that men will make\nthe most toilsome efforts to secure a period of repose; and as soon as\nthey obtain it, they weary of it and demand action. He might have\nlearned from this the fallacy of his own definition.\n\nThe genial Herder taught that simplicity and repose are the two valves\nof the shell that secretes the pearl of human felicity; but he\nneglected to add that it must be the simplicity of aims combined with\na multiplicity of means; and repose enjoyed merely as a preparation\nfor renewed activity.\n\nThe true doctrine is that Labor, systematic, effective, congenial\nLabor, is not only a necessity, it is the source of the highest\nenjoyment to men. The ancients were right when they said the gods sell\nall pleasures at the price of toil. \u201cFunction in healthful action\u201d is\nthe definition which the modern physiologist gives of the feeling of\npleasure; and he but translates into prose the poetic expression of\nthe old Greek. The elements of true happiness must be sought in\nactivity, not in repose; and it is high time that the world and the\nwiseacres found it out, and ceased singing peans to idleness and\ncursing the necessity of work.\n\nMost men and a great many women have to work for their living. They\nusually accept the necessity with discontent and with envy of those\nwho are idle or are in other pursuits. The farmer thinks he would have\ndone better to have gone to the city. The lawyer regrets that he did\nnot study medicine. As in Dr. Johnson\u2019s story:\u2015\u2015\n\n\u201cSurely,\u201d said Rasselas, \u201cthe wise men to whom we listen with\nreverence chose that mode of life for themselves which they thought\nmost likely to make them happy.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery few,\u201d replied the poet, \u201clive by choice. Every man is placed in\nhis present condition by causes which acted without his foresight, and\nwith which he did not always co-operate.\u201d\n\nIn this country most men select for themselves the occupation which\nthey pursue for a livelihood; but I doubt whether the freedom in their\nchoice makes them more contented with it. The root of their discontent\nlies deeper than is suggested in Dr. Johnson\u2019s philosophic tale, and\nits removal, so indispensable to personal happiness, must be sought\nfor elsewhere than in still wider license of choosing.\n\nSo far as either happiness or success is concerned it makes no\ndifference, in nine cases out of ten, what business or profession a\nyoung man adopts, so that it is suitable to his education and social\nposition. The rare exceptions are where there is some strong natural\nbent or aptitude; and even then the pursuit of it is more likely to\nbring enjoyment than money. Men are about equally fitted by nature for\nall the ordinary avocations of life, and the choice of a business is\nless important than is generally believed.\n\nThat is not where the secret of success and happiness lies. It lies in\nlearning to practice one\u2019s trade or profession as an art, to like it\nfor its own sake, to derive a considerable portion of our pleasure\nfrom its pursuit, to have, as the French say, our heart in it, _Avoir\nle c\u0153ur au m\u00e9tier_. But how is this possible, one will ask, with the\ndrudgery of the counting house, or the mill, or the harvest field, or\nthe Court of Quarter Sessions? It is possible with any avocation, if\none will take the trouble to think about it as one of the manifold\nbranches of human industry, to study its relations to other branches\nand to the lives and fates of human beings, to try to improve it, and\nto learn its attractions for those who do like it, and endeavor to\nenter into their feelings. Every occupation has some such attractions\nand some such possibilities. Those who are willing to see and seize\nthem are those who derive both solid enjoyment and substantial rewards\nfrom their work.\n\nAnother secret lies in the cultivation of a sort of analogy or harmony\nbetween our mental disposition and the occurrences and surroundings in\nwhich our obligatory labor places us. This is quite within our own\npower to effect by the voluntary control of our thoughts. Why busy our\nimaginations and disturb our minds with dreaming of the pleasures of\nforeign travel when we know we have to stay at home and work ten hours\na day? Far better occupy ourselves with the interests around us and\nthe easily attainable pleasures within our reach. Have no fear that\nthis course is narrowing or lowering. There are no nobler games than\nthose which can be played on any village lawn, and the hyssop on your\ngarden wall, could you read it, would teach you the laws of all\norganic nature.\n\nThe considerations which should have weight in the choice of avocation\nare less those of capacity or inclination, since these differ little\nand can readily be cultivated, than those referred to on an earlier\npage which relate to health, bodily and mental. It is not necessary to\nbe very clever to succeed in business; only a little more clever than\nthose around you. But it is necessary to have your health; for in the\nstruggle for bread, the weak are thrust to the wall without remorse.\nNo one who chooses wisely will select a business which will aggravate\nan hereditary or acquired malady. It is more satisfactory to be\nhonor-man of a lower class, than come in at the tail-end of a higher\none.\n\nThere are also certain mental disqualifications which apply especially\nto the professions. William Hazlitt objected to all professions which\ndepend on reputation, because this is \u201cas often got without merit as\nlost without deserving;\u201d but this is less the case now than it was\nformerly. The point is rather a mental unfitness for the work\nrequired, a state of things which may exist with plenty of ability.\nThe politician with an instinctive shrinking from publicity, the\nlawyer who has an aversion to argument, the physician who is unable to\nshow sympathy and interest where he feels none, may succeed in his\nprofession, but he will scarcely enjoy it.\n\nIntense application to an occupation is a common cause of distaste for\nit and unhappiness in it. Such concentration is nearly always\nneedless, and is often fruitless. The most brilliant fortunes have not\nbeen the products of hard work, but of shrewd planning. The sweetness\nof the chimes does not depend on the violence of the ringing, but on\nthe skill of the bellman. I had a friend who was brought up a broker,\nbut remained a philosopher. He used to say that energy in business is\nthe most common cause of failures. He referred, of course, to that\nexclusive and persistent zeal which is pretty sure to end by\nenfeebling the body and exhausting the mind.\n\nDissatisfaction with one\u2019s lot sometimes arises from over\nconscientiousness,\u2015\u2015a rare disease, I confess, in business circles,\nbut I have met a few cases of it. \u201cAlways try to do your best,\u201d is one\nof several hundred copy-book maxims which hypocrisy pretends are\nnecessary to success, but which common sense and practical life\nquietly ignore. Very much less than your best will often answer the\npurpose, and the rope that reaches is long enough. I have witnessed\nconsiderable distress, especially among young men, because their books\nof account were not so immaculate, or their press-articles so studied,\nas they might have been by greater toil; yet they were good\nenough,\u2015\u2015and good enough is good.\n\nAt the best, making one\u2019s living is often a sad affair. Business life\nis like a dinner at a crowded third-rate hotel, \u2015\u2015one\u2019s clothing is so\ntorn in the struggle for place, and there is so much dirt to eat\nbefore the dessert is served, that either the appetite turns to\nnausea, or its satisfaction is followed by indigestion. Hence so many\nable men prefer permanent positions on small salaries to embarking in\naffairs on their own account. Many a lawyer will give up a large\npractice to become a judge on one-third of the income. Politics in the\nUnited States is, as a business, notoriously unsafe, but the\nattraction of fixed salaries overcrowds it with aspirants. The dream\nof the Socialists is for all citizens to be salaried. Individual\neffort, however, alone insures general progress; not to dispense with\nit, but to favor its pleasurable development, is the real social\nproblem.\n\nThe true aim of Occupations of Necessity is to provide us time, not\nfor repose and inaction, as most moralists teach, but for Occupations\nof Choice. We call these our recreations, amusements, pastimes,\nfavorite studies, hobbies, fads, if you please. In these lie the\nmainsprings of our felicity; and their character reveals pretty\nclearly the measure of our capacity for happiness, and the degree of\nour mastery of its theory. If we pass our leisure in cultivating\ndelusions and pursuing inanities, our enjoyment is that of the insane\nand the idiotic, and arises not from the health, but from the disease\nor debility, of our minds. Yet how many men, skillful in securing the\nmeans of pleasure, are witless in the use of it!\n\n\u201cThose are the best recreations,\u201d says old Thomas Fuller, \u201cwhich,\nbesides refreshing, enable men to some other good ends.\u201d His words,\nthough they sound well, are only half-wise. To enjoy to the utmost any\nfavorite pastime or study, it should be pursued for itself alone, and\nwith no ulterior purpose or hope in view. \u201c\u2019Twere to cramp its use, to\nhook it to some useful end.\u201d Pleasure is nobler than profit, enjoyment\nis higher than utility, whatever political economists or pulpit\norators say to the contrary. I know some men who always explain their\nrelaxations as a part of their serious lives; and others who, if\ndetected in an act of benevolence, hasten to show that it was prompted\nby their self-interest; of the two, I admire the latter more.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nSuccess is another name for Perseverance. When Newton was asked how he\nreached his great discovery, he replied, \u201cBy making it incessantly the\nsubject of my thoughts.\u201d\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nHappiness follows success, provided the latter is rightly achieved and\nreceived.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nA contented spirit is merely one which pleases itself with little\neffort. Contentment differs from Happiness, as repose from recreation.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nFor most, it will be easier to learn to like what they have to do,\nthan to find the chance of doing what they like.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nTo teach what they do not know, and to live by a trade that they do\nnot understand, are feats that many are surprised that they cannot\nperform.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nAll paths seem rough to the bare feet of those who are used to wearing\nshoes.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWould you have pleasant yesterdays and welcome to-morrows, let to-day\nbe busy and confident.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nYou may pound away with the hammer, but if you are not driving a nail,\nyou will break instead of building.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nMost divers bring up mud; but few, pearls.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe honey which we gather ourselves tastes the sweetest.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe measure of value of work is the amount of play it provides for;\nthe measure of value of play is the amount of work there is in it.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nPlay-time should be perfecting-time; the use of leisure hours is to\nget rid of the lees of life.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nBefore all days are made holidays, all men should become heroes.\n\n\n\n\nII. _Money-making, its Laws and its Limits._\n\n\nThere are some prayers which belong to the universal Religion of\nHumanity, and none more so than this, which is found in the oldest\nprayer-book of the Aryan race, the Rig Veda,\u2015\u2015\u201cO Lord, prosper us in\nthe getting and the keeping!\u201d \u201cTo make money\u201d is certainly the \u201csoul\u2019s\nsincere desire\u201d of most citizens of the world at the present day, and\nnowhere is it more fervently uttered than in this country.\n\nThis is no discredit. So far as we can trace the history of man from\nthe Old Stone Age upward, the one efficient motive to his progress has\nbeen the acquisition and preservation of property. This has been the\nimmediate aim of all his arts and institutions and the chief incentive\nto individual exertion. The time may come\u2015\u2015indeed, there are signs of\nits approach\u2015\u2015when nations will consciously aim at some other than a\nproperty career, and individuals will perceive that the purpose of\nriches is something else than to offer facilities for their further\nincrease or for inglorious ease.\n\nIn this devotion to the accumulation of property men have not been led\nastray by what Shakespeare so magnificently calls\u2015\u2015\n\n                      \u201cThe prophetic soul\n  Of the wide world, dreaming on things to come.\u201d\n\nMaterial resources are the indispensable requisites to progress. The\nmiseries of poverty are manifest, and there are none greater. The\nutterly poor man is condemned to servitude and suffering, the woman to\ndegradation. The imperative demands of the animal wants quench the\nfiner elements of character, and the brutal stamps out the human in\nthe desperate struggle for existence.\n\nWhat wonder that the pauper turns in bestial fury against the rich,\nwho flaunt before him a superfluous luxury? But his passion springs\nfrom his ignorance.\n\nWealth is no longer \u201cspoils,\u201d the product of robbery; rather may it be\ncalled the reward paid by society for services rendered humanity. It\nis frequently the booty won in some victory over the elements of\nnature or of self, and by the practice of those maxims which make men\nstronger and more useful to those around them. To the possessor it\nsupplies the leisure necessary to the cultivation of his nobler\nfaculties and to the highest of duties\u2015\u2015self-development.\n\nThe terms \u201cwealth\u201d and \u201criches\u201d are vague, and to understand the\nrelation of property to personal happiness, which is my present theme,\nwe must define them closer.\n\nThe time has gone by when either love is satisfied to live in \u201ca cot\nbeside the hill,\u201d or a philosopher in a tub. Both prefer to possess a\nhouse in a city street and a cottage by the sea; which is a sign that\nboth the philosophy of love and the love of philosophy have improved.\nThe affectation of despising riches\u2015\u2015which never was anything but an\naffectation\u2015\u2015is no longer good form, even among sages.\n\nLet us count what riches give.\n\nThe list is short and it is pleasant reading. Riches supply us with\nthe food and drink we like, clothing, shelter, and surroundings to our\ntaste, means of warmth and light, the services and to some extent the\ncompanionship of those we choose, and especially leisure and means to\npursue our \u201coccupations of choice.\u201d\n\nThese are the immediate benefits we derive from riches, and\npractically there are none others. Political economists have therefore\ncalled these \u201creal\u201d or \u201ceffective\u201d riches, to distinguish them from\n\u201cpotential\u201d or \u201cproductive\u201d riches, by which latter they mean property\nor capital invested with the object of supplying \u201ceffective\u201d riches,\nwithout personal effort on the part of the owner.\n\nIn looking over the list of \u201ceffective\u201d riches, one sees that they are\nall very desirable, and perhaps, I may as well say, essential to\npersonal happiness. I am sure nine-tenths of the civilized world will\nagree with me. About that, the discussion will be short; but about how\nto obtain them, that inquiry is not to be disposed of so quickly.\n\nWe are now talking business. Let us be practical. _Les affaires avant\ntout._ Just how much a year do I need to be rich? Here I make an\nextraordinary discovery, comparable only to that of the Fortunate\nIsles, where apple trees bore fruits of gold; or the valley of Sinbad\nthe Sailor, where the common pebbles were rubies and diamonds. On\nturning to that list of \u201ceffective\u201d riches, I perceive that very\nlittle of it has to do with _things_, and very much of it with _me_.\nIt is based on what _I_ like, prefer, choose. If, like the Emperor\nNero, I cannot be satisfied with less than peacocks\u2019 brains and\nnightingales\u2019 tongues for dinner, I must have the revenues of an\nempire; but if I am content with bread and beans, with a shanty to\nkeep out the wind and a slop-shop suit for warmth, then a few\nfifty-cent fees a day\u2015\u2015I happen to be a doctor\u2015\u2015will make me rich as a\nRothschild.\n\nMarvelous discovery! beatific vision! only, at the moment of utmost\ncomplacency, calm reflection, like a chill wind, \u201cdisencharms the late\nenchantment.\u201d My tastes are not my own. They belong to my parents and\nmy race. I cannot help it that I was born with a thin skin, which\nrequires fine silk next it to be comfortable; with a queasy stomach,\nthat demands delicate dishes; with a thirst for remote and useless\nlearning, which must have expensive books. So from this time forth I\nflout at and deride that solemn prig of antiquity, whose name I am\nglad to have forgotten, who taught that there are two ways of getting\nrich, each equally satisfactory, but one much easier than the\nother\u2015\u2015the one to diminish our wants, the other to increase our\nincomes. I have no better opinion of his teaching than had Malvolio of\nthe doctrine of Pythagoras, that \u201cthe soul of his grandam might haply\ninhabit a partridge;\u201d and, really, which of the two the antiquated\nmentor thought the easier I cannot imagine. To me, it has been the\nlatter.\n\nMoney, therefore, we must have.\n\nHer physician said of Cleopatra that she had \u201cpursued conclusions\ninfinite, of easy ways to die.\u201d The expression might be used of many a\nmodern schemer with reference to getting wealth. But alas! I am\nafraid, of the thousands of schemes, that of the dry, unimaginative,\npolitical economists is the only one worth mentioning; and that is\nsummed up in the hateful word\u2015\u2015Economize! or, as they put it in their\nstiff dialect,\u2015\u2015\u201cDiminish the consumption of your 'effective\u2019 riches,\nin order that you may add the surplus to your 'productive\u2019 riches, or\ninvested capital.\u201d\n\nSome of them are even meddlesome enough to lay down exact rules as to\nhow much one should put aside from an annual income and securely\ninvest, in order to meet the demands of what they call \u201can enlightened\nprudence.\u201d This, they say, should be one-fourth of such income, and\nthey add that if this with its increment is continued for about\nfive-and-twenty years, the return from your \u201cproductive\u201d riches will\nthen be sufficient to supply you with the amount of \u201ceffective\u201d riches\nto which you have been accustomed, without further labor on your part;\nand you can quietly sit in the chimney corner and live in bliss all\nthe rest of your days, like the prince in the fairy story. This is a\npage, therefore, good for young married people to read who are\nstarting out in life and have their fortunes to make, and want to\n\u201cretire\u201d at their silver wedding.\n\nSuch slow work will not suit the energetic young man whose\ndetermination is to get rich quick and have a good time while he is\nabout it. He has no occasion to go back to antiquity for his two ways\nof succeeding, and he proposes to use them both as strings to his bow,\nso that by one or the other he will drive his arrow into the bull\u2019s\neye of fortune\u2019s target. Speculation! Advertising! These are the words\nof power with which he will enslave the spirits which guard the hidden\npots of gold. He is well aware that a bit of red flannel is bait\nenough for many fishes, and that in angling false flies catch more\ntrout than real ones. The value of knowledge to him is measured by the\nability it gives to detect the ignorance of others and to take\nadvantage of it. His plans, like those of Cardinal de Retz, are so\nlaid that, though they fail, they will bring in some return. He will\nmanage to secure a commission even on the expenditures he makes for\nhis pleasures. Such a character, and there are many such in our\ncountry, often enough succeeds in his ambitions.\n\nI was in active business for twenty years, and I made the discovery\nthat the excellent precepts which all are taught in infancy and\ncontinue to praise in after years undergo certain modifications when\nit comes to practical life \u201cin the street.\u201d Once I amused myself by\nwriting them out as I found them really observed, and I am inclined to\ninsert a few specimens, which I will call\n\n\n  NEW LAMPS FOR OLD.\n\n  Not how business should be done, but how others do business, is\n  the proper study.\n\n  The brighter your virtues shine, the more fish will be\n  attracted within reach of your gig.\n\n  Always praise veracity and honesty; they are useful qualities\n  in others.\n\n  The louder you condemn dissimulation, the less you will be\n  suspected of it.\n\n  Be virtuous; nothing so enables you to appear superior to those\n  around you.\n\n  If you are stingy, do not pretend to be generous; the effort\n  will betray you.\n\n  When people express surprise at your meanness, it shows that\n  you must have established a reputation for liberality.\n\n  Punctuality is excellent; but the man who comes last to an\n  engagement is the only one who is not kept waiting.\n\n  The value of time is its value to yourself.\n\n  The simplest device to capture other people\u2019s money is to let\n  them think that they can capture yours.\n\n  Truth is bright and strong; too bright for most eyes, and too\n  strong to be administered without dilution.\n\n  The man who attends the funeral of his own reputation often has\n  a jolly wake.\n\n  Marry for love, work for your living; marry for money, work for\n  your liberty.\n\nBut enough of these. It will ever hold true that competitive business\nbreeds deception and selfish greed. The business man who pretends\notherwise is either a hypocrite or of dull moral sense.\n\nIn this race for riches, whether along the peaceful avenue of economy\nor jostling in the streets of speculation, where comes in the Pursuit\nof Happiness? Riches, as I have shown, are and can be nothing more\nthan means to this end, and those who, through avarice, greed, or\nrapacity, make them the end and aim of their aspirations, trade gold\nfor dross. Scarcely less is the error of those who are ever postponing\nthe hour of enjoyment until a certain sum is reached, and their\nfortune can be rounded off with additional thousands. It is a general\ntendency in human nature to live in the past or the future, although\nthe present alone is man\u2019s. What to him is _now_, and _here_, is all\nthat he can ever possess or enjoy; and if you ask him, he will grant\nit; but he is driven ever by what seems an irrational and demonic\npower to seek his joy in what is somewhere else, far off, out of\nreach, impossible of attainment, beyond his capacities.\n\nThe illusive pictures drawn by memory, by hope, and by imagination\nhave their proper place in the palace of Human Happiness; but the\nmajority fix their gaze steadily on these alone, and wander through\nhalls and chambers filled with rich stuffs and costly ware, through\ncorridors looking out on entrancing views and courts opening to the\nstarry heavens, their eyes fixed vacantly on the far distance, and\nnoting nothing of the beauties by which they are surrounded. To waken\nthem by some whisper of what they are missing, and to persuade them to\nturn their eyes on what is around them, will be my purpose in the\nchapters immediately to follow.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nBishop Berkeley declared that he was the richest man in England,\nbecause he had trained himself to the habit of mind of regarding\neverything which gave him pleasure as his own. In our days, most\nphilosophers of that school reside in penitentiaries.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe disappointments of the _nouveau riche_ are, that what he would\nlike to buy is not on sale, and what he expected to get for nothing,\nhe finds can only be had by paying for it.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThat you are rich, is nothing to me; but only whether you are willing\nto spend your money.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nMany strive harder to appear happy than to be so. Ostentation is\nwealth shamming happiness. Envy is the fool who does not see through\nthe sham.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe rich have less advantage over the poor than the latter suppose.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nNot the inventory of your property, but that of your unsatisfied\nwants, measures your fortune; not your annual income, but your annual\ndeficit or surplus, makes you rich or poor.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nAfter all, the worst of poverty is that it leaves us so little money\nto give away.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIn Grecian legend, the apple of discord was made of gold.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIf you teach your son to love money well, you will have such success\nthat he will soon love it better than he does you.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nA miser has merry mourners.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nYouth saves for age, age for its heirs, and these for nobody.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nDo not starve your horse to save your hay.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWhen you deliver a eulogy on a plutocrat, you had better dwell on his\nmillions than on his methods of getting them.\n\n\n\n\nIII. _The Pleasures we may Derive from our Senses._\n\n\nThe odious doctrine of the ascetics has been that whatever is\nagreeable to man is offensive to God; and that to cultivate the\npleasurable sensations is to prepare one\u2019s self for perdition.\n\nFar more sane than they was that Mohammedan teacher quoted by Gibbon,\nwho, when asked to describe the true believers, replied,\u2015\u2015\u201c_They_ are\nthe elect of God, whose lives are devoted to the improvement of their\nown natural faculties.\u201d\n\nAs mistaken as the ascetics, are those wooden-souled disciplinarians\nwho maintain that we should not look for recreation in our daily work,\nbut put off the thoughts of it to holidays and vacations. These are\nbut one degree better than those hypocrites who will tell you that\nbenevolence should have no place in business, and who will offer you a\nround sum for a public charity, while they squeeze the salaries of\ntheir shop-girls down to the lowest quarter-of-a-dollar.\n\nDown with such imposters! Each hour of our lives is the best hour for\nenjoying ourselves and for providing others the means of enjoyment;\nand there is no better way to accomplish both these objects than that\nsuggested by the pious Arab,\u2015\u2015\u201cThe improvement of our own natural\nfaculties.\u201d\n\nThese have been divided by experts in such matters into three\nclasses,\u2015\u2015the Sensations, the Emotions, and the Intellect. I shall\nconsider the training of each with reference to the special pleasures\nit can furnish. All are equally worth cultivating. The delights of one\nare not lower than those of another, if accepted in the proper spirit.\nHe who has right self-culture will derive gratification from them all;\nand will not be, like the French peasant in Halevy\u2019s story, unable to\nunderstand how heaven could be attractive unless his native village\nwere transported there.\n\nSome general rules must be respected if the exercise of any of our\nfaculties is to yield the maximum of pleasure. These rules are derived\nfrom the physiology of the nervous system; for it cannot be doubted\nthat this underlies, if it is not identical with, every feeling and\nfunction of the mind.\n\nI hasten to say this, lest the reader should suppose they are derived\nfrom moral philosophy, or based on duty or virtue. I am well aware\nthey could expect a scant hearing were this the case. Men dislike as\nmuch to be urged to their good, as to be forbidden what is hurtful.\nNor are they difficult to understand; but this helps little; it is\neasy enough to learn and to teach wisdom; to apply it to our own\nconduct is what is hard.\n\nThe first rule is that of Moderation. Restrain the indulgence in any\none pleasure. Immoderation is sure to be followed by exhaustion of the\nnerve-fibres and subsequent painful reaction. We should not think\nhighly of a gardener who when he picks his flowers pulls his plants up\nby the roots. Yet this is the fashion in which many men treat their\nown faculties.\n\nThe second rule is that of Variety. Multiply the sources and kinds of\npleasure. Increase the susceptibility of all your faculties to its\nsweet appeals. Seek it in all directions immediately around you. But\ndo not confound the love of variety with instability and freakishness;\nnor imitate those prodigals who throw the bottle away after the first\nsip of its contents:\u2015\u2015\n\n              \u201cCes buveurs de bi\u00e8re,\n  Qui jette la bouteille apr\u00e8s la premi\u00e8re verre.\u201d\n\nThere are other rules; but to recite them would make this page as dull\nas a sermon, and it would have as little effect. These two are the\nchief, and they supplement each other; for he who indulges moderately\nin all his pleasures will have the capacity to indulge in many, and\nwill preserve those features which are the most desirable in\nall,\u2015\u2015fineness of Quality and persistence of Duration. He will deal\nwith his faculties as a good government with its subjects,\u2015\u2015whose aim\nis not to make a few extremely happy, but to provide for all a fair\nshare of enjoyment, without making any miserable.\n\nThe most general sense we possess is that which is called the\n\u201cmuscular\u201d sense. This it is which yields the pleasurable feeling in\nexercise, in athletic sports, in rowing, riding, dancing, and what old\nThomas Fuller called \u201cthe descants on the plain air of walking.\u201d\nThrough it we gain the sensation of buoyancy and elasticity, we \u201cfeel\ngood,\u201d our personality is sharpened, and our appreciation of life and\nwhat it has to offer is heightened. It is the synonym of healthful\nactivity, and thus becomes the most advantageous preparation for all\nspecies of enjoyment.\n\nBy physiologists, this muscular sense is not included in the list of\n\u201cspecial\u201d senses, because it cannot be localized in any one set of\nnerves. It is nearest allied to the special sense of Touch, which is\ncentred in certain \u201ctactile corpuscles,\u201d distributed irregularly\nbeneath the skin, principally on the finger-tips. They are extremely\nuseful, but not prominently serviceable in the production of\npleasurable sensations. The stroking of soft and warm substances, such\nas velvet and fur, excites agreeable impressions, but they are not\nvery keen. Irritations to the skin are a source of acute annoyance,\nbut their removal affords merely a negatively acceptable condition.\n\nWhen we consider how slightly most sensations of touch excite\nsubjective states of mind, it is remarkable that in response to one\nstimulant they are among the most powerful known in nature. This\nstimulus is that of another personality. The most positive feelings of\nboth aversion and attraction are those excited by physical contact of\nthe naked flesh. This is why it has been accepted in so many countries\nas a sign and proof of amity. The savage Africans touch noses and the\ncivilized European shakes hands or kisses the hand or the cheek. Such\nactions are barren conventionalities, unaccompanied by either pleasure\nor pain; but they are indeed unfortunate who cannot recall any moment\nof heart\u2019s utmost joy and triumph when \u201cthe spirits rushed together at\nthe touching of the lips.\u201d Such moments are sacred, priceless gifts of\nthe gods, not to be had for gold nor secured by taking thought, so\ntheir consideration has no place in this book.\n\nIn spite of the active business done at the perfumery counters, the\npleasures of the sense of Smell do not seem to come in for a large\nshare of admiration in the modern world. It was different in the days\nof old. They were considered the most delightful of all, even to\nDivinity itself. Among the earliest rites of religion was that of\nburning aromatic incense to the gods; and in the books of Moses good\nworks are described as affording \u201ca sweet savor of satisfaction\u201d to\nthe Almighty. One of the Fathers of the Church speaks of a holy prayer\nas \u201cthe perfume of a just soul\u201d rising to Heaven; and when a good man\npassed away he was said to die \u201cin the odor of sanctity.\u201d Such solemn\nauthorities should justify the cultivation of the pleasures of this\nsense. They could be supported by abundant quotations from those\nphilosophers, the poets, who have much to say about \u201cthe spicy gales\nof Araby the blest,\u201d and other such odoriferous associations.\n\nSome odors are as intoxicating as wine, and others cling to the memory\nlike the impressions of childhood. Yet it is rare for the insane to\nhave delusions of the olfactory sense; and I have found few persons\nwho dream of odors. Some writers who claim to be scientific have set\nup \u201ca gamut of scents,\u201d and others pretend such a harmonic scale can\nbe made the basis of a sort of music of perfumes. This is riding\ntheory beyond sight of practice; but who does not inhale with\nconscious joy the balsamic fragrance of the pines, the salt and\nstimulating whiffs from old ocean, or the laden redolence from gardens\nof roses?\n\nMany writers attribute the pleasure which tobacco gives to its\ninfluence on the sense of smell; but this, I am sure, will not explain\nthe intense satisfaction which it yields to men in all climes,\nconsuming it in so many varied ways. I know nothing in physiology more\nsurprising or more puzzling than the eager demand for this plant,\nwhich sprang up throughout the world after its discovery in America. I\nhave been a smoker from boyhood, and am just as unable to analyze the\npleasure it gives me as to explain it in others.\n\nThat prince of epicures, Brillat-Savarin, spent some time in the\nUnited States, and in his delightful volume on the _Physiology of the\nTaste_ has a chapter on \u201ccookery in America,\u201d\u2015\u2015which is filled with\nnothing but asterisks and interrogation points!\n\nA hundred years have passed since he was among us, and we have\nreformed our cuisine indifferently, though not altogether. We have\nbeen too much hampered by fatuous bigots preaching that we should eat\nto live, and not live to eat; whereas we should most certainly live to\neat during two or three hours out of every twenty-four; and so doing\nwe shall be passing them more creditably than do most men, or probably\nourselves, the remainder of the day. The game of \u201cbeggar your\nneighbor\u201d has advocates enough and fervent disciples, so I shall have\nsomething to say about eating for the fun of it and as a fine art.\n\nAll nations of culture have connected a certain solemn joy with the\nact of taking food. To \u201cbreak bread\u201d with one is the expression of the\nsweet sentiment of hospitality, and for the lovers to share the same\nloaf before the High Priest was the simple and beautiful marriage-rite\namong the ancient Romans. The \u201clove feasts\u201d of the early Christians\nwere the repetitions of the only ceremony which their Founder\nprescribed; and science traces to appropriate nutrition the growth of\nboth physical and mental abilities. The devout Novalis called\nmeal-times the \u201cflower-seasons of the day,\u201d and claimed that all\nspiritual joys can be expressed through the service of the table. Can\nthere be anything in it unworthy or debasing?\n\nIn the light of such declaration should we look on our food-taking,\nand not merely as feeding and filling. Were the kitchen more of a\nstudio in American homes, we should see a higher style of art in the\ndrawing-rooms. The worst preparation for a day\u2019s work is a poor\nbreakfast, and its shabbiest reward is a bad dinner. If our daughters\nstudied more diligently what the Italians call the _melodia_ _del\ngusto_, their married lives would be attuned to a more harmonious\naccord.\n\nConsider the appointments and symmetry of a well-served dinner in that\nhigh style of art which the French have brought to perfection. The\nmere sight of the table awakens our esthetic feelings, disperses the\ncares that have infested the day, and softens the asperities which its\nrude conflicts have developed. The snowy cloth with its embroidered\ncentre-piece, bearing a vase of roses or restful green; the gay\ntriumphs of the potter\u2019s skill, flanked by polished metal and\ndiaphanous crystal, whose varied forms hint of the manifold gifts of\nthe grape; the chairs, so disposed as to suggest how we should live\nour whole lives\u2015\u2015ever near to others, but not jostling them. Then how\nrhythmical the progress of the repast! the cold, salt shellfish,\nfollowed by the hot and spicy soup, harmonized by the neutral flavor\nof the fish, its creamy sauce relieved by the bare suspicion of the\nclean acid of the lemon; and so on through the courses, until the\naromatic coffee and the tiny glass of liqueur, redolent of wild herbs\nor of Alpine flowers, remove both thoughts of food and sense of\nsatiety.\n\nThe sequence of such a repast is not a conventionality. Medical men as\nwell as epicures know that it is based on physiology. Once, with a\nfriend of like inquiring mind, I ordered a dinner at a restaurant of\nrenown, exactly reversing the usual sequence, beginning with\nChartreuse, coffee, and ice-cream, ending with soup, oysters, and\nhock. The experiment convinced us that the received is the right\nsequence, and we made no second attempt to put the wrong end foremost.\n\nMany will cry that such a dinner as I describe is one for the\nmillionaire and not for the million. They are in error. In France I\nhave repeatedly partaken of such in families of very humble means.\nThey are, in fact, economical. At an ordinary American dinner I have\nseen seven vegetables and two meats served at once. Half the number\nwould have set forth a much better repast, if served in the French\nmanner. Moreover, an elaborate dinner is not desirable daily; but to\nhave one, say weekly, is as improving as going to the opera, or\nlistening to a great poet read his own verses.\n\nAn essential precept of gastronomic culture is to cultivate a taste\nfor all customary dishes. Every locality has its own. Snails and\nmussels and cockscombs are favorite dishes in Paris, but I have found\nfew Americans enlightened enough to be willing to like them. A broad\ntaste adds to one\u2019s own pleasure and that of others. How disappointing\nthe guest who refuses dish after dish planned with an eye to his\npleasure!\n\nDo not be ashamed of the enjoyments of life which are derived from\njudicious eating and drinking. There are no more accurate standards of\na family than its table-manners, table-service, table-talk. Culture is\nreflected in them as in a mirror. Care not if the bigots and Pharisees\ncall you a wine-bibber and a glutton. You will not be the first to\nwhom they have applied those epithets, and you need not be ashamed of\nyour company. In the city of Paris, where the art of cookery has its\nhome and the Prohibition party no adherents, dyspepsia is scarcely\nheard of, and the arrests for drunkenness during the entire year of\n1890 were\u2015\u2015how many, think you?\u2015\u2015just thirty-eight!\n\nIf I have dwelt with some emphasis on the pleasures of taste, it is\nbecause they are little understood in this country and there is a\nprevalent tendency to decry them. Those which are derived from the\nsense of Hearing will need no defense. Many of them are matters of\nconstant and intelligent cultivation. We are said not to be a musical\nnation, but certainly both vocal and instrumental artists are not\nrare, and those from other countries find among us their most\nprofitable harvest-fields. The intensity and the value of the\nenjoyment derived from music depend on individual peculiarities which\nare little modified by cultivation. Of all the exalted pleasures it is\nthe one least communicable and least connected with other faculties.\nOne of the finest pianists in the United States is a negro idiot, and\nintellectually an appreciative musical audience need not be above him.\nBut I have been told that I have no right to speak about this art. Six\ngenerations of Quaker ancestors, who would not permit an instrument of\nmusic in the house, have nearly extinguished the musical sense in me.\n\nThe music of nature is free to all and intelligible to all. No\ninstruction is demanded to listen with rapture to the blithesome carol\nof the meadow-lark or the cheery notes of the wood-thrush, joyous\ndenizens of our American fields. The many voices of the wind, now\nwhispering secrets to the pines, now whistling impudently outside our\nwindows, now strident and threatening through the bare branches of\nwinter, bring us messages suited to all moods, and play melodies on\nour hearts as though their strings were stretched on an \u00c6olian harp.\nOn a sensitive mind the power of these sounds of the wind is\naltogether peculiar, and appears to be owing to the fact that the\nagency which produces them is hidden, veiled, and invisible. I would\nliken it to the effect of distant church bells, heard through the\nstillness of some Sabbath morn, soft, rhythmical, earnest, inviting us\nto sweet societies and unseen shrines.\n\nWe appreciate too little the delight we almost unconsciously derive\nfrom the sense of hearing through the power it gives us to have\nunrestricted social intercourse in conversation, and to listen to\noratory, instruction, and public entertainments. When we observe how\neven slight deafness circumscribes the life and reduces the number of\nits sources of enjoyment, we first understand the extent of the\ngratifications we owe to the faculty of audition, and how important to\nour happiness are its enjoyment and cultivation.\n\nBut how vast is the capacity of man for happiness! How many sources of\njoy would remain to one deprived of every sense but that of Sight! All\nhis life would not suffice to explore the boundless fields of\nenjoyment which it alone throws open to him. He has but to cast his\neyes around him to revel in the ever-changing garb of earth, in the\nsky with its majestic clouds sailing across the measureless blue\ndepths, in the splendors of sunrise and sunset, in the transient glory\nof the rainbow, and in the immortal light of the stars. Stretched on\nthe strand, he may mark the far-off, many-hued, sparkling brine, or\nelsewhere see great mountains lift their summits to eternal snow and\nwatch them bathed in the rosy glamour of the afterglow, seemingly\nsuspended in mid-air, when night obscures their base.\n\nThe beauties of form, line, color, and proportion are open to him, and\nthe treasures of joy which the noble arts of painting, sculpture,\narchitecture, drawing, and engraving have been laboring for thousands\nof years to enrich the world with in their fullness belong to him. The\ndelicate suggestions of light-and-shade and the inexhaustible\nfertility of the colorist supply him with storehouses from which he\ncan fill countless hours of gratification. Those elements in our\nnature which respond to the amusing, the pleasing, the picturesque,\nand the sublime are almost equally appealed to through the sense of\nsight; and were we to devote ourselves to answering their fascinating\ninvitations, little leisure should we have left for occupation with\nany other sense. Nor among these have I enumerated those crowning\ndelights to many minds, the faculty of acquainting themselves with the\nthoughts of others through reading, and giving perhaps equal pleasure\nto others by writing, both of which are chiefly conditioned on the\nsense of sight.\n\nWhat I have written is but an outline, a scatter of unfinished\nsuggestions, of the numerous enjoyments which we can obtain by the\nproper cultivation of our senses. Their training, and the rational\ndevelopment of all their functions, are just as essential to our\nhigher life as the cultivation of those which are sometimes, though\nfalsely, called our nobler faculties. There is no aristocracy in the\nkingdom of nature, and the lowest of our powers, if appropriately\ndirected and educated, is as worthy to occupy the throne as any which\nin popular repute is deemed the highest.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nSensation is the sense of existence.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThere is no \u201corder of excellence\u201d in the faculties of man. One is as\nexcellent as another. The only difference is in the scope of their\nactivities. We should give play to all according to their strength.\nThis is the profound lesson of Walt Whitman\u2019s writings.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nSensation, Emotion, Intellect, all three, enter into every action. We\nshould conduct our lives as one plays a game of three-handed euchre,\nwhere the two players who are behind constantly enter into\ncombinations against the one who is ahead.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nQuaff pleasure in sips, not gulps; let it fall like the manna in the\nwilderness, a sufficiency daily, not a quantity at once.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nHealthy mirth has no reaction. Laughter is lightsome.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nGood fare, good manners, good company,\u2015\u2015these are the three graces\nwhich should preside over the dinner table. Then will the meal\ninclude, in the words of Sydney Smith, \u201cEverything of sensual and\nintellectual gratification which a great nation can glory in\nproducing.\u201d\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nTable-talk,\u2015\u2015the best of talk. Even Kant thought it not beneath him to\ngive rules for it: first, of the weather and the roads; next, the\ncurrent events of the day; then history, art, and philosophy. So did\nMarsilius Ficinus: first, of divine things; then anecdotes; finally,\nof art and music.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe unthinking are prone to confine the meaning of Pleasure to\nSensation. The coarsest philosophy of life is the most popular,\nbecause it is most easily understood, and because it appeals to the\nuniversal, which are the merely animal, traits of human nature.\n\n\n\n\nIV. _The Pleasures we may Derive from our Emotions._\n\n\nThe emotions are sensations translated into Memory and commented on by\nthe Imagination, with the usual distortion and falsification of the\noriginal, characteristic of all translators and commentators.\n\nThe primary emotions of Hope and Fear are the recollections of\npleasure or pain projected into the future; the disappointment of hope\nor the realization of fear brings sorrow, regret, or remorse, feelings\nwhich are concerned with the past alone.\n\nThese reflections suggest how much our happiness has to do with Time.\nIf each could estimate for himself the relative value of the past, the\npresent, and the future, the pursuit of happiness would be a science\nwith results as certain as geometry. As it is, most men pass their\ndays, not in enjoying life, but in getting ready to enjoy it, or in\nregretting they did not enjoy it; and those who think they are wiser,\nand who boast that they cultivate the present alone, usually sow it\nwith the seed of thistles and tares to pester their later lives.\n\nThe folly of philosophies\u2015\u2015and, I may add, religions\u2015\u2015has been their\neffort to divest man of these natural emotions.\n\n\u201cExpect nothing, and you will not be disappointed,\u201d is the cheerful\nadvice of the pessimist and the Buddhist; \u201cFear nothing, for you are\nin the hands of God,\u201d says the Christian fatalist. \u201cRegrets are vain,\u201d\ncries the opportunist; \u201clive in the present, and let the dead past\nbury its dead.\u201d\n\nIn practical affairs, the best philosophy is common sense, which is\nnothing else than the abstract and epitome of the experience of all\nmankind through all time; and this arbiter condemns all three of the\nabove maxims as the words of folly and not of wisdom. Hope, fear, and\nregret are equally necessary to the safe conduct of life with a view\nto securing the greatest enjoyment from it, and the only point left to\nconsider is the relative extent in which each should be indulged.\nAbout this I shall offer a few suggestions.\n\nThe skillful architect of his own career will not draw a plan which is\neither too broad or too high for his means to construct. His hopes\nwill be neither too exalted nor too extended. To be as happy as\npossible, we must never expect to be extremely happy. Complete\nhappiness is an ideal condition, and we are never farther from the\nideal than when we think we have it in our grasp. Nor will his plans\nbe elaborate. The larger the foundation, the more time and money it\ntakes to build the house. The chief enjoyment in life should be drawn\nfrom a few, easily accessible sources; though this should not lead us\nto neglect others that come in our way. One should not refuse a\nbequest because he has a profitable business. Few understand the\nlimits of their own capacity for happiness. They do not know, as the\nsaying is, when they are well off, and, like a restless inventor,\nspoil the machine by constantly seeking to improve it. They should\nponder on an epitaph on a tombstone in a London churchyard:\u2015\u2015\u201cI was\nwell; I would be better; I am here.\u201d\n\nOur hopes should not belong to the class called by physicians\n\u201cincompatibles;\u201d that is, when the realization of one will certainly\nor probably prevent that of the other. Few errors are more common than\nthis, and few are productive of greater disappointment. Reasonable\nreflection and ordinary self-knowledge will generally suffice to\nprevent it. If I set out in life to make a million dollars I cannot\nexpect also to become a distinguished Sanscrit scholar.\n\nThe fruition of our hopes should not be placed in a distant future.\nLife is uncertain, but that is the least objection. What is certain\nis, that we ourselves shall not be the same next year or next week\nthat we are to-day. Our tastes and moods will change, and it is quite\nlikely that we shall care nothing for the fruit of the plants we are\nnow so diligently cultivating.\n\nThis consideration leads up to the last and probably the most useful\nof all the suggestions on this subject which I shall offer, that is,\nthat in planning for the future, it will, as a rule, repay us best to\ndevote our most earnest and constant attention to the avoidance of\npain or misfortune rather than to the preparation of projects of\npleasure. We know what we are about when we set to work to forestall a\ndanger or to prevent a disaster; we are by no means so sure as to what\ncourse of action will yield us pleasure. The best laid schemes \u201cgang\naft a-gley.\u201d\n\nHope and Fear are both deceivers; but we like the company of Hope even\nwhen we know she lies; and dislike that of Fear the more, the closer\nwe believe she tells the truth. Many temperaments are tortured more by\nthe dread of misfortune than by misfortune, and are constantly\nsacrificing the happiness of the present for fear they may not enjoy\nthe future. To such as these would apply the pregnant maxim of Lord\nBacon,\u2015\u2015\u201cThe only thing to be feared is fear.\u201d\n\nWhen in reason and in due proportion to its object, the emotion is\nsalutary and protective. To know what to fear, to take precautions and\nthus to avoid dangers, are the very conditions of existence. Cowardice\nis contemptible, but foolhardiness is senseless.\n\nIn modern life the most common forms of fear are worry and anxiety. To\na certain extent these also are wholesome; there may be good ground\nfor them, and so long as they act as stimulants to healthful activity,\nthey are not to be shirked; but when they lead to morbid states of\nmind and body, they should be met with appropriate remedies.\n\nThe first of these is a deliberate and calm study of the situation and\nthe real causes for fear, if there are any. Spectres lose their\nterrors by daylight, and most fears are vastly diminished by\nreflection. What if the worst does come? The worst is never as bad as\nwe imagine it will be. We may also call to mind how useless are many\nof our anxieties. Why worry about disasters which we cannot prevent?\nStill less should we worry about those which we can prevent.\n\nWhen reason and thought will not dispel our fears, we must fight the\ndevil with fire, and conquer one emotion with another. The opponent of\nFear is not so much Hope as Courage. Courage recognizes the danger and\nmeets it with a serene front. Confidence in one\u2019s powers, the thought\nof the prize to be won, the love of glory and reputation, a knowledge\nof the means at our disposal, and a faith in fortune are the\nconsiderations which strengthen courage, and if they are marshaled in\nbattle array and led by Enthusiasm, the fears which hovered over our\npath will be routed like flocks of evil-boding birds.\n\nAn easier though less noble escape from fear is Apathy. In different\nforms it appears as resignation to the will of God, or the inevitable,\nindifference to results, and philosophic or religious fatalism. An\nArab proverb says there are two days on which it is needless to fear\ndeath,\u2015\u2015the day on which it is decreed we shall not die, and the day\non which it is decreed we shall die; and if death need not be feared,\nwhat else should be? Modern science is inclined to the doctrine that\nmen\u2019s doings are ruled by absolute necessity, and that free will is a\ndelusion. For one, I do not accept the doctrine; but he that does\nshould be released from fear if his logic has any validity.\n\nAs the future is clouded with fear and its congeners, so the past is\nembittered with regret, if not with its gloomier fellows, the pains of\ncontrition and the agonies of remorse. Of all mental misery I have\never witnessed, that of remorse for irreparable injuries done to\nothers was by far the acutest. No one who intimately sees such a\nspectacle but will learn a lesson which will be a warning for a\nlifetime. Suicide or insanity is its usual result. But for the lighter\nforms of regret, reflection on their uselessness, willingness to make\nreparation, intelligent study of the mistakes of the past as lessons\nfor the future, are remedies which we can always apply with benefit.\nThe keen regret which we feel at our own blunders and shortcomings\nproduces almost a distaste for life. But we may recall the homely\nbusiness proverb, that he who never makes mistakes never makes\nanything; and it is something of a satisfaction to think that we did\nnot display the full measure of our capacities in a transaction, but\ncould do it much better had we to do it over again.\n\nThe emotions which I have been considering are passive in their\nnature, and their presence does not markedly influence our external\nlives. This is not the case with the emotion of Anger, the\nmanifestations of which are primarily external. This is why it is so\nextremely detrimental to family and social happiness. A person who is\ncholeric, of a bad temper, or an irritable disposition, is heavily\nhandicapped for both the pursuit of happiness and the race for\nsuccess. I think I have seen more fine prospects ruined by this than\nby any other single trait; and on the ruins promptly sprang up the\nweeds of dejection, misanthropy, and moroseness. No other weakness so\nfrequently poisons the joys of married life as a \u201ctempery\u201d\ndisposition. Its control is always difficult, never impossible. The\nsimple precept is, to remain entirely silent and motionless for at\nleast a minute after every flash of anger or sense of irritability.\nLord Herbert of Cherbury tells of a splenetic friend of his, whose\nface would flush almost purple at such moments, but who never broke\nhis self-imposed silence, and therefore never spoke a word which he\nhad to regret. A determined intention to control oneself, and steady\npractice, will always give such self-mastery.\n\nAnger, when it passes into the chronic form of Hatred, seeks its\nsatisfaction in Revenge. It is rather surprising to find such a calm\nauthor as Professor Bain including revenge among the essentials of\nhappiness. In moments of anger the thirst for vengeance is keen, and\nits gratification pleasant for the time; but from my own experience\nand that of others whom I have asked, the vengeance which finally\nappeases long hatred falls far short of affording the gratification we\nexpected, and is even associated with some dissatisfaction with self.\nThe game has not been worth the candle. The satisfaction is greater\nwhen our enemy brings ruin on himself through the traits and acts we\nabhor in him. We can then indulge in an unselfish joy in the\nspectacle, as did the Israelites when the pride of the Pharaohs\nwas humbled by the consequences of their own arrogance and\nstiff-neckedness.\n\nThe Imagination belongs to the emotional rather than the intellectual\nfaculties, as it has small regard for truth and casts on all things\nthe glamour of that light \u201cwhich never was on sea or land.\u201d Its\njudicious cultivation adds to the higher enjoyments of life by lifting\nthe events and thoughts of our daily rounds into the mystic realm of\nthe ideal. It is cultivated by the perusal of works of poetry and\nfiction, and by yielding to the sweet influences of music, song, and\nthe arts of pleasure. In the young it generally needs to be, not so\nmuch curbed, as directed in the right road, and in the old to be\nstimulated. The neglect of it so common in middle life is an unwise\npreparation for those years which at the best can expect but scant\npleasure in watching the mirage of ideal anticipation.\n\nUnder the Esthetic Emotions we may class all those which arise from\nthe occupation with what is interesting or beautiful in nature or art.\nThey are perennial fonts of enjoyment to those who will cultivate them\nin the right spirit\u2015\u2015which is, to study them exclusively for the\npleasure they yield, and without ulterior aim of utility or didactic\npurpose. True art acknowledges no allegiance either to utilitarianism\nor morality\u2015\u2015though it is never useless or immoral. Its right aim is\nto excite within us the consciousness of ourselves by stirring our\nimagination and feelings into agreeable activity. The emotions which\nit inspires in the individual rise in value in proportion as they are\ncommunicable to others, and thereby develop their contrast to the\npleasures of the senses, which are and always remain personal. On the\nother hand, they differ from those of the intellect by their aim being\ndirected to exciting the faculties which are human. Their limits are\ndefined by these, while the intellect soars far beyond. In the\nesthetic arts, Man is everything; all refers to him; in science he is\nnothing, or, at most, a drop in the shoreless ocean of the Universe.\n\nWhat justice can I render within the limit of a few sentences to the\npleasurable emotions excited by the contemplation of Nature? Volumes\nhave been written about and have not exhausted the catalogue of joys\noffered by the solitary walk through forest and mead, surrounded by\nthat mysterious world in blade and leaf, in bird and insect, in brook\nand bower, so tantalizingly open and yet so impenetrably closed to our\nvision. We need no laborious learning, and require no Alps, or ocean,\nor mighty cataracts, to surcharge our souls with that strange calm and\nsilent joy which Mother Nature ever has ready to pour into the wounds\nof her returned and wounded sons. A stroll at sunset, through the\ncow-pasture, by the stream, is all we need, if only our minds are open\nto the voices and the pictures spread before us. Need I mention the\npleasures of gardening, or the charms of the training and\ncompanionship of those humbler animals, our pets and favorites, to\nwhose sincerity and affection we so often turn with relief from\nassociation with our own species?\n\nNor shall I go at any length into the obvious pleasure afforded by\neven a slight acquaintance with painting, sculpture, architecture,\nphotographic reproductions, engraving, those avocations distinctively\ncalled by some writers the \u201carts of pleasure.\u201d The very purpose of\ntheir creation was to increase the happiness of life, and those who\nare content to live without understanding and to some extent\nappreciating what they contribute to human enjoyment, may as well lay\ndown this book at this point, for its whole purpose is alien to them.\nIn some quarters there is a prejudice against these arts; in many more\na suspicion that they are frivolous or enervating. Far from it.\nGoethe, who beyond any other man of this century studied the\nstrengthening of his faculties, recommended that each day we should\nfor at least a few minutes give our minds to the contemplation of some\nfine work of art or beautiful natural object, were it but a careful\nengraving, the reproduction of some masterpiece, a pot of natural\nflowers, or a sunset from our windows. He had found this in his own\nexperience both strengthening and comforting, and none is so indigent\nor so occupied that it is beyond his reach.\n\nIn museums and picture galleries, in the theatre and the opera, in\nillustrated books and collections of photographs, we have abundant\nresources to gratify our desire for observing art; and if we wish to\nshare the delights of practicing it, there are the numerous \u201cminor\narts,\u201d admirably set forth for self-instruction in excellent\nmanuals,\u2015\u2015free-hand drawing, water-colors, china painting,\nembroidery\u2015\u2015who can remember all of them?\n\nThe finest fruit of the culture of the esthetic emotions, culled from\ntheir sunniest sides and served as \u201chuman nature\u2019s daily food,\u201d is\nwhat we call \u201cgood taste.\u201d What an admirable faculty! It is the best\nof good sense, and walks hand in hand with good manners and good\nmorals. It prunes away exaggerations and affectations, it erases\nsuperlatives, it modifies antipathies, and lessens prejudices. The\nmodest home lighted by its fairy lamp shines with a radiance that the\nluxury of the vulgar plutocrat can never approach. The damsel whose\nsimple garb has been hung by its unfaltering hands will please, when\nthe elaborate toilettes of fashion leave the heart untouched. How much\nto be envied is the natural possessor of this charming quality! More\nprofitable than envying would be the effort to cultivate it, through\nthe study of the rules of art, the observations of the best models of\nharmony, and the willingness to accept the opinions of others on\nsubjects where they are acknowledged authorities and to search the\nreasons on which they are grounded.\n\nThe pleasure which we derive from the emotion which is called\n\u201cPlot-interest\u201d is peculiar and popular. We see it in the avidity with\nwhich we follow the adventures of imaginary characters in a novel or\ndrama. It evokes the liveliest sympathy and excitement. Tears follow\nlaughter in quick succession, and with as little real cause. We yield\nourselves willingly to the situation, and in the fancied sorrows of\nthe heroine forget our own, which are real.\n\nAkin to those of plot-interest are the Emotions of Pursuit, which\nimpart such zest to hunting, fishing, and allied sports. We care\nlittle for the quarry; a \u201cpaper chase\u201d is almost as exciting as a lion\nhunt; but it is the sense of the self-conscious and strenuous exertion\nof our faculties which gives us the enjoyment. This explanation may\nnot be obvious in the case of the enthusiastic angler, who sits by a\ndull canal under an umbrella all the afternoon, satisfied with a few\ngudgeons; but this enthusiasm makes up for the lack of positive\nexertion.\n\nMore obscure is the intense and absorbing pleasure which most derive\nfrom the Emotions of Risk, which are excited by games, especially\nthose of chance, or where skill is so equally balanced that chance\ncomes in for a large share of the result. This is pre-eminently the\nemotion which most men cultivate in their hours of recreation.\nBilliards, chess, pool, cards, backgammon, horse-racing, athletic\ngames, and personal contests, where the opponents are as equally\nmatched as practicable, make up to most minds the definition of\nEnjoyment. The various games of cards offer the most favorable types\nof games, as when played fairly and well they have a large and\nconstant element of chance. They have been in ill odor, as being the\nmost convenient means for gambling. But to the one who really enjoys\nthe emotions of risk, the stakes are subordinate. Any one who\nappreciates the charms of a rubber of whist, or the agreeable exercise\nof a game of billiards, will not want the additional and often\nunpleasant addition of a stake, and those who fail to appreciate, or\nneglect to cultivate, these emotions as a source of pleasure in life,\ndeprive themselves of that which would cheer many a sad hour by\ninnocent and healthful employment.\n\nWhen I glance back at what I have written, I see I have done little\nmore than catalogue, and that incompletely, the sources of enjoyment\noffered by the Emotions. But if this superficial survey developed such\npossibilities, how much of the pure gold of joy awaits the careful\nprospector who will follow the veins and sift the sands of the region\nthus thrown open to his energies?\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThere is this peculiarity in both works of art and scenes of natural\nbeauty, that they impress us most vividly in periods of deepest\ndejection or highest elation, and are thus incomparable aids in\nrestoring mental equilibrium.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe painful, the hideous, and the shocking are legitimate inspirations\nof art, as well as the beautiful and agreeable. The latter intimate\nthe direction we should go, the former the dangers we may have to\nencounter and the existence of suffering which calls for our sympathy.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nFear and Folly are the couple whose offspring is Distress.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe emotion that does not incite to action, enfeebles.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nActivity does not mean excitement. Healthful action is uniform. The\nwheel of most rapid revolution is the most regular in its motion.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nNature soothes because she knows nothing of our conflicts. Like\nSpinoza\u2019s God, she loves no one and hates no one.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nNot nature, but nature\u2019s infinite analogies, are what quicken the\nheart and supply it with endless interpretations of its own\nexperiences.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe sombre, the desolate, and the vast in nature appeal most strongly\nto the educated spirit, because they typify what is measureless, and\ntherefore mournful, in its aspirations.\n\n\n\n\nV. _The Pleasures we may Derive from the Intellect._\n\n\nWhen I speak about billiards and fishing and opera-going as pleasures,\nI am sure everybody understands me. But now that I have to refer to\nthe enjoyment derived from study and thinking and scientific research,\nI fear the majority will prepare to stifle their yawns or skip the\nchapter.\n\nYet I have heard of, and even known, men who turned to such\noccupations for their highest felicity, and counted such joys above\ngold or lust or glory or love,\u2015\u2015because enemies might rob them of\nthese, but never of the treasures of the understanding. The one aim of\ntheir lives was the Search for Truth; and to them all truths seemed\nequally great, equally worthy devotion. One spent years in the study\nof polyps and fungi, and by them learned to explain the laws which\nhave developed man and mind; another neglected his profession in order\nto investigate the anatomy of a worm, and made a discovery which\nrestored thousands of his fellow-beings from wretched invalidism to\nhappy health.\n\nSuch exceptional beings are not to be set up as the pole stars for all\nmariners over life\u2019s ocean. A man cannot be happy beyond the tastes\nand faculties which he has; and it is as absurd to expect all to enjoy\nequally the pleasures of the intellect as it would be to look for all\nto be pleased with the flavor of the same dish. Every man, however,\nwho is not idiotic or insane possesses an intellect, and can derive a\ngreat deal of pleasure from its cultivation; and it is always to some\ndegree in his power to cultivate it in the right manner.\n\nIf he only knew the many advantages of these pleasures he would not\nfail to give them his attention. Almost alone of enjoyments they leave\nbehind them no sense of exhaustion, no painful reaction or regrets.\nThey are as varied as our moods, suited as well to assuage our sadness\nas to prolong our cheerful moments. At no period of the year are they\nout of season, age does not wither them, nor does \u201ccustom stale their\ninfinite variety.\u201d They are social or solitary as we choose to make\nthem, and they know no sense of satiety, as with them the appetite\ngrows by what it feeds on. They flatter our self-complacency by\nshowing us that we are growing wiser, and they stir within us sympathy\nand appreciation for others. They are always at hand, for the\nappreciative student carries between the covers of his Shakespeare\nmore pleasure than the millionaire can stow in his yacht. Finally, and\nas the clinching argument in their favor, they are economical, doubly\neconomical, for they cost little or nothing, and they save us many a\nbroad piece which we should have had to spend for pleasures gratifying\nthe senses the same length of time; economical also of our lives, for\nthe student class are those who have the greatest longevity.\n\nEspecially would I urge women to pursue intellectual pleasures rather\nthan those of the emotions, to which they are now largely confined.\nSome of the most promising marriages fail through lack of intellectual\nsympathy in the wife. How sad it is to read these words of John Stuart\nMill in his essay on the liberty of women,\u2015\u2015\u201cYoung men of the greatest\npromise generally cease to improve as soon as they marry;\u201d a result\nwhich he attributes directly to the absence of sympathy in their wives\nfor that which constitutes the highest culture, and often a direct\nopposition to it. His opinion is valid everywhere, though it should be\ntrue nowhere. For the sake of her husband and her children, she should\nresolutely turn to the cultivation of her mind as one of the firmest\nholds on their affections.\n\nOne of the simplest forms of intellectual pleasure is that which is\nderived from riddles, puzzles, conundrums, and rebuses. Children and\nprimitive nations are especially captivated by these agreeable\nstimulants to their ingenuity. In French country towns they are highly\npopular, and many of the caf\u00e9s have _cercles_ who meet nightly to\nsolve the enigmas proposed in the weekly papers and forward the\nsolutions to the editor. Those which are successful receive a small\nprize or an honorable mention. The placid bourgeois appear to derive\nextraordinary enjoyment from this pastime.\n\nMost people understand \u201ccultivating the intellect\u201d to mean reading.\nSometimes it has this result, but generally it is too desultory,\nmiscellaneous, and aimless. Were it directed to a more definite\npurpose it could be made to yield more profit and more enjoyment. I do\nnot mean to the purpose of instruction, as probably the reader has\nbeen in haste to suppose, but so as to endow the mind with a wider\nrange of interests and thus with more sources of pleasure.\n\nRead what interests you and interest yourself in what you read\u2015\u2015that\nis the best rule. I have a small opinion of lists of the \u201chundred best\nbooks,\u201d or courses of reading cut and dried for you by large\nsocieties. They may instruct, as do lessons appointed by a master; but\nI am speaking of reading for pleasure; and really that is the only\nkind worth mentioning. I have always liked reading, but I never could\nbear to lay out a course for myself, still less follow any proposed by\nanother.\n\nMy own very satisfactory plan has been like that of the prospector for\nminerals. He wanders aimlessly over the mountains till he finds the\nsign of ore; then he ceases his roving and traces out the vein with\nzeal and patience. You read an article in a magazine; on one point\nmentioned you would like further information. Do not pass it by and\nforget it, but go to the encyclopedia or the library and follow it up;\nit will lead you to two or three volumes, not to be read, but to be\nconsulted; these will start several allied points of interest; look\nthem up in the same manner; and before you know it you will be\nburrowing for hours among books with the greatest delight.\n\nBy adopting this plan you not only pursue the bent of your own\ninclination and follow your own fancies, but without knowing it you\nare obeying some of the most scholastic rules for reading laid down by\nthe learned.\n\nOne of these is to \u201cdistribute the attention;\u201d by which they mean to\nlearn to pass easily from one subject to another. Do not become so\nabsorbed in one line that others have no charm for you. This is a\ncommon error with students of specialties. The great Darwin regretted\nthat toward the close of his life his unremitted attention to science\nhad destroyed his power of appreciating poetry and the drama. Yet\nneither should one hurry from book to book, or from topic to topic.\nEach should be pursued up to the point of commencing fatigue; then the\nvolume should be laid down, and an effort made to recall the main\nfacts we have read, and arrange them in order in the mind. What looks\nlike desultory reading will not remain desultory long if pursued in\naccordance with these suggestions.\n\nAs to what kind of books to read, the brief answer is, all kinds.\nVariety is the guiding principle. Do not read in ruts. Some say we\nshould always have some main theme to which others should be\nsubordinate. The advice is good for those who have by nature some such\nleading interest; only for them it is unnecessary; and for those who\nhave not, I believe it is useless, for such an interest can rarely be\ncreated by the will. I doubt if one can say off-hand,\u2015\u2015\u201cFrom this out,\nmy chief interest shall be in the history of Ancient Egypt,\u201d or\nsomething of that kind. Disraeli once remarked that biography has a\ngreater interest than history, because it is life without theory; and\nFrench writers are better than English, because they have fewer\nridiculous ideas of life. Some such plea could be entered for every\ndepartment of literature, and each would be just. Unquestionably, the\ntendency at present is to read too exclusively works of the\nimagination, novels, romances, dramas, and the like; the pleasure they\nyield is ephemeral and is apt to disqualify for that which is more\npersistent though less intense, derived from works based on objective\nrealities.\n\nFor one branch of literature I must, however, put in a special claim,\nas it has been such a pleasure to me ever since I learned to read, and\nthat is Poetry. I have heard it sometimes said that this is a taste of\nyouth, and dies a natural death with advancing years. My own\nexperience is quite the contrary. The delight we derive from accurate\nrhythm, melodious words, fine thoughts, and the depicting of deep\nemotions, ought to increase as our experience of the world and wider\nlearning make us more familiar with them. This has been the result in\nmy own case and in that of others whom I know or have heard of; for\ninstance, Sir Henry Holland, writing his biography when about eighty\nyears of age, lays stress on the enjoyment the study of the poets\ncontinued to afford him; and my mother, at eighty, derived much\npleasure in committing to memory and repeating new poems. There is a\nsense of completeness, of perfection, which is given a fine thought by\nappropriate expression in rhythmical language, which prose can never\nequal, and which, through the potent magic of Form, lifts the mind out\nof the material into the ideal world, and grants us a momentary\nglimpse of the Infinite.\n\nIf we do not recall to mind and think over what we read we lose most\nof the pleasure and all the profit of the action. This was what the\nEnglish philosopher Hobbes meant when he said,\u2015\u2015\u201cIf I had read as many\nbooks as some men, I should be as ignorant as they.\u201d To read without\nreflecting is like buying grain for food and never grinding it.\nThrough reflection on the images, incidents, and forms of expression\nwith which reading has stored the memory, the highest enjoyment from\nthe process is secured. The mind, like the body, is maintained in a\nstate of pleasurable activity, not by what it swallows, but by what it\ndigests and assimilates. Many people, however, are like dear Charles\nLamb, who artlessly confessed,\u2015\u2015\u201cI cannot sit and think\u2015\u2015books think\nfor me;\u201d and if they think for all to such good purpose as they did\nfor him, no one could complain.\n\nIn fact, reflection, meditation, though its pleasures have been\nchanted by poets and sages for thousands of years, is probably that\nform of intellectual activity which is least admired and least desired\nof any. It is not the same as \u201cstudying out a subject,\u201d or exerting\nthe creative faculty, as an inventor when he is devising a machine;\nbut the leisurely calling up from our memory of its various contents.\nThey may be from reading or from conversation or from our experience\nof life. We may present these to ourselves as the pictures of a\ngallery or as the scenes of a drama or as a series of connected\nevents; and we may endeavor to discern what relations they bore to\neach other, or speculate on what would have been the results had they\noccurred differently, or not at all. We may renew half-forgotten\npleasures, or smile at useless pains, or recall long since vanished\nwoes. Lessons for our guidance or knowledge of ourselves may\nunexpectedly come to us as the results of such self-communing; or we\nmay cast our eyes to the future, and enjoy in prolonged anticipation\nthose pleasures which may never come, or, if they come, can last but a\nmoment. This is the nature of that reflection which, if we learn it\nand cultivate it, will enable us to pass many a pleasant hour, when\notherwise we should be cut off from all sources of amusement, as in\nsome dreary waiting for a train or enforced and lonely vigil.\n\nAs solitude is thus relieved by exercise of our minds, society by the\nsame may have many an added charm. What a fund of rational enjoyment\nis offered by reading circles, debating societies, literary coteries,\nand associations for the purpose of studying Shakespeare or Browning\nor Ibsen, or whatever other literary star may be in the ascendant!\nThere are some pretentious persons who profess to be above such\ngatherings. They can well be dispensed with in them. The tendency to\nbe guarded against in order to make such schemes prosperous is that of\nimproving the mind. This should be entirely incidental and secondary.\nWhen one joins a dining club, he expects a dinner which he likes, not\na special diet prescribed by his medical adviser; and so it should be\nwith literary clubs. Let the improvement take care of itself. It will\ndo so.\n\nAlongside of reading and reflection we must place writing. Many will\nneed no explanation why this should be classed among the pleasures of\nlife; while to others it is always a distasteful drudgery. They escape\nit whenever possible, and reduce it to its lowest terms, which means\nletter-writing\u2015\u2015and in their case always the writing of very middling\nletters. A letter, indeed, is a great tell-tale, and tells the more\nthe less it says. A score of years in editorial work, during which the\ncompetency of numerous writers had to be gauged by some quick\nstandard, taught me that the letter of transmittal is generally enough\nto decide on the merits of the manuscript offered. To him who can\nappreciate its revelations there is no more infallible test of general\nculture than an ordinary letter.\n\nCorrespondence by some is classed among the lost arts. As an art, we\ncan let it go; but as one of the most agreeable of pleasures, it will\never remain. Nature, not art, is what gives it its charm. The free\nexpressions of personal feelings, thoughts, and observations, the\nintimacy and confidence which we can never find in books or magazines,\nthe household words and pet phrases which grow up between\ncorrespondents, the tacit assumptions of common tastes and knowledge,\nthese are what endow correspondence with its boundless charms for\nthose who cultivate it.\n\nSome writers have extolled the pleasure to be derived from keeping a\ndiary. They claim it gives one much delight to turn back to an\naccurate record of what he did or heard or saw at a given period of\nhis past life. They add that it is also a judicious habit for our own\nwell-being, teaching us what errors we have made, what false opinions\nharbored, what aims pursued fruitlessly, and the like. I believe what\nthese writers say, and commend their advice to those for whom it is\nsuited. As for myself, I never could follow it. The diaries which I\nhave occasionally begun, I have usually ended by throwing into the\nfire. It seems to me a man must either progress very little, be\nsupernaturally wise to begin with, or have incredible self-complacency,\nto read with satisfaction a diary of his own five years old which\ncontains anything but the most naked facts. Amiel\u2019s diary is one of the\nmost attractive published of recent years; but it certainly could have\nbeen no pleasure to his sensitive mind to have renewed its sorrows by\nperusing its morbid reflections.\n\nI have left to the last the consideration of the highest of all\nintellectual joys,\u2015\u2015the Pursuit of Truth. This should be the aim of\nevery thought, and the sole, conscious occupation of our\nunderstandings. As our senses are satisfied only with pleasure, in\nlike manner our reason finds no rest until it attains to what is true.\nThat man is useless on the face of the earth, and wastes his life, who\ndevotes his time to anything else than the pursuit of happiness or the\nsearch for truth.\n\nThey are not antagonistic. They are compatible one with the other;\nperhaps they are identical, when both are clearly seen and correctly\nunderstood. That great teacher who rejected the narrow prescriptions\nof asceticism, and came eating meat and drinking wine, also taught\nthat the one comforter, the Paraclete, which should in future ages\ncomplete the happiness of man, is \u201cthe Spirit of Truth.\u201d\n\nThere need be no discussion as to what Truth is, nor need we, like\njesting Pilate, make the inquiry and \u201cstop not to hear reply.\u201d The\nanswer is as clear as it is brief. Truth is that which will bear\nconstant and free examination. Renewed observation, verification,\nre-examination, investigation\u2015\u2015whatever is true will bear all these\nwithout diminution of its lustre; and any statement which men advance\nas true, but are unwilling to submit to these tests, they know is more\nor less of a lie.\n\nThe highest and clearest truths are to be found in the physical and\nnatural sciences. The latter especially offer unending pleasant vistas\nto those who can interest themselves in them. The passion of\ncollecting in natural history is a rich source of enjoyment,\ninexpensive, always open, exhaustless in extent. Whether it be\nminerals, plants, insects, coins, weapons, or what not, their\naccumulation occupies vacant hours and they furnish abundant materials\nfor thought, reading, study, and conversation. The man who has a\ncabinet stocked by his own efforts is one who never complains of\nennui. The day for him is never too long.\n\nAs for the devotees of Science, there is no need for me to inform them\nof the pleasure they derive from its pursuit. They are too well\nacquainted with its joys, transcending any which wealth or popular\nrenown can offer, to care to read their eulogy. But this intense\ndevotion must be born with one or date from some early association,\nand can rarely be acquired in mature years, so that it need not be\ndwelt upon here.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\n\u201cLife according to reason,\u201d\u2015\u2015this was Aristotle\u2019s definition of\nhappiness.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe intellect is cold because it is unsympathetic. We must cultivate\nwith it the imagination, which by vividly portraying pain, develops\nsympathy.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nDo you wish to improve your mind? Then read carefully what you do not\nunderstand, and listen dispassionately to what you do not agree with.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nError is more agreeable than truth, because the latter points out our\nlimitations and the former conceals them.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nAn error actively advocated is healthier than a truth lazily accepted.\nThought becomes fecund only in action.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nA mistake is sooner corrected than a falsehood, because it is nobody\u2019s\ninterest to maintain it.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nNovel-reading is the fashionable narcotic; opium, chloral, and\nhasheesh together count fewer victims.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nAll that is, is a prophecy of what will be; hence, to a philosopher,\nthe chief interest in things is their symbolical value.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\n_Vivre cach\u00e9, c\u2019est vivre heureux._ This was Descartes\u2019 motto. It\nshould be translated: \u201cTo be able to retire with pleasure to your own\nthoughts, is to be happy.\u201d\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWhat is the pleasure of being famous? That of being talked of by those\nyou do not know, who do not know you, and in whom you take no interest.\n\n\n\n\nVI. _The Satisfaction of the Religious Sentiment._\n\n\nAfter all, the only standard of value which we need apply to anything\nis the amount and quality of Happiness it yields. This alone can\nconcern Man anywhere and at any time. His religions should be measured\nby no other mete-yard. All were created by man, for the happiness of\nman; though all claim another, a superhuman, origin, and pretend to\nbear the sign-manual of the Divine.\n\nThey are right, and what seems a paradox is a sober fact. As much the\nproductions of human hands and brains as are the robes and paintings\nin which they are bedecked, they have something in them which no\nexternals can represent, and which lifts them above their material\ndrapery. Human beyond all else that man has devised, for that very\nreason they are superhuman.\n\nThe strange law of Evolution is, that nothing in nature reaches its\nperfection but by becoming something else. The species in attaining\nits utmost development is transformed into another species. Man would\nnot be the noblest product of the earth did he not feel himself too\nnoble for it; did not the presage and aura of a higher destiny forever\nfloat around his thoughts, making themselves felt at the moments of\nthe utmost tension of his faculties; as when behind the parapet of\nChillon one rises on extreme tip-toe, and catches a glimpse of the\nglittering lake and massive Alps beyond.\n\nThe vital principle, the motive power, which has created and\nmaintained all religions is the Ideal of Humanity. Each age has had\nits own, each individual has his own, no two the same. Creeds and\nchurches do but formulate and endeavor to materialize the average\nconceptions of a period or a class; but their labor is vain. Rejecting\nthe old, putting on the new, the race marches forward to loftier\nideals, the milestones of its progress being the wrecks of temples and\nthe ruins of churches. Religions rise and fall and disappear; but\nReligion grows forever, because it is the inseparable associate, aye,\nthe very expression, of that mysterious impulse on which man\u2019s future\ndevelopment depends, and which makes him part and parcel of the\ninfinite Energy in which he lives and moves and has his being.\n\nTime and Truth will reconcile all religions; but the time will be long\nand the truth will be slow to make its way. The schools of dogmatic\ndoctrine claim to have embalmed in a creed and confined in a code the\nwhole truth necessary for the happiness of man; not perceiving that\nthey are like children to whom a magician hands a box in which he\nseems to have shut a pigeon; they open it cautiously, to discover that\nit is empty, and he points to the bird soaring up to the sky. Only\nthey take good care not to open the box. Their schools and teachers\nresemble those feeble-minded folk who imagine they increase in\nknowledge by constantly talking to themselves.\n\nAlways boasting of their devotion to truth, they steadily repudiate\nit. That alone is true which will bear repeated, free, and unbiased\ninvestigation; but dogmatists cry,\u2015\u2015\u201cNever discuss your faith; never\ndoubt your creed; for he that doubteth is damned.\u201d What progress they\nmake is not from within, but is forced on them from without by the\nfree spirit of inquiry; and what they thus unwillingly accept, they\naudaciously claim as the product of their own efforts. Everywhere the\nspirit of ecclesiasticism is the secret or open foe of strict and\ncomplete veracity; and yet no permanent alleviation of the sufferings\nof mankind can come except from veracity. And from this it will come.\nNo matter what the weather is, this seed is sure to grow.\n\nWhat unspeakable unhappiness religions have brought on the race!\nAltars dripping with the blood of human victims, mothers casting their\nbabes into the fires of Moloch, teachers crucified by the rabble whom\nthey sought to instruct, millions perishing between the Crescent and\nthe Cross, hideous chambers of the Inquisition, Bruno burning alive in\nCatholic Rome, and Legate in Protestant London,\u2015\u2015a thousand such\nhistoric events would give no notion of the miseries which religions\nhave inflicted on mankind, and continue to inflict.\n\nWorse than these have been their blighting breath on individual minds,\ndarkening them with terrors of the supernatural, with racking doubts,\ndespair, and madness; destroying the natural and beautiful growths of\nthe affections; frowning on the attractions of the arts of beauty;\ncrushing the desire of knowledge and the love of investigation; urging\nmen in the ignoble egotism of self-salvation to sacrifice their own\nhappiness and that of those nearest and dearest to them. These\ninfluences still exist; they are ever in the spirit of clericalism and\ndogmatism, and are restrained from plunging mankind again into the\ndark ages only by that higher and real religion which acknowledges\nneither form nor creed nor dogma, but only the might and right of\nTruth and Love.\n\nI would ask what teachings do religions\u2015\u2015and I have those in mind\nwhich are prevalent in civilized countries to-day\u2015\u2015impart, which in\nany way compensate for the enormous unhappiness and intellectual\ndegradation thus caused?\n\nMost sects calling themselves Christian will at once reply that the\nhappiness they promise is not of this world but of the next, and that\nhe who looks for enjoyment here will forfeit it hereafter. Yet when\nthe evidence for this daring statement is asked for, not an iota can\nbe offered on which there is unanimous concurrence among the sects\nthemselves.\n\nWhat they do offer, and what gives them their real control over men\u2019s\nminds, may be summed up as follows: A belief in the Divine government\nof the world and the paternal care of God over each believer in Him;\ngreater cheerfulness in the acceptance of the misfortunes of life as\nthe wise and ultimately beneficent decisions of His will; an\nexpectation of a life after death; the hope that sins will be\nforgiven; and the improvement in morals which follows these\nconvictions.\n\nThese are undoubtedly valuable aids to human happiness. The question\nis, what part of them belong to Religion and what to religions; in\nother words, will not the religious sentiment itself, freed from the\nshackles of dogmatic belief, yield to man all the happiness offered by\nsectarian doctrines, relieved of the misery to which they condemn him?\nWhen I think of the mental agony caused in millions of lives by the\npictures of hell, of eternal damnation, of the last judgment, and of a\ncruel and merciless God, which most Christian teachers hold before\ntheir congregations, I long for the time predicted by that apostle of\nthe new life, Giordano Bruno,\u2015\u2015\u201cWhen the gods shall lie in Orcus, and\nthe dread of everlasting punishment shall vanish from the world.\u201d\n\nReason has no conflict with religion. Science is based on the\nassumption that the order of the Universe is one of intelligence, and\nof an intelligence identical with ours. All force is directed by\nreasoning energy, which means that it is purposive. Why seek further?\nCall it Energy or Force or God, the thought is the same.\n\nWhether that share which we possess in the energy of the All remains\nin personality after physical death, what dogma can prove? what\nscience deny? Enough that in the beautiful words of the burial service\nof the Protestant Episcopal Church, we are justified in retaining \u201ca\nreasonable and holy hope\u201d that the victory of the grave is not\neternal. Should it be so, what is the dread of it but a delusion of\nthe imagination, which pictures non-existence as felt in\nnon-existence?\n\nThe sense of sin, the story of the fall and its expiation by a divine\nsacrifice; is it not strange that no one word that this was His\nmission escaped the lips of Him who is said to have been the willing\nvictim? The notion of sin as taught in dogmatic belief has no\nexistence in the unwarped mind nor in scientific psychology. Men are\ninvolved in a chain of cause and effect from which they have little\nchance of escape; and even human justice revolts at administering\npunishment for involuntary acts. _Tout comprendre, c\u2019est tout\npardonner_; that infinite Mind, which sees before and after, asks the\nblood of no victim to understand and to pardon the blind gropings of\nthe wretched children of men.\n\nWhat abuse has been made of the doctrine of Faith! Its upas-shade has\nharbored the grossest growths of superstition. Faith is either\nlaziness or cowardice. We accept the opinions of others to save\nourselves the trouble of forming our own, or to escape the pains of\ndoubt. But doubt is painful only to him who accepts on authority, not\nto him who honestly seeks, truth through the efforts of his own\npowers.\n\nBut piety, morality, how can these be secured without dogmatic\nreligions? This is the answer so often hurled as final in their\ndefense. The history of sectarianism shows anything but a clean bill\nof morality, as I have already hinted; if there is any one\ncorner-stone to the edifice of ethics, it is the honest pursuit of\nverifiable truth, and that no dogmatic religion dares to advocate.\nHistory shows that every great reformer of the morals of his day has\nbeen called a schismatic by the Churches.\n\nThe arch error is, however, not in these directions, but in the\nuniversal assumption that the moral life, that piety, is the chief end\nof man and an object in itself. Nothing of the kind. The moral law\nneither exhausts nor completes the nature of man. It is but one strand\nin the many-fibred thread of his existence; and to suspend his whole\nlife and destiny from this will always, as it always has in the past,\nlead to the fall and the destruction of his noblest aspirations.\nPiety, a devout morality, the culture of the religious sentiment,\nthese are only some and far from all of the means and steps to the\nhighest culture of the individual life.\n\nThey are not individual in the sense that their culture can be\nsuccessfully conducted in solitude or by mystical meditation. True\nreligion never isolates, but unites. Not the happiness of himself in\nanother world, but the happiness of others in this, is the aim of the\ntrue believer. From theirs, he derives his own. The \u201cCommunion of\nSaints,\u201d the \u201cCongregation of the Righteous,\u201d the \u201cSociety of\nFriends,\u201d\u2015\u2015these are the expressions which indicate the direction of\nthe religious sentiment in unimpeded activity. In such \u201csolemn troops\nand sweet societies,\u201d it yields that joy to man which his nature is\ncapable of receiving only in its highest moments of exaltation, and\nwhich it would be sad to think he could ever be deprived of.\n\nBut this we need not fear. A religion that is not afraid of free\ninvestigation, but courts it; one that dismisses the supernatural\nbecause it recognizes that no law can be higher than that of nature;\nwhose maxim is the utmost veracity in thought and action at all costs;\nwhose aim is to produce as much visible happiness and to prevent as\nmuch misery as possible; which binds men together through united\nsympathies for these aims; which constantly prompts to healthful and\nfruitful activity; which is truly an inspiration, and sanctifies by\nits presence the equally true inspirations of the highest art and the\npurest science; and whose clearly recognized purpose is to promote the\nideal perfection of humanity as represented in the individual\nman;\u2015\u2015this is the Religion of the Future, and one that the future will\nnot allow to perish.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe aim of science is the Real; of art, the Ideal; of action,\nHappiness. It is for religion to unite this trinity into a unity in\neach individual life.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nMan\u2019s highest efforts in art or thought or life are in themselves\nreligious, because they represent elements in the better future life\nof the race. This is what Michael Angelo meant when he said, \u201cWho\nstrives after perfection in Art, strives after something Divine.\u201d\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe divine is not the superhuman, but the ideally human. The infinite\nmust become incarnate to be intelligible. It is so in all great\nreligious acts and works.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe ideally true is the potentially true.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nPhysical science is opposed to both religion and metaphysics, and yet\nis forever attracted toward them; because, struggle as it may, in them\nalone can it find its own completion.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe religious sect that condemns reason, condemns itself; and the\nlatter sentence is the only one which will be executed.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe poetry of science will be the inspiration of the religion of the\nfuture.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWere there a religion other than human, it could not appeal to\nhumanity.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe human cannot get along without the divine in some form. The least\nreligious men, such as gamblers, are the most superstitious. As\nNovalis says, \u201cWhere the gods are not, ghosts take their place.\u201d\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe aim of classic religions was the salvation of the State; of\nChristianity, the salvation of certain individuals, the Elect; of the\nreligion of the future, the salvation of the whole race of man.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nA religious doctrine should compel belief, like a theorem in geometry.\nMost doctrines are accepted because their believers know too much to\ndisturb their tranquillity by examining them, or too little to\ncomprehend them.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nAs in dreams the impressions of childhood continue to recur, so in\nmodern religions conceptions belonging to the childhood of the race\nare still urged upon us.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe dogmatists prefer to frame rules, rather than give reasons;\nbecause the latter will be judged on their merits, while the former\nare accepted on authority.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nHalf-true is harder to refute than wholly false. The defenders shield\nthemselves behind the part that is true. Not the mud at the bottom,\nbut the stain in the water, clouds the stream. This is why numerous\nsects continue to survive, perpetuating many errors by means of a few\ntruths.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThere is something comical in a man making a business of religion,\nlevying a charge on this world for his services to the next. The\nQuakers must have had a vein of humor in their opposition to all sorts\nof paid priests.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe priests of the Church of the Future will be the spiritual leaders\nof their generation, those educators, poets, scientists, physicians,\njournalists, and others, who practice their avocations with a view to\nthe interests of others as well as their own.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nEating your dinner is as sacred as saying your prayers, and making\nyour living is as noble as dying for your faith.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nI heard Walt Whitman once say that life without immortality would be\nlike a railroad train made up entirely of engines. The forces of\nindividuality seemed to him too mighty, to conceive as possible their\nlimitation to this world.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe spirit of Christ\u2019s teachings is too democratic to be in hearty\nsympathy with either science, philosophy, art, or the pursuit of\npleasure.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nPiety is sometimes merely the last passion; sometimes merely the last\nfashion.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe devout are the disappointed.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nPrayer refreshes and relieves the mind by strengthening the\nconfidence, by diverting the thoughts, and by admonishing the soul of\nhigher themes. The Jew prays to Jehovah, most Christians to the Virgin\nor the Saints, the Buddhist to himself; all are consoled and\nbenefitted; equally so is he who meditates on the laws, the life, the\nlove, and the power, manifested in the universe of matter and mind\naround him.\n\n\n\n\nVII. _The Cultivation of Our Individuality._\n\n\nWhen you tell a person that he resembles so-and-so, he is always\nsurprised. He does not see the slightest similarity. Were he to meet\nhis double in the street, he would pass him without recognition. It\nwould be the same with his mental counterpart; in fact, most men are\nso slightly acquainted with themselves, and are so lost in the crowd,\nthat they no longer know the way home. They are merely composite\nphotographs of the people they have met. Unconscious actors, they\nspeak the words and imitate the feelings of those around them until\nthey lose the cue of their own proper parts.\n\nThis deplorable lack of Individuality is the fruitful cause of many a\nfailure and much unhappiness. It arises from a lack of self-knowledge,\nself-confidence, and self-respect, and is constantly leading men\nastray in their plans of life.\n\nThe complaint is often made that men deceive each other; but they\ndeceive themselves far more. They imagine they have talents which they\ndo not possess, and overlook those which are their own; they attempt\nwhat is beyond their powers, and allow those they have to rust through\nwant of use. They believe that is their own which they have but\nborrowed, and go forth to till imaginary fields, leaving their own\ngarden-plots lie fallow.\n\nHow much better to live one\u2019s own life, to be oneself, to cultivate\nwhat abilities we have rather than to waste time on those we have not,\nto learn the limits of our own capacities and insure success by\nworking within them! The advice of the sages of all times has been to\nswear by the words of no teacher, to call no man Master, to think our\nown thoughts, to be true to ourselves, to make our own felicity, and\nnot to run about the world trying to share that of others by aping\ntheir sentiments and actions.\n\nThe greatest teachers have not desired disciples, but friends. They\nhave never exerted authority, and where they could not persuade or\nconvince, they have sought no proselytes. To them the independance of\nthe individual mind has been of more importance than the dissemination\nof any article of faith or element of instruction. Spinoza, Herder,\nWilhelm von Humboldt, our own Emerson, have all in spirit joined with\nGoethe in singing that the secret of the highest happiness of man\nrests in the preservation of his own free personality:\u2015\u2015\n\n  H\u00f6chstes Gl\u00fcck der Erdenkinder\n  Sei nur die Pers\u00f6nlichkeit.\n\nPeer in this august company, deeper than any in his devotion, speaking\nat every hazard, I name my late friend, Walt Whitman, the \u201csinger of\none\u2019s self,\u201d \u201cchanter of Personality,\u201d \u201cself-balanced for all\ncontingencies,\u201d holding creeds and schools in abeyance, ceasing not\ntill death.\n\nThe man of independent mind and strong personality is never trivial or\nvulgar, no matter what his education or social position. The artist\nwho plays solo commands our attention. The plant which is indigenous\nis alone strong and hardy; exotics are starvelings. Individuality is\ncontagious, and it is bracing and stimulating to meet such a\ncharacter. His presence is a benefit to a whole company, and a company\nof such is worth a regiment of nonentities. The richest agricultural\ncommunity I ever saw was in France, where every peasant cultivated his\nown little field; and the poorest was in our own country, where every\nman was trying to feed his cattle on somebody else\u2019s range.\n\nThe latter theory, however, is that which is popular to-day. Dreamers\nare constantly devising schemes by which the idle and incompetent may\nlive off the proceeds of the diligent; labor unions deprive their\nmembers of the liberty of speech and the liberty of work; socialism\nwould reduce all to a common level; syndicates and trusts break down\nindividual enterprise; sectarian colleges limit their calls to\nprofessors who will echo their tenets; and thus in all directions the\nfree growth of the individual is hemmed in by the hedges of prejudice,\ntradition, creed, and false theory.\n\nMany people scarcely know what Individuality is. They think it means\nto wear a straw hat in winter, or in some other way to make oneself\nconspicuous. This is precisely what it does not mean. The man who is\nhimself is always simple and natural; he buys his hat at the hatter\u2019s\nand allows the tailor to make his clothes. To act otherwise is\naffectation and singularity, not individuality. Simplicity is a\ncharming characteristic of the strongest minds. It is recorded of Sir\nIsaac Newton that he was not distinguished from other men by any\npeculiarity, either natural or affected; upon which Dr. Johnson makes\nthe excellent remark,\u2015\u2015\u201cNewton stood alone merely because he had left\nthe rest of mankind behind him, not because he deviated from the\nbeaten path.\u201d Those who met Robert Browning for the first time were\nagreeably surprised to find the great poet was in ordinary society\nsimply a gentleman. All forms of affectation are confessions that we\nare not what we pretend to be, and are inconsistent with true\nindividuality.\n\nNor is it obstinacy and self-assertiveness, as others suppose. The man\nwho aims to be himself will wish others to remain themselves, and will\nbe the last to obtrude his personality in a disagreeable way upon\nthem. Obedience, voluntary subjection to the will of others, is part\nof his self-training. He who cannot obey, cannot command. Nor is he\none who lives for himself, is solitary or selfish. The characters who\nin history shine with the most marked individuality have been those\nwho moved most actively among their fellow men.\n\nTrue individuality is that confidence in self which arises from a\nknowledge of one\u2019s own powers, their extent and their limitations.\nThis knowledge can be obtained only by experience, by testing the\npowers, and by gauging their strength in the contest of life.\n\nFrom how many vexations does a correct estimate of our capacities free\nus? Envy, disappointed ambition, premature exhaustion, disgust of the\nworld, these arise from inadequate notions of our own abilities. On\nthe other hand, that life has always a large share of happiness which\nis spent in the prosecution of some object to which our faculties are\nequal, and which therefore we prosecute with success.\n\nIn judging of our own powers we are just as likely to under- as to\nover-estimate them, and the results are equally painful.\n\nHow acute are the sufferings of a diffident, shy, self-distrustful,\nover-sensitive disposition! Such a temperament is a sad make-weight in\nthe struggle of life. More men fail through ignorance of their\nstrength than through knowledge of their weakness. They are like a\nfarmer, who gathers scanty harvests all his life from fields covering\nrich deposits of ore, which, did he but work them, would enrich him.\nThe fear of falling often hinders from climbing.\n\nLet such remember that few score success, but after failures. Few\nexperiences are indeed more painful than to devote ourselves earnestly\nto an undertaking and discover that it is beyond our powers; but the\nfailure teaches us the extent of our strength and increases it for the\nnext effort. We can never learn our own abilities but by trying for\nwhat is beyond them; like the athlete, who lifts heavier and heavier\nweights until he reaches those which he cannot move. Practice and\npersistence are strong cards. \u201cTime and I,\u201d said Philip II, \u201cagainst\nany other two.\u201d\n\nMuch of our sensitiveness, did we but know it, springs from concealed\nvanity. We covertly fear that if we display our powers it will give\nothers the opportunity to take their measure; and this we mistrust\nwill not prove favorable to us. But there is a consolation in view. We\nmay call to mind that as the best of authors do not escape censure, so\nthe poorest do not lack admirers.\n\nThe over-estimation of one\u2019s faculties leads to vanity and\nself-conceit, traits not generally painful to the individual, and not\nso injurious as excessive diffidence. It does a youth no harm to\nbelieve that he was born to perform great deeds. It is easier to cut\nback rank shoots than to fertilize sterile roots. He who is confident\nthat he can leap beyond the mark, will be pretty certain to reach it.\nAttrition with the world usually reduces vanity to its proper limits.\nDisappointed ambition is bitter, but some bitters are excellent\ntonics.\n\nThat individuality is genuine which is confidence in self, based on\nknowledge of self.\n\nNowhere does it show its worth more than when it comes into contact\nwith Opinion\u2015\u2015that Queen of the World, as it has been called. How many\nare its abject slaves, ordering their lives and measuring their\ntastes, not by what they think right or desirable, but by what society\nand the world around them dictate. Pitiable creatures! the only solid\nground of happiness is not what others think of you, but what you\nthink of yourself; not what they believe you to be, but what you know\nyou are.\n\nOn most subjects a sensible man will be extremely tolerant. He has\ndiffered too often from himself in the course of his life to be\npositive with others. He also knows that opinions may differ, yet not\nbe contradictory. Most questions have not only two sides, but many\nsides; they are polygonal, and, like a table of that shape, can\naccommodate many without elbowing. The value of anybody\u2019s opinion on\nany subject is much less than is popularly supposed. The fact, and not\nthe opinion based on it, is alone of supreme importance. For that\nreason, what are called \u201cfixed principles\u201d and \u201csettled convictions\u201d\nare signs of mental debility or indolence. I think it is Ruskin who\nsays that he would be ashamed of himself if he entertained the same\nopinions on any subject which he did twenty years ago. It would be a\nsign of ossification of the intelligence.\n\nThe characteristic of true individuality is a readiness to adopt the\nviews of others on proper evidence, and not obstinacy, as many think.\nA certain flexibility of opinion strengthens personality; as the free\nswaying to and fro of the branches of a tree toughens the fibres of\nits trunk.\n\nObstinate asseveration is usually a sign of ignorance or falsehood.\nThe man who swears he is telling you the truth is generally lying.\nWhen you see men in violent discussion about subjects of which they\ncannot know much, such as religion or politics, take a seat and laugh.\nThey are the fools in the Comedy of Life, and the spectacle is\nhumorous.\n\nIt is proverbial that argument never convinces, but leaves each side\nmore strongly confirmed in its opinions. Not thus do the shrewd makers\nof converts go about their work. They well know that the timely hint,\nthe insidious suggestion, the light touch, leaves the permanent\nimpression; like the brands of animals, which to be lasting must\nscorch only the superficial layers of the skin, and if burnt deeper,\nare obliterated by the healing of the wound.\n\nThat form of opinion which is called Advice has much to do with our\nfelicity. If a man fails, the usual explanation is that he refused to\ntake advice. Advice which is the expression of the general results of\nhuman action\u2015\u2015such as is supplied in such abundance in this volume\u2015\u2015is\nworthy of consideration; but that which is offered to meet particular\ncases is generally worth about what it costs to give,\u2015\u2015nothing. Advice\nis never as wise as it seems. Usually it is claimed to be the fruit of\nexperience; but we may know the world ever so well to-day, and\nto-morrow our knowledge will be out of date. Good advice usually loses\ngood opportunity. Even if by rejecting it we fail, the loss may not be\nreal. Sometimes the money we lose turns out to be that which was best\ninvested.\n\nOne of the choicest fruits of the culture of individuality is Decision\nof Character. Nothing more constantly contributes to the happiness of\nlife. This has been so well shown by John Foster in his essay on the\nsubject that I shall do better by the reader to persuade him to peruse\nit, than to enlarge on the subject here. The state of indecision,\nvacillation, and uncertainty, in which many persons pass a good share\nof their waking hours, is reason enough for the unhappiness of which\nthey complain. The habit of decision can be readily acquired by making\nit a rule to decide promptly on small matters, and not allowing them\nagain to occupy the attention.\n\nI do not esteem highly the spirit of that Arab proverb which\nsays,\u2015\u2015\u201cWhat you wish to conceal from your enemy, tell not to your\nfriend;\u201d but there is a certain reserve which every person of strong\ncharacter instinctively observes toward even his intimates. It is not\nsecretiveness, and still less taciturnity or dissimulation. Rather it\nis the sense of the sacredness of personality, and is the nucleus of\nthat lofty sense of Self-reverence, which is the worthiest feeling one\ncan entertain toward himself. There are certain recesses of the soul,\ncertain feelings, which belong imperiously to the Ego, such as are so\npowerfully limned in Charlotte Bronte\u2019s poem beginning,\u2015\u2015\n\n  \u201cWhen thou sleepest lulled in night,\n   Art thou lost in vacancy?\u201d\n\nwhich cannot be disclosed to others, though they may be divined by\nthem.\n\nSuch reticence in no wise interferes with Sincerity of character. This\nis beyond all else the trait of the person of marked individuality. He\nalone can be sincere; not that other, who borrows his opinions from\nthose around him, and is a mere dealer in other men\u2019s goods, and hence\nhas none of his own to offer as security for what he says.\n\nThe casuists love to argue that veracity is a relative quality; that\nhalf a lie often conveys a more correct impression than the whole\ntruth; that to show the seamy as well as the shiny side of great\ncharacters is an injury to the community; that courtesy obliges us to\nchicane with facts; that limping morality itself is much assisted by\nthe friendly hand of mendacity. These questions may be left to the\nconscience of each to work out for himself; but about one kind of\nveracity there should be no quibbling, and that is, veracity to\noneself. Deceive others if you will; but never try to persuade\nyourself that you are what you are not, or have what you have not. How\ncan you expect to succeed in making yourself happy, if you studiously\nattempt to remain ignorant of the nature, capacities, and qualities\nwhich you aim to please?\n\nFinally, the foundation of Individuality must be broad, if the edifice\nis to be solid. One must constantly have in view the symmetrical\ndevelopment of all the powers and faculties. He must seek\nmany-sidedness in his knowledge and in his sympathies. All the\nfacettes of his nature must be polished through use. Narrow views,\npetty interests, routine, paucity of affections, these must be avoided\nwould he so develop his nature as to derive from it the utmost\nenjoyment in life.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe mission of the species is the perfecting of the individual.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nFor all our power in the present, we are indebted to the past; for\nfuture power\u2015\u2015or weakness,\u2015\u2015we shall owe the present.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe man of strong personality is not apt to perceive how much he\ndiffers from others, because he is quick to recognize the personality\nin them. This trait always impressed me in Walt Whitman. He seemed to\ntake for granted that everybody had as much personality as himself.\nThey had,\u2015\u2015to him.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nTo Walt Whitman, Self was sacred,\u2015\u2015and little else. He was intoxicated\nwith individuality.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nDistrust the current estimates of great men. They alone are not tried\nby their peers.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIf you climb a height, you will be easier seen, but will look smaller.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIt is difficult to say which is the weaker: He who cultivates\nself-admiration, or he whose chief aim is to elicit the admiration of\nothers. When Cromwell entered London as Lord Protector, a flatterer\ncalled his attention to the crowds assembled to welcome him. \u201cThey\nwould come just the same to see me hanged,\u201d was his reply.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nSelf-complacency is a successful counterfeit of happiness. Were it the\ngenuine article, then the madman who believes himself Deity is the\nhappiest of mortals. But if he is cured?\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nSingularity is not an effort to be oneself, but to be what others are\nnot.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nSome people cannot be blamed for affectation, for they have nothing of\ntheir own to show.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nSome men, by pretending to be other than what they believe they are,\nshow themselves in their true character.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nCommon minds like commonplaces. When the audience applauds, you have\nprobably said nothing worth hearing.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIt requires more courage to differ from public opinion in matters of\nthought than in action.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nA man is apt to attribute his failure to having accepted advice; his\nfriends, to his having rejected it.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThose listen most respectfully to advice who have resolved not to take\nit.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWe are apt to discover the best reasons for our actions after\ncommitting them.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nMost men do not base their opinions on reasoning; but their reasoning\non their opinions.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nNever revolt against the laws you make for yourself.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nOur worst disappointments are when we disappoint ourselves. This is\nthe feeling of Chagrin, the painful, inward acknowledgment that we\n\u201chave made fools of ourselves.\u201d Few reflections are more bitter, or\nless easily escaped.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nOur wisest warnings are often most applicable to ourselves. Steele,\ndeviled by duns, wrote of the disgrace of contracting debts which one\ncannot pay; and Bacon scribbled wise saws about domestic economy at\none end of the room, while his steward was robbing him at the other.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIndividuality is anarchic and subversive; it accepts no institution\nbecause it is old and reverend; it brings a jewel which fits into no\nready-made setting; it cries with Walt Whitman:\u2015\u2015\n\n  My call is the call of battle; I nourish active rebellion,\n  He going with me must go well-armed.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIndividuality is the antithesis of egotism. He who is most himself\nbest appreciates and most respects the self of others.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nSelf-distrust is nowhere more appropriate than in discussing difficult\nquestions, and nowhere less displayed.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThat we have not the ability to do, rather than that we have not the\nopportunity to enjoy, is the source of most of our unhappiness.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe misanthropy of the young is dissatisfaction with self; that of the\nold is detestation of others. Youth hopes to find life a romance,\nhimself as its hero; age would like it a history which posterity would\nprize. When disappointed, youth is despairing; age is resentful.\n\n\n\n\nPART IV.\n\nHow far our Happiness depends on Others.\n\n\n\n\nI. _What Others Give Us: Safety, Liberty, Education._\n\n\nA student of human affairs has observed that it is very difficult to\nfind happiness within oneself, and impossible to discover it\nelsewhere. Were the witticism reversed it would be equally true.\n\u201cImperfect happiness,\u201d observes the philosopher Kant, \u201carises from\nman\u2019s _unsocial_ passions.\u201d Man\u2019s only enemy is man, but he is also\nhis only ally. In the pursuit of happiness each must aid himself with\nall his might, but all his might will prove of no avail without the\naid of others.\n\nThe well-being of the individual depends directly on the social\norganization around him. From it alone can he obtain safety, freedom,\nand the means of knowledge; in return, it demands respect for its\nrules,\u2015\u2015that which we call Morality.\n\nFor security, safety, man is absolutely dependent on his fellows, on\nsociety. Deprived of it, a prey to well-grounded fears, he can neither\ndevelop his own powers nor enjoy the fruit of his labors. If you know\nthe bloodhounds are on your track, the most beautiful landscape will\nlose its attractions. When the courtier Damocles praised Dionysius to\nhis face as the happiest man on earth, the tyrant seated the sycophant\nat a luxurious repast with a sword suspended above his head by a\nsingle hair. The story is familiar to all, because its moral is a\nuniversal truth. The king stood alone on the giddy height of his\npower, and the dread of the inevitable fall was the vampyre that\nsucked the blood from all his pleasures and left them corpses before\nhis eyes.\n\nMen have always felt that the only security is to become members of a\nsocial organization. The savagest horde has its own, its totem, clan,\nor gens. But in pursuit of safety, men are apt to sacrifice freedom.\nTo escape the fire, they plunge into the water; but neither element is\ntheir right abode. Society stands opposed to the individual. It\ngoverns by rules and averages, demands conformity, restricts liberty,\ndislikes personality.\n\nThus arises the ceaseless struggle, to and fro, over the earth,\nthrough all history, between the social and the individual theories of\nhappiness. The constitution of the ideal civil society should realize\nthe conditions necessary for the highest personal enjoyment. But where\ndo we find such a constitution? Not even in theory have we reached it.\nOn the one side are the moral tyrants, afflicted with what Mirabeau\ncalled the mania of governing, _la fureur de gouverner_, who would\nmake men happy against their will by prescribing for them what they\nshould eat and what they should drink, on what days they should work\nand on what days play. Over against them is the camp of the\ndisclassed, unable to govern themselves, and, therefore, hating to be\ngoverned by any.\n\nBoth are equally impotent to the end both profess. Nothing but a\ndistorted growth can result from a conformity to moral standards\nbrought about by external compulsion. Only what a man does or leaves\nundone of his own free will develops and strengthens his nature.\nFreedom makes him a man, compulsion an animated machine. Good soldiers\nare not trained by fighting behind ramparts, but by exposure in the\nfield to the enemy. What if some perish in the fray? The success of\nthe day is cheaply bought by the fall of the few.\n\nLimitations, restrictions, however, there must be, and that man alone\nis truly a freeman who recognizes and respects them. Liberty is not\nlawlessness; it is the ability to make the law our servant and not our\nmaster, an ability which we must acquire through our own efforts. The\nrights of men are equal, but they can enjoy them only so far as they\nqualify themselves so to do. All citizens of the United States have an\nequal right to pre-empt a portion of the public domain; but to secure\nthe land they must make certain personal efforts. So it is with all\nother social advantages and conditions of happiness; men deserve them\nonly so far as they cultivate a capacity for them; and not equality,\nbut justice in their distribution, must be the final aim of every sane\nsocial compact.\n\nThe only use of this excellent government of ours, or of any other on\nthe face of the earth, is\u2015\u2015what? The preservation of your liberty and\nmine. Nothing else. Never forget this. Any government is worth paying\na dollar to support, or lifting a finger to defend, only so far as it\nsecures to each woman and man her or his greatest possible personal\nliberty. To the extent that it falls short of this or goes beyond it,\nit is worthless and an enemy. The limits of a government are plain\nenough, when we thus define them from the vantage-ground of individual\nfreedom. It should protect from external enemies and internal\ndissensions, and from violence to person or property; it should\nenforce justice between man and man, and woman and man; it should\nextend its direct care to the weak, the immature, and the incapable;\nand it should supply to all the means of self-culture, of education,\nin its widest sense. Here its action should end. All else should be\nleft to the individual.\n\nThere is another theory of government than this. It would treat all\nmen as if they never come of age, or remain forever feeble-minded. It\nwould supply them with work, take care of their pay, dictate their\namusements, prohibit doubtful indulgences, and deliver from\ntemptations by removing them. Such a government would make grown-up\nchildren, not men. It is the ideal of all priests, of most women, and\nof dreamers. It has at times been partially realized, and always with\ndisastrous results to the strength of the individual character. I have\nseen more drunken men in one week in the State of Maine, where the\nsale of intoxicants is prohibited, than during three months in Italy,\nwhere their sale is unrestricted.\n\nThe advocates of all such attacks on personal liberty\u2015\u2015be they priests\nor social dreamers\u2015\u2015are not less opposed to free thought than to free\naction. The defense of their opinions, not the discovery of truth, is\nto them the purpose of research. The logical ultimatum of the one is\nthe stake, of the other the dynamite bomb. Both would restrict the\nuntrammeled and unbiased pursuit of knowledge.\n\nKnowledge, however, is the twin brother of liberty and the provider\nfor the treasury of happiness. Much more than a fine phrase is the\npoet\u2019s line, that \u201cHe is a freeman, whom the truth makes free.\u201d Not\nwhat he is, or what he has, but what he _knows_, gives the individual\nreal power, and, through power, freedom and the ability to use it for\nthe gratification of his desires through the unrestricted employment\nof his faculties.\n\nThe materials of knowledge are represented by the degree of\ncivilization possessed by a nation. Their distribution should be\nthrough education\u2015\u2015unbiased, secular, universal\u2015\u2015co-extensive with the\ndemand of the governed, equal to both sexes. This is within the plain\nprovince of government. Children cannot educate themselves, and\nignorant parents see no need of learning. Yet the period of childhood\nis the golden age for instruction. It is the epoch of permanent\nimpressions, dear and indelible, like the initials of a loved one cut\non the bark of a young beech, remaining legible even when the solid\nheart of the aged tree is decayed.\n\nInertia denies the possibility of improvement. Obscurantism dislikes\nit. Let them pass on. Whatever a man is, there is the power for better\nwithin him; we know not how much better. Faculties trained turn from\nbad to good. What is a weed in the fields becomes a flower in the\ngarden. The State cannot afford to leave education to the people.\nGrass grows of itself, but grain needs tillage.\n\nHow strongly this is shown in the lamentable education of women in all\ncivilized countries! Sedulously confined to empty accomplishments and\nconventional moralities, they are everywhere found to be the chief\nsupporters of decaying dogmas, serfs to social opinion, frittering\naway their lives in vanities which men have left centuries behind\nthem. Both sexes are to blame for this. Men love to rule, and they\nfear the increased knowledge which freedom would bring to women; and\nwomen are jealous of the eminence which learning gives a sister and\nseek to belittle its value.\n\nWhat if I refer again and again to this subject? I have too often\nwitnessed the exceeding unhappiness of women in all grades of society\nnot to have it frequently in my thoughts. They are more unhappy than\nmen, as I have said before, and I believe it is mainly because they\nare worse educated. I know the instruction in the best schools for\ngirls in the United States, and to what is it directed? To two ends,\nto be \u201cgood,\u201d and to shine in society. What they should be taught is\nto understand the hygiene of their own bodies, to take care of their\nown money, to govern their decisions by justice and reason and not by\nimpulse, to occupy their thoughts with facts and not with fiction,\nand, more than all, to be independent in thought and deed, and not to\nallow either society or sentimentality to cast the final vote in the\ndirection of their actions.\n\nSuch doctrine may sound heretical; so I hasten to bring to its support\na reputable endorser in the person of a clergyman of the Church of\nEngland, that writer who so charmingly combines the best of humor with\nthe best of sense, the Rev. Sydney Smith. I take it from his essay on\n\u201cFemale Education,\u201d an essay that ought to be read and pondered by\nevery woman in the land, the whole burden and spirit of which is\nexpressed in the following most pregnant sentence,\u2015\u2015\u201cThe happiness of\nwoman will be increased in proportion as education gives to her the\nhabit and the means of _drawing her resources from herself_.\u201d\n\nHow much better this than the following insufferable twaddle of Thomas\nde Quincey: \u201cIt is more in harmony with the retiring graces of their\nsexual character that they should practice a general rule of\nsubmission to the traditional belief of their own separate Church,\neven when that belief has long been notoriously challenged as\nerroneous\u201d? He is in earnest, too; and the late Poet Laureate in \u201cIn\nMemoriam\u201d said nearly the same. Blind leaders of the blind! who think\nthat falsehood and ignorance are going to point the way to light and\ntruth.\n\nThe fact is, the moral side of woman has been educated, and thus\neducated, out of all proportion to her other faculties. What is not\n\u201cvery stuff of the conscience\u201d makes little or no impression on her.\nThe Good, the Fit, the Conventional are for her the True; which is a\ngrievous error, and retards her real progress.\n\nEducation is not only the foundation for happiness; it should and it\ncan be made a pleasure in itself. This will sound strange to those who\nare principally familiar with such institutions of education as those\nof the Mr. Squeers or Dr. Blimber type. But the schoolmaster has\nhimself been to school, and after flogging children for several\nthousand years, and thereby developing a healthy hatred of books which\nit is a wonder did not hurl the race back into barbarism, he has\nlearned from Froebel and Pestalozzi and others that it is actually\npossible for a sane mind to study with pleasure if the chance is\noffered. Indeed, a learned writer who has many admirers in this\ncountry, Mr. Herbert Spencer, is able to say,\u2015\u2015\u201cThe usual test of\npolitical legislation\u2015\u2015its tendency to promote happiness\u2015\u2015is beginning\nto be the test of legislation for the school and the nursery;\u201d and\nelsewhere,\u2015\u2015\u201cAs a final test by which to judge any plan of culture\nshould come the question,\u2015\u2015Does it create a pleasurable sensation in\nthe pupil?\u201d\n\nThis is good counsel; but, like many good things, it is also old. Two\nthousand years ago or so Plato wrote,\u2015\u2015\u201cIn education, direct boys to\nwhat amuses their minds.\u201d\n\nSecurity, liberty, and the means of knowledge,\u2015\u2015these, therefore, are\nthe conditions of happiness which every government should, and all in\nsome measure do, offer the individual. For them, he is entirely\ndependent on others. In whatever delusion to the contrary his\nignorance or his arrogance may plunge him, he can obtain these\ninestimable benefits in no other way than through the social\norganization, and he cannot therefore escape his liability for them.\nIf he denies it or refuses it, the consequences will be as inevitable\nas they will be disastrous. He who wisely consults the conditions\nwhich determine his own happiness will not seek in isolation or\nself-sufficiency these elements, which can alone be obtained through\nthe co-operation of his fellow-man.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nSocial progress is advanced far more by strengthening the weak than by\nchastising the wicked.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe sense of safety implies not merely absence of fear, but also\nfreedom of action.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nJustice should be the motto of the State; prudence that of the\nindividual.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nSelf-recognition is a part of happiness; but the recognition by others\nof what we pride ourselves upon, is another and a large part of it.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nMan is a social being; but the true aim of his social activity is to\nlearn how to be solitary.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nHe who thinks it necessary to seek solitude for self-improvement often\nfinds there is still one too many persons present.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe purpose of law is liberty; of obedience, independence; of\nsubmission, emancipation.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe well-being of the individual, not of the class, should be the aim\nof government. It should not be \u201cby the people for the people,\u201d but by\nthe people for the person.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe true moral education is that which makes every intellectual\nquestion a matter of conscience, and every matter of conscience an\nintellectual question.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nAn explanation which demonstrates the impossibility of knowing is\nabout as satisfactory as one which imparts the knowledge desired. But\nthere are some who call everything incomprehensible which they do not\ncomprehend.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nMany children and nearly all girls are educated by equivocations and\ntaught truths by means of falsehoods. What have the teachers to expect\nwhen their pupils discover this fact?\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThere are a good many branches of education about which it is\nsufficient for most to know that they exist.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThat moral strength is alone real which has been acquired by repeated\nexposure to temptation and repeated successful resistance.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWe never fully acknowledge to ourselves how very human we are. We each\nsecretly think that there is something in us not shared by any other\nman or woman.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWomen love too deeply to be able to judge justly.\n\n\n\n\nII. _What we Owe Others: Morality, Duty, Benevolence._\n\n\nThe much-maligned Epicurus is reported to have delivered the oracular\nutterance,\u2015\u2015\u201cThe man who is not virtuous can never be happy;\u201d and\npoets and moralists have exhausted their ingenuity in devising\nvariants of the well-worn line,\u2015\u2015\u201c\u2019Tis virtue only makes our bliss\nbelow.\u201d\n\nWho would have supposed that philosophers should have been found\u2015\u2015aye,\nand they of high degree\u2015\u2015who toss overboard these venerable maxims as\nantiquated rubbish? Yet such is the surprising case.\n\nThe mighty Kant, tearing away the cobwebs of the dogmatic philosophy,\nfeared not to declare,\u2015\u2015\u201cThere is not in the moral law the slightest\nground for a necessary connection between Morality and Happiness;\u201d and\nagain,\u2015\u2015\u201cThe goal of a perfect harmony of Desire and Duty cannot be\nobtained;\u201d while in our own day the critical Alexander Bain calmly\nobserves,\u2015\u2015\u201cHappiness and Virtue are independent aims and not\nidentical. The treatment of Happiness should be dissevered from that\nof Ethics.\u201d\n\nScarcely could the contrast of the new and the old schools of thought\nbe more vividly displayed than in these brief quotations. There are\nsome, indeed, who have even gone farther, and maintained that the\npursuit of happiness and that of virtue are not only independent, but\neven incompatible aims; because, writes Dr. Despine, a French\npsychologist of repute,\u2015\u2015\u201cHappiness is the satisfaction of desire,\nwhile virtue consists in doing good, not to satisfy the desire of\ndoing it, but out of a sense of duty, and in opposition to desire.\u201d\nThis statement, however, overlooks the existence of a moral sense and\nthe normal pleasure derived from its gratification.\n\nMorality and the moral sense are not to be confounded. All men have a\nlove for the beautiful, but nowise agree as to what is beautiful; and\nthere is just as wide and just as impassable a gulf between the\nvarious conceptions of morals, although, in all, the moral sense is\npresent.\n\nMorality is nothing more than the conformity of the individual to the\ntype of the society in which he lives. It is the recognition of the\ndebt which he owes it for securing him the privileges of safety,\nliberty, and education, as I have explained in the last chapter. Not\nhis own moral sense, but the society in which he is, lays down the\nterms on which that debt is to be paid; and while he feels on the one\nside entitled to these rights, he acknowledges, on the other, his\nliability for his social duties in exchange for them.\n\nThere is, therefore, no such thing as a universal or even a general\ncode of morality, nor can there be. There is no act which may not\nsometimes be right and sometimes be wrong. I have heard of a French\nwriter, who composed a work entitled \u201cThe Seven Cardinal Sins,\u201d\nshowing how under certain circumstances every one of them could be\ncommitted by a perfectly virtuous person. I have never read his book,\nbut I delight in his doctrine. Take the Decalogue itself, written, as\nwe are told, by the very finger of Divinity, and there is not a\ncommand in it that both Christian and Jew do not break most virtuously\nwhenever occasion calls. \u201cThou shalt not kill;\u201d and all nations spend\nmore annually in preparations for killing by land and sea than they do\nin a generation for institutions of learning. \u201cThou shalt not rob;\u201d\nand Abraham Lincoln with one glorious stroke of his pen robbed the\ncitizens of the United States of a hundred million dollars\u2019 worth of\nvaluable slaves. Truth-telling? The observation of Socrates in the\nSymposium still holds good,\u2015\u2015\u201cIn speaking of holy things or persons,\nthere is a general understanding that you should praise them, not that\nyou should tell the truth about them;\u201d witness the discussions that\ncome up from time to time on the characters of \u201cthe Fathers of the\nRepublic\u201d or the books of the Bible.\n\nIn every code of morals there is one law for our friends and another\nfor the rest of the world; our duty to our family is ever in conflict\nwith our duty to our neighbor; and our duty to our country is opposed\nto our duty to humanity at large. A father who would treat other\nchildren as his own would be deemed unnatural, and a statesman who\nconsulted the advantages of other nations would be cast out as a\ntraitor. This is the \u201cdualism of morals,\u201d and its necessary existence\ndestroys all possibility of a universal and inflexible code of morals.\nThe antagonism is not likely to decrease. The most violent\ncontradictions between the various views of life will be likely to be\nfound precisely in the highest culture; because there the individual\ncomes most to his own, and is least willing to sacrifice his own\nrights to a society whose claims he disallows.\n\nMen now question the right of society to demand what it does from them\nin exchange for the benefits it confers upon them; and they are right.\nSociety itself must be brought to the test of the Moral Sense. This\nfaculty is that which we also call the sense of Duty, or of \u201cthe\nOught,\u201d or Conscience. It is a judge, not a lawgiver, and it derives\nits right of sitting in judgment from its ancient descent, dating back\nto the time when man first gathered together in hordes or clans under\nsome sheltering rock for mutual aid. It is as much a part of human\nnature as is the love of association, and as such its satisfaction is\nas essential to happiness, but is by no means the whole of happiness,\nas so many have taught. In fact, it is often enough entirely absent,\nas in genuine criminals. It is now well known that these neither\nexperience remorse for crime nor take pleasure in well-doing, whatever\nsentimentalists may say to the contrary.\n\nThe pleasure of the moral sense comes solely from the satisfaction of\nitself, and not necessarily, in the least, from the practice of virtue\nor benevolence or charity. The inquisitor, Torquemada, lighting the\nhellfires of the Inquisition, the anarchist hurling his bomb into the\ncrowd, Judith yielding her maiden chastity to the embrace of\nHolofernes, all enjoyed the highest pleasure of the moral sense,\nbecause all acted in the complete conviction that they were doing\nright.\n\nThe man is moral who believes he is so, and the woman is chaste who\nconsiders herself such, no matter what their actions are. What we\nthink the most fiendish crimes have been perpetrated by fervent\nChristians, and there are religions now numbering millions of\nintelligent adherents in which the prostitution of girls is considered\na meritorious act.\n\nWhen Adam Smith laid down the three requisites for individual\nhappiness as health, freedom from debt, and a clear conscience, he\nframed a sensible prescription; but should have explained that a clear\nconscience in nearly all cases means simply conformity to the standard\nof our age and nation, not at all to any higher or abstract ideal. So\nfar from the devotion to a lofty or unusual virtue bringing happiness,\nit always entails proscription, pain, and sorrow on him who advocates\nit. The crowd ever cry out, \u201cCrucify him! Crucify him!\u201d Every one of\nthe noble army of leaders in ethical progress was in his own day\nbranded as an infidel, cursed by the Churches, and driven forth from\nthe enjoyments which a less developed moral sense would have permitted\nhim to indulge. He who rises above the law is ever against the law.\n\nHence it is that with perfect truth, though with a lurking satire on\nthe commonplaces of moral doctrine, Professor Bain writes,\u2015\u2015\u201cTo\nrealize the greatest happiness from virtue we should be careful to\nconform to the standard of the time and place, neither rising above\nnor falling beneath it; we should make our virtues apparent and showy,\nand perform them with the least sacrifice to ourselves; we should hold\nour associations with duty, as well as our natural sympathies with our\nfellows, only at a moderate strength.\u201d\n\nIn certain natures the satisfaction of the moral sense yields a\nhappiness worth all sacrifices, just as in others the feeling of\nunrestrained liberty will be gratified at the expense of everything\nthat the majority hold dear. Both are exceptional, and there are quite\nas many who suffer nothing from a violation of the sense of duty or\nfrom the loss of liberty.\n\nNo platitude is more erroneous than this,\u2015\u2015\u201cTo be vicious is to be\nmiserable;\u201d for were it so, we should not have the hordes of the\nvicious infesting society. Far more correct is the observation of that\nacute observer of life, Vauvenargues, that virtue cannot make the\nvicious happy, _La vertu ne peut faire le bonheur des m\u00e9chants_. He\nmight have added that virtue can never make the virtuous happy, for\nthe really virtuous man is always above the standard of his time, and\nis sure to suffer in consequence from the antagonism he develops, and\nfrom his sorrowful appreciation of the sentiment that prompts it.\n\nThe education of the moral sense has hitherto been retarded by two\npopular but mistaken doctrines; the one that the moral life is \u201cthe\nchief end of man;\u201d the other that it means obedience to a code of\nlaws.\n\nAgain I repeat that the chief end of man is the symmetrical\ndevelopment of all his powers and faculties and the enjoyment which he\nwill derive from their activity, and not at all the exclusive or\npreponderant attention to one or the other element of his nature. His\nmoral sense is merely the guide of the duties he owes to others,\nduties indispensable to his own life and liberty, but by no means\nexhaustive of his nature; rather, merely giving him the opportunity\nfor the higher aim of developing himself. The moral life is but a\nmeans to an end, and not an end in itself.\n\nThe confusion of the moral life with obedience to a moral code dates\nback beyond history, and is almost as active to-day as ever, in spite\nof the efforts of such teachers as Buddha and Christ to show the\nfalsity of it. Both proclaimed the absolute independence of the moral\nsense from moral laws. Such laws are either religious, expressing\nsupposed duties to God, as the Jews believe that He forbade them to\neat pork, or, as they and the Christians, that He decided that one day\nin seven is more sacred than the others; or they are conventional or\ncivil, which are merely the customs, _mores_, of the nation or\ncommunity.\n\nIndependent of all these codes, which for the most part are survivals,\nand in the present day absurd, are the Benevolent Emotions, the\ngratification of which to the properly developed individual\nconstitutes a large element of personal happiness. They arise not from\na sense of duty, because they do not have reference to what is due the\nsocial compact, but from sympathy, acquired or inherited. The relief\nof the pain of others, the administration of efficient consolation,\nthe diminution of the sorrows of those around us, yield to ourselves a\npleasurable satisfaction, a sense of appropriate activity, which is so\nreal that it is a wonder it is not more diligently cultivated. Too\nmany, perhaps, look for a part of their return in the gratitude of\nthose assisted, instead of in the pleasure of the act itself, and,\nbeing disappointed, find the field of charity less flowery than they\nanticipated. They commit the common error of placing the end of\nenjoyment external to themselves instead of the means only.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe only sure method to distinguish good from evil is first to learn\nto discriminate true from false.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nA sincere lover of truth is never wholly in the wrong; chiefly because\nhe never claims to be wholly in the right.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe finest thought I found in Chamfort\u2019s writings\u2015\u2015and it is\nwonderfully fine, deserving to be the motto of every work on the Art\nof Happiness\u2015\u2015is this,\u2015\u2015_Le plaisir peut_ _s\u2019appuyer sur l\u2019illusion,\nmais le bonheur repose sur la v\u00e9rit\u00e9_, \u201cErrors may yield us Pleasure,\nbut truth alone can give Happiness.\u201d\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nOnly through fulfilling his duties to society can man secure from\nsociety that which is essential to his own welfare. This is why the\ninward realization of the moral law becomes a part of the Art of\nHappiness.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nA moral act is simply one which, at the time and under the special\ncircumstances, is useful to the society in which it takes place. Hence\nit has nothing to do with individual Motive, which is the only Mentor\nrecognized by the educated moral sense.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe ancient Greeks believed that the laws of human society are laws of\nnature, and therefore absolute. In Sophocles\u2019 tragedy, it is no excuse\nfor \u0152dipus, when he kills his father and marries his mother, that he\ndoes so in absolute ignorance of the relationship. His remorse and\npunishment are not abated.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nOne school of modern writers maintains that all virtues are but vices\ndisguised; another, that all vices are but virtues misdirected. As\nthese terms are entirely relative, both schools are right,\u2015\u2015and wrong.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nSo long as war is possible, a perfected social life is impossible; but\nwhen Justice will not be listened to in any lower notes, she must\nspeak through the mouths of cannons.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nPeace, not happiness, is the reward of virtue.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe man who professes duty as the sole guide of his life is either\nhypocritical or ignorant.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWeaklings and hypocrites like to extol the goodness of men; the former\nto allay their own fears, the latter because it reflects flatteringly\non themselves.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIt is no proof that a sentiment is noble because men are willing to\ndie for it. More men knowingly sacrifice themselves to pleasure than\nto duty.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe lines of morality, observed Burke, differ from those of geometry;\nthey have breadth as well as length, and for that reason will not form\nset and angular figures.\n\n\n\n\nIII. _The Practice of Business and the Enjoyment of Society._\n\n\nLet us grant that the true aim of the individual is his own highest\ndevelopment: he can reach it only through the ministry of his fellow\nbeings. Vain the effort to seek expansion or happiness apart from his\nkind. The soul rusts in solitude; to be bright and keen it requires\nfriction with others. Alone, it starves and pines, grows misshapen and\ndistorted; in company, it gives and receives, assists others, and is\nin turn assisted. Let us do no injustice to the balm and the blessings\nof solitude; but the growth of the world is due to the blending and\nthe striving of mind with mind.\n\nThe word which expresses this is Association. It conveys various\ndegrees of intimacy, from the lowest, that of the ordinary intercourse\nof Business and Society, through the increasingly closer ties of\nFellowship, Comradeship, and Friendship, up to that dearest of all,\nwherein the two sexes unite to cast the rays of life into the infinite\nfuture, Love and Marriage.\n\nThere is nothing in any of these that demands the sacrifice of the\nindividual. The gauge which marks the high-water line in them all is\none and the same\u2015\u2015the maintenance of the utmost freedom of the\nindividual along with the utmost sympathy and accordance with the\nindividuality of others. As it is only through these, through\nparticipation in all of these relations of association, that the\nhighest degree of personal happiness can be attained, I shall consider\neach in turn very briefly, little more than hinting of those maxims\nand principles which stand approved as contributing to a reasonable\nsuccess and a wise enjoyment of them.\n\nDealing with men is the daily business of life; but a knowledge of\nhuman nature, even in this restricted relation, is the latest\nknowledge which one acquires.\n\nThe first maxim is _to distrust_.\n\n\u201cAll men are liars,\u201d said the Psalmist; and there is no stronger proof\nof the saying than that all men deny it. History and sermons and\nsympathy combine to conceal or to modify the truth, in order that we\nmay walk in peace with our fellow-men. Be it so. But at least, in our\nown minds, let us acknowledge facts. We are none the better ourselves\nfor believing others to be better than they are. \u201cThe transacting of\nbusiness,\u201d observes Bacon, \u201cis chiefly a commerce with fools;\u201d my\ncomment upon which is, that he will be the worst fooled who thinks he\nis the only wise man; of which my Lord of Verulam is said to have been\na conspicuous example.\n\nInsincerity has no limit. If a man does not show what he is when first\nyou meet him, wait a year to decide. The insincere aim most to deceive\nby what most they show. Concerning them, therefore, follow the Italian\nmaxim, believe the incredible and doubt the probable. The very pious\ncashier, not the thoughtless clerk, will be the one to run away with\nthe money.\n\nThe second maxim is _to trust_.\n\nConfidence in others is the corner-stone both of fortune and felicity.\nIt is the grateful dew which fertilizes the flowers of sincerity, of\ntruthfulness, and honor; and even common honesty will wither if\nexposed to the scalding breath of suspicion. Reputation lives in the\nminds of others, and if we know ours has no fixed abode there, but is\nharbored as a doubtful and distrusted intruder, our staunchest\nargument for preserving it is gone.\n\nHe who can happily combine the oil and vinegar of these two maxims in\nhis dealings with men, will carry with him a charm which will guard\nhim from the bitterest disappointments to which we are liable in the\nhard contest for material aims.\n\nBusiness intercourse we cannot avoid; but we seek it for other ends\nthan pleasure; social intercourse is that which we pursue for\nenjoyment only,\u2015\u2015or, at least, pretend to. Hence, we call it\nspecifically \u201cSociety;\u201d and we distinguish it into certain fanciful\ngrades, as \u201cgood society,\u201d \u201cthe best society,\u201d and \u201chigh life.\u201d Men\nand women enter it equally, and the spirit of it is held to be apart\nfrom, even quite the reverse of, that of business life. Many men and\nall women look upon it as the field in which the chief victories of\ntheir careers must be won and the main elements of their happiness\ndiscovered.\n\nWhy sneer at such sentiments? The drawing-room, the only stage on\nwhich the two sexes meet on equal terms, is the innermost sanctuary of\ncivilization, and the hostess is high priestess of the shrine. Its\ndevelopment registers the epochs in the history of culture. Francis I\nhas two special claims on the praise of posterity; the one, that he\nproclaimed himself honored by the friendship of Titian; the other,\nthat he was the first to admit women to the court society of France.\nThe drawing-room confers the last degree in the liberal arts. No\neducation is complete which has not received its finishing touches at\nthe hands of a refined woman; and enlightenment will first deserve its\nname when her rights are everywhere as much respected and her\ninfluence as freely acknowledged as they are now in her own parlors.\n\nGood-will is the basis of good society. He who quits a company,\npleased, and conscious of having pleased, is its model member. There\nis nothing derogatory in this. Conceal it as we may, the secret motive\nof our every effort is the hope of pleasing somebody else. The\ninterchange of kindly courtesies and approving expressions is a\ncommendable pastime. He who prides himself on being \u201cbeholden to\nnobody\u201d is a pseudo-philosopher. The true philosopher enjoys society,\nbut is not dependent on it for his enjoyment.\n\nWould-be superior men have inveighed against society because its\nmembers are and must be for the most part \u201cordinary people,\u201d and its\ntopics common-place. Really superior men prefer ordinary people,\nbecause, as Goethe so well said, \u201cThey are more human.\u201d Nobody was\ncommon-place to the eye of that great master, because each represented\nthe species. It is certainly true that in the long run, and for \u201chuman\nnature\u2019s daily use,\u201d ordinary people are the most agreeable. We really\nshould not desire high thinking in high life. People fraternize more\nreadily on lower levels because they are broader. Nations gather\ntogether on plains, not on mountain tops. These are suitable for\nstar-gazers and eagle-hunters.\n\nThose who dislike society are usually those who are not at ease in it,\nfrom lack of early training. Few enjoy dancing who have learned from\nan awkward master, and a lifetime is not long enough to comb the\nhayseed from a farmer boy\u2019s hair.\n\nThe one maxim for success in society is to be agreeable; and the\nagreeable man is he who agrees with others. Society expects persons to\noffer enjoyment and pleasure, not improvement. One should accept men\nas they are and not seek to change them; it is a less task to adapt\nyourself to others than them to you. One that enters a company that he\nlikes, is liked by it; but nothing is so justly exasperating as a show\nof superiority.\n\nThe aim of society is to bring about a closer union of its members by\nhaving them meet on planes of thought and emotion which are common to\nall. The expression of discordant ideas and feelings, be they higher\nor lower, is, therefore, out of place. On the other hand, a company is\nharmonized, and its elements happily fused together, by some general\nimpression made on all at the same moment, and the enjoyment of all is\ncorrespondingly heightened. This may be by a strain of music\nappropriately introduced, by a few apt remarks on a topic of general\ninterest, or by the exhibition of curious or beautiful objects. The\nsense of a sentiment in common is at once established, and the company\nfeels that each knows the other better for this property in\ncommonalty. The skillful hostess knows how often and by what devices\nthus to promote the unity of her guests. Multiply the ties which bind\nsociety together and you multiply the pleasure it yields and the\nbenefits which are derived from it.\n\nReally good society is not selfish, nor does it encourage selfishness.\nRather it is based on a certain sacrifice of self. Those circles offer\nlittle enjoyment where each aims at nothing but his own; amusement is\nabsent where no one endeavors to amuse others. Nor is it unjustly\ncensorious. Its judgments are generally recognized as fair, and\nnothing so fortifies the moral sense as the approval of the society in\nwhich one is accustomed to move; while the terrors of the Hereafter\nare small compared to its disapproval. The stoutest minds have\nacknowledged this. \u201cWho can see worse days,\u201d asks Bacon, \u201cthan he who\nyet living doth follow at the funeral of his own reputation? I can\ndesire no greater place than in the front of good opinion.\u201d\n\nIt is quite true that this power, like that of all irresponsible\nautocrats, is sometimes abused to the injury of the worthy; but the\nharm is slight compared to the results which are good. True, also,\nthat general society is a poor test of a man\u2019s real nature. One may\npossess many agreeable qualities and yet fail to be agreeable, through\nlack of good taste or early training in their use under social\nconditions. Or, again, though a kindly disposition makes a man\npopular, it by no means follows because a man is popular that he has a\nkindly disposition. We must accept society with these deficiencies,\nfor in spite of them all it is a potent auxiliary in the pursuit of\nhappiness.\n\nGenuine kindliness of heart,\u2015\u2015this is the sweetest trait of human\nnature. Unfortunately, it is one of the rarest; so that society, which\nappreciates it so highly that it cannot exist without at least its\nsemblance, substitutes for it\u2015\u2015Politeness.\n\nThough a semblance only, it is a noble counterfeit. Urbanity presages\nperfected Humanity. It is the outward and visible sign of what should\nbe the inward and spiritual nature. It is a prophecy of the Golden Age\nand is based on the Golden Rule. When some one asked Aristotle how we\nshould conduct ourselves toward our associates, he replied,\u2015\u2015\u201cWe\nshould treat them as we wish them to treat us.\u201d\n\nPoliteness is the only currency which costs nothing and buys much. Its\ntenders are counters and yet pass as coin. Who but a fool, therefore,\nwould refuse to use them liberally? Such fools there are, however, and\nin abundance. It is a key which has the pleasant power of both closing\nthe doors below and opening those above us; for there is no bar to the\nunwelcome familiarity of inferiors equal to scrupulous politeness, and\nno passport so sure to the esteem of our superiors in age or station.\n\nCheap as it is, it is too precious to be wasted, and like the free\ngifts of nature, water or sunlight, there are occasions when it must\nbe doled out in small quantities, and at all times be dispensed with a\nprovident hand. Few social blunders are more painful than to display a\nwarmth of manner which is not reciprocated; and there are rude natures\nwho cannot distinguish kindliness of behavior from weakness of\npurpose.\n\nThe common lien of society is Talk; and the talk must be essentially\nsmall talk. No greater blunder could be committed than to suppose that\nsociety wants, or ought to want, Conversation, in the dignified sense\nof that term, in which an idea is introduced and expanded, a\nproposition developed, or an argument stated. Nothing of the sort.\n\u201cThe best conversation,\u201d observes Mr. Malloch, \u201cis never worth\nremembering.\u201d Perhaps he had in his mind the remark of Talleyrand, who\nsaid that the finest converser he ever heard was his own mother, but\nthat he was unable to recall a single pointed or brilliant expression\nshe had used.\n\nSmall talk is in society what small change is in the daily affairs of\nlife,\u2015\u2015you need it twenty times for your gold-piece once. It is no\nsuch easy matter to master the art of it. To talk much and to say\nlittle one must be very clever or a fool; and the still higher art of\nputting others to their best paces, so that you act only as starter in\nthe race while others win the purse, asks an amount of tact which is\nequaled only by the self-denial involved.\n\nThe expert in talk will aim to please and not to instruct; he will not\ndisturb the convictions of elderly persons who have made up their\nminds; nor the self-complacency of any by a display of superiority,\nespecially in his judgment or reasoning powers; if he boasts, it will\nbe of his luck and not of his cleverness; he may compliment a woman on\nher beauty, but never a rich man on his riches; he will contradict\nonly those who disparage themselves, and if he dips into a deep\nquestion, he will only stir it and not settle it; he will avoid\nallusions to his own ailments, but sedulously inquire about those of\nothers; but his chief aim will be to find out first whether the person\nwhom he addresses prefers to talk or to listen, and scrupulously let\nhim have his way.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWhen all are of one mind, what is left to say worth hearing?\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nSave your best thoughts for your best friends.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nFrivolity is the armor of good society, worn to protect it against the\nviolence of passions and the ennui of enthusiasms.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nSubservience to society is in man what \u201cprotective mimicry\u201d is in\ninsects,\u2015\u2015an unconscious tendency to imitation for the purpose of\nself-preservation.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nYouth looks to be received in society with greater sympathy than it\nfinds; age will find more than it generally expects.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nAcquaintances rate us first at the value we put on ourselves; later at\nthe value we prove to them.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThose who visit you, find out how you live; you must visit them to\nfind out how they live.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nForgive if you can, but do not forget. Characters change little, and a\nbase action is a landmark worth remembering.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nA lie comes readier in society than in solitude; but for all that, it\nis easier to deceive oneself than others.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nOnly those of violent prejudices violently attack the prejudices of\nothers.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIt is a rule in polite society not to refer to three subjects\u2015\u2015a man\u2019s\nfalse hair, his religion, or his politics; and for the same\nreason\u2015\u2015because neither is his own, but merely borrowed from others.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nCurious inconsistency! People talk willingly about their physical\nailments, but unwillingly about their moral defects; though the former\ncannot be mended by discussing them, and the latter might be.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nSilence is often sanatory. There are subjects, thoughts, and memories\nwhich, like certain bodily functions, cannot be avoided, but should\nnot be talked about.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nReserve is a great help to reputation. I know a shallow scientist who\nhas gained a fine position mainly owing to his knack of leaving his\nhearers with the impression that he knows much more than he has told.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIt is a noble trait to be above the temptations of fortune; but those\nwho care least about money are not therefore the most honest.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nNothing is more interesting than self-revelation; nor more tedious\nthan self-publication.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIf you avoid disagreeable people, and cease thinking about them, for\nyou they will have no existence.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nSociety is the jury impaneled to try the causes of which the law takes\nno cognizance.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe worst of an unfounded accusation is its foundation.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nNever hit at a hornet unless you are sure of killing it. Never notice\na social scandal about yourself unless you can refute it absolutely. A\nweak defense is more damaging than silence.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIt is a much admired art to turn the weaknesses of others to our own\nprofit. How sublime would be the science which would direct their\nstrength to their own true interests!\n\n\n\n\nIV. _On Fellowship, Comradeship and Friendship._\n\n\nMan is slow to understand how human he is. He thinks he can measure\nhimself by other standards than himself, but all his circuits lead him\nhome again; his most positive knowledge is of himself, and by analogy\nof his own kind. With a wise recognition of the limits of his own\nnature he should seek happiness in the conditions of existence known\nto him and especially among his own species, where alone he can find\nbeings whose endowments are the same, and whose affinities and\nsympathies respond to his own.\n\nSociety, as I have said, is the common field of intercourse in\ncivilized life, and it makes for itself its own various limitations\nand restrictions. Other methods of Association are based on quite\ndifferent principles, but have all been organized with the aim of\nincreasing happiness, and all therefore deserve the cultivation of him\nwho is sedulous about his own. The two motives which give them origin\nare, the one, Interest; the other, Sympathy. The former I may call\nFellowships; the latter, Comradeships.\n\nFellowships, composed of those who _follow_ the same business, trade,\nor profession, and thus have an interest in common,\u2015\u2015this is what the\nword means. They are the guilds, unions, lodges, clubs, societies,\nassociations, companies, which swarm so in our day, whose members are\nheld together by a desire of mutual assistance in making money, or\nraising wages, or providing against misfortune, or maintaining\nprivileges, or buying cheap, or paying each other\u2019s funeral expenses,\nor in a thousand other ways advancing the interests, and thus\nrelieving the burdens and increasing the enjoyment, of their members.\nI knew a man who belonged to over three hundred such associations, and\nas he was in other respects a sensible person, he probably found a\nprofit in this multiplication of ties.\n\nIt is a discovery of modern times of no mean importance that after\nseveral thousand years of open trial, government and religion and\nfriendship and love have all failed in relieving the misery of human\nlife, but that the intelligent recognition of the mutuality of\ninterests does not fail; and, when properly organized, may be counted\non with utmost confidence to prevent most of the disasters and to\nsecure most of the essential material blessings of life,\u2015\u2015far beyond\nthe dreams of the most sanguine reformers of earlier generations.\nThere is no reason why we should have the poor always with us, except\nthe ignorance of men as to their own material interests or their\nindifference to them; and these difficulties must in time diminish, if\nnot disappear. Through association for mutual aid in buying and\nselling, in labor and investment, in defense and assistance, in credit\nand insurance, and the like, the date is almost calculable when the\ndeserving poor will as a class no longer exist, and extreme indigence\nwill mean either idleness or crime.\n\nThe rock on which most such schemes have shattered has been that in\ntheir blind effort at mutuality they have overlooked the prime import\nof individuality\u2015\u2015the freedom and autonomy of each member. It should\nnever be forgotten that the only value of any scheme of association is\nthe development of the individual. Any society which does not make\nthis its first and clearly announced purpose is doomed to a deserved\nfailure. There is no sentiment in such associations. They classify men\nlike bricks or boxes, according to the externals or accidents of their\nprofessions or places. They pay no heed to personality beyond the one\nelement in it which they are formed to take cognizance of. For that\nvery reason they are apt to demand disproportionate sacrifices for\nthis, and to encroach on liberty by unjust demands on the member\u2019s\ntime, labor, leisure, or money. They are liable to reach a point where\nthe benefits they confer are not worth the sacrifices they require.\nThis is the history of many labor unions in the United States, and it\nis the characteristic of all the so-called socialistic schemes for\nimproving society. In all of them society is looked upon as paramount\nto the individual, instead of the individual as paramount to society;\nwhereas, his development is that alone for which society has any right\nto exist.\n\nComradeship differs from Fellowship as social does from business life.\nIn it there is no question of interests in common, but only of tastes\nin common\u2015\u2015a mutuality which exists often to the sad injury of\ninterests. Comrades are birds of a feather, who assemble because they\nresemble\u2015\u2015in accordance with the French proverb, _Qui se rassemblent,\ns\u2019assemblent_. They all like dogs, or whist, or yachts, or music, or\nold books, or four-in-hands, or spectral analysis,\u2015\u2015any of the\noccupations of choice which are pursued for the pleasure they yield.\n\nIn modern life this form of Association has largely taken the place of\nFriendship as it was understood by the ancients. It is better adapted\nto the bustle and scurry of these days, when the busy worker has not\ntime to cultivate the amenities of sentiment, but desires to find\nothers who share his favorite tastes, and a ready-made sympathy which\nhe need not be at the trouble of looking after, but which is always at\nhand when he wants it. This he finds in such comradeships, where each\ncomes because he has likings similar to the others, and is therefore\nsure to be a pleasant arrival. Each thus gratifies his own taste and\nincreases its capacity for gratification; for tastes are like\nmagnets,\u2015\u2015the more they are used the stronger becomes their power of\nattraction.\n\nThe higher grades of comradeship are seen in artistic, literary, and\nscientific societies, which pursue their objects for the love of the\nsubject, and not for commercial or other material ends. The\nintellectual communion which they yield to their members is a pleasure\nof a very high order, and an additional and valuable advantage which\nthey possess is that they bring workers in the same fields of\nunselfish pursuits together, soften the asperities which ignorance of\neach other\u2019s personalities might allow to remain, and often pave the\nway for warm and abiding friendships. Those men of science or artists\nwho hold themselves aloof from such reunions usually do so through\nself-distrust or undue sensitiveness, and sin both against their own\nhappiness and the prosperity of their favorite employment.\n\nBoth the religious and the moral life\u2015\u2015they are not the same\u2015\u2015should\nfind their chief activity in the sphere of comradeship. It was the\nbeautiful ideal of George Fox that the Church of the future should be\na Society of Friends. The ideal is too lofty for human nature; but it\nis quite possible and should be a daily occurrence that the members of\na church or a society united for the development of the benevolent or\nreligious sentiments should display as much mutual good feeling and as\nwarm a personal interest in the common purpose, as, say, dog-fanciers\nwho belong to the same kennel club.\n\nFriendship is far rarer than Comradeship, because it is more delicate\nand requires a higher type of character. Most men are incapable of it,\nand therefore cannot distinguish it from a mere community of tastes.\nIt goes much farther, embracing the whole nature, and lifting the\nrelation out of the plane of interests or tastes into that of\nsentiment and spiritual sympathy. No one is capable of friendship who\nthinks what use he can make of it. Friendship is free trade, and knows\nneither charity, robbery, nor reciprocity. It keeps neither a debit\nnor a credit account, and it leaves no room for ingratitude, because\nthe credit of each party is unlimited.\n\nThe completest friendship is that in which the utmost sympathy is\nunited with the utmost independence. The differences must not be so\ngreat as to prevent a thorough understanding, nor so small as to do\naway with admiration for the personal qualities of each other, and\nsome desire to emulate them.\n\nThese phrases do not mean that we should look for perfection in\nfriends. Quite the contrary. What could be more fatiguing than\nperfection? Its monotony would be unendurable. The affection for\nfriends is not a tribute paid to their merits. Their very faults often\nendear them. We do not wish them removed. For ourselves, it may be\nwell to retain some of those defects which give our friends pleasure;\nthough this is to be taken with reserve; for, on the other hand, a\ngreat charm in a friend is that he brings us not what we expected, but\nsomething equally pleasant which we did not expect.\n\nFriendship is strengthened by a certain amount of reserve. Few\npersons, to use the slang of the studio, \u201cstrip well.\u201d Every one gains\nby veiling some of his parts. For the same reason we should not ask\nnor desire complete confidence from a friend. There are always secrets\nwhich it is better not to know. We may inquire the cause of his\ndespondency, for sympathy and aid are natural to the sentiment of\nfriendship; but should wait to be told the sources of his elation.\n\nIn a similar manner absence for not too long a time strengthens\nfriendship by allowing its value to be felt, and the imagination to\nclothe the absent in some of the fanciful and beautiful garbs of the\nideal. But too prolonged a stay leaves friendship a memory rather than\na passion.\n\n\u201cBut what!\u201d some one will exclaim. \u201cAre we to set about making and\nkeeping friends with the same attention as if we were raising\nhot-house fruit?\u201d Yes, precisely so; but if a friend is not in your\nestimation worth as much as a bunch of Hamburg grapes, I assure you it\nwill be time wasted for you to try. When people complain that they\nhave no friends, inquire what efforts they have made to get and keep\nthem. True friendship is rare because it is rarely sought for. When\nLord Bacon wrote, \u201cThere is little friendship in the world, and least\nof all between equals,\u201d the great Chancellor unwittingly testified to\nthe truth of those charges of perfidy which posterity has brought\nagainst his name. Friends must be diligently sought for, and when\nfound must be sedulously cherished. Dr. Johnson never said a wiser\nword than when he gave the advice, directed especially to those who\nare advancing in years, \u201cto keep our friendships in constant repair.\u201d\n\nSuch a relation of sentiment between men can scarcely be formed in\nlater life. As trees grow old their fibres become rigid, and their\nbranches cannot be interlocked to arch a bower. But, by a delightful\ncompensation of nature, it is precisely at this period of life that\nthe sweetest friendships of all are formed\u2015\u2015those between men and\nwomen. Some have doubted these, and I grant you most are incapable of\nthem; but in facts and friendships there is no such thing as gender.\nThere are too many beautiful examples in history to allow room for\nscepticism here.\n\nNeed I count them? Need I refer to the friendship between\nChateaubriand and Madame Recamier, extending over thirty years, during\nwhich she was the guide, consoler, and confidante of the great\nstatesman and author; not as a learned woman,\u2015\u2015for that she was\nnot,\u2015\u2015but as a truly sympathetic soul? Need I quote from that charming\nvolume of letters, the _Briefe an eine Freundin_, which testify to the\nlong, the loving, and the pure bond that united Wilhelm von Humboldt\nto Charlotte Diede?\n\nOr is there occasion to dwell on that instance which enshrines\nelements of sweetness even beyond these, the friendship between\nMichael Angelo and Vittoria Colonna? Think of the inspired and\nself-centred artist, living alone with his dreams of matchless beauty,\nmeeting no man worthy of admittance even to the threshold of his\naffections, he who could write from Rome to his nephew in Florence, \u201cI\nhave no friends; I need none and wish none;\u201d finding at last in the\nnoble and tender soul of this distinguished woman the sentiments and\nsympathy for which he had been unconsciously longing, and which were\nnecessary to complete the symmetry of both his own life and hers!\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe burden laid on Beauty is, that it can have many lovers but no\nfriends.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nA very positive character is at first pleasing. We ourselves are\ntroubled by so many problems that it is a relief to think,\u2015\u2015\u201cHere is\none who has solved them all.\u201d But we soon find that such characters\nmerely slam the door in the face of importunate inquiries.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nMen\u2019s characters are polar forces; the stronger they repel some, the\nstronger they attract others.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe society of those who enjoy is alone enjoyable.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nBe select in your friends, but miscellaneous in your acquaintances.\nAsk not sympathy from the latter nor assistance from the former.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIf you would keep friends, shun explanations.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIf you doubt the persistence in adversity of what is called\nfriendship, make friends with an impecunious debtor.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nMen admire women who try to please them; women admire men who, they\nbelieve, have qualities worthy of admiration.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWe like those who can be useful to us, and love those to whom we can\nbe useful.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe secret of gaining friends is to cultivate within ourselves the\ncapacity for friendship.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nNew acquaintances cannot take the place of old friends; but when your\nteeth wear out, an artificial denture is a vast advantage over bare\ngums.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nBe sure that the man who boasts of a hundred friends, has none.\n\n\n\n\nV. _Love, Marriage, and the Family Relation._\n\n\n\u201cIt is not good that the man should be alone.\u201d Venerable maxim! First\nreflection of the Creator on the species! Standing condemnation of all\nschemes of celibacy, of all orders of monks and nuns, vestals and\nspiritual eunuchs!\n\nThe character of any man or woman who leads the single life is\nincomplete, lacking in fullness of sympathy for certain aspects of our\ncommon nature, not perfectly rounded to the orb of man\u2019s whole life.\nAll examples, even the highest, give evidence of this. No man who has\nnot had a wife whom he loved can understand what love is; he who is\nnot a parent, can never appreciate the feelings of a father.\n\nThe fruition of life, even on the lowest terms, is impossible without\nthe union of the sexes. The first Napoleon, in one of his letters,\ndescribing the essential needs of man, numbered them as three,\u2015\u2015food,\nshelter, woman. All doctrines and social theories which conflict with\nthis primordial law of the life of the species are unnatural, and\ntheir tendency is lowering to the progress of the race. Maternity, not\nvirginity, is the holier state. Celibate orders have proved as sterile\nin intellectual as in physical offspring.\n\nLove, marriage, children, the family,\u2015\u2015the emotions and feelings, the\naffections and the ideas, which centre around these foci of human\nactivity are essential elements in every life which is lived to the\nfull measure of its powers. Nothing can take their places. Happiness\nwithout them is not human.\n\nThe emotion of Love belongs to those whose aims are ideal, because it\nis concerned with the future evolution of the species. In the\niridescent glow of this master-passion its object never seems a mere\nhuman being, a man or a woman, but is invested with a charm unseen by\nthe eye, not expressed in form or color, endowed with the power of\nexciting the soul to an indefinite and passionate expansion. It is the\ninaudible appeal of unborn posterity for its share in the world of\nBeing.\n\nHence it is that Love is so powerfully excited by Beauty, by the\nsymmetry and traits which foreshadow the final physical perfection of\nthe race, the unconscious but unceasing struggle of organic nature\ntoward nobler transformations, toward the building of a tabernacle fit\nto be a shrine for the activities of a higher life.\n\nThough hundreds of volumes have been written in poetry and prose on\nthe subject of Love, it remains unexhausted, because it is\ninexhaustible. Its seed-field is the boundless future, its message\nconcerns all posterity. There is something in it deeper than the\nemotion of any single heart, farther reaching than any individual\neffort. There is a secret about it which can never be wholly told,\nwhich it were a profanation to try to express. Even between loving\nones, it is better not to talk much of it, nor too curiously to think\nabout it. When true and pure, it will be manifested without words in\nennobling the character and elevating its aims and actions.\n\nThe attraction of woman for man is her invisible presage of\nmotherhood. This it is which lends the nameless charm to the maiden\nand the sacred dignity to the matron. Around her, centre all those\nsentiments which constitute the Home, the family, and the parental\naffections. These find their proper expression in Marriage.\n\nThe history of the institution of marriage is a curious narrative.\nEvery conceivable relation of the sexes has been established by one\ncommunity or another, and sanctioned by the moral sense of the time\nand place. There have been hordes where the relations have been\ncommunal or miscellaneous; others, where a man had many wives; others,\nas in Thibet to-day, where the woman would have many husbands;\nsometimes the woman selects the man, at others the man the woman, and\nelsewhere the marriage is arranged by third parties; in some, marriage\nis indissoluble, in others, more or less easily annulled; while in\ncertain religious societies in our own country the method of selective\nand temporary unions has been practiced. The result of all these\nexperiments has been to show that the happiness of both parties is\nbest consulted by strictly monogamous or pairing marriages, where each\nexerts a certain amount but not entire freedom of selection, and where\nthe lien can be canceled when it proves clearly detrimental to the\nfelicity of either.\n\nVery few words will be necessary to defend the first of these three\nconditions. Under whatever form we find polygamy, whether legalized,\nas in Mohammedan countries, or sanctioned by religion, as among the\nMormons, or winked at by usage, as in mistress-keeping, it inevitably\nresults in the degradation of the woman and her subjection to the\ndominion of lower impulses. To every one who believes that her\nhappiness demands equal attention to that of the man, all schemes of\npolygamy stand condemned.\n\nThe second condition I have stated will need more defense. Especially\nin our country is it unpopular to oppose the course of love. \u201cLet me\nnot,\u201d exclaims the great dramatist, \u201cto the marriage of true minds\nadmit impediment.\u201d Yet all will admit certain impediments. The laws of\nmany States prohibit the marriage of near of kin, of first cousins,\nand of uncles with nieces, although in Germany unions of the latter\nclass are very common.\n\nImmature age does legally, and should always, act as a bar to\nmarriage. At what period of life marriage is likely to prove most\nhappy is a curious question, which has never been properly studied.\nThe physiologist, basing his opinion on grounds of his science, would\nsay that the woman should be between twenty and thirty, and the man\nbetween twenty-five and thirty-five. Dr. Johnson, regarding the\nquestion from another point of view, made the wise observation,\u2015\u2015\u201cThose\nwho marry late are best pleased with their children, and those who\nmarry early with their partners.\u201d\n\nApart from questions of immature age and near relationship, marriages\nin the United States are generally contracted without restriction. The\nyoung of both sexes are usually conceded full liberty to make their\nown selection, the burden of the support of both being generally\nassumed by the husband. The consequence is that such unions are\nfrequently entered upon with slight real acquaintance of each other,\nthe wife is wholly dependent, and the husband has a heavy load to\ncarry,\u2015\u2015conditions calculated to intensify the struggle for existence\nand diminish the happiness of home.\n\nFrom considerable observation of family life in both countries, I\nbelieve that the French system is superior to ours. In a French family\nof the middle or upper classes, the parent who desires to marry a\ndaughter, for instance, takes pains to introduce and recommend young\nmen of suitable station. No coercion is used on either side. Only when\nan affection naturally springs up is the union decided upon. A\nmarriage-settlement is drawn by which each of the young couple\nreceives a certain amount of property, wholly independent of the\ncontrol of the other. Thus they are freed from the severest pressure\nof monetary anxiety, and, what is especially valuable, the wife has a\nrecognized place of power, and secures her rightful prestige in the\nfamily circle. I have often observed how superior is the position of\nthe wife in France to what it is in this country. The reason is in the\nbetter method of forming marriages.\n\nA sympathetic marriage is the happiest condition of human life; but\none without sympathy is a hateful servitude. How distressing to be\nobliged to live _for_ those whom we cannot bear to live _with_!\n\nThe number of unhappy marriages in the United States may be guessed\nfrom the records of the divorce courts, which register only some of\nthe most unhappy. The divorces granted annually sever nearly thirty\nthousand couples, and this although in many States such separation is\ncostly, slow, and difficult. These figures represent, therefore, but a\nsmall fraction of the marriages which are galling the backs of one or\nboth of the parties concerned.\n\nWhen we reflect what the true foundations of the marital relations\nshould be,\u2015\u2015love, affection, sympathy,\u2015\u2015it would appear wholly foreign\nto its character that it should be made an obligatory fetter and a\ncontinued curse by any law, civil or religious. The moral sense,\npersonal affection, parental feeling, and the sentiment of society,\nwould seem to be sufficient to preserve all those unions which should\nbe preserved. Their severance should be left to the option of the\nparties concerned alone. Surely the happiness of the individual would\nbe better consulted by such an arrangement than by that which now\nprevails.\n\nMarriages, so far from being entered upon with greater recklessness,\nwould then be more cautiously undertaken, because their durability\nwould depend on mutual satisfaction. The woman would have full\nequality of rights, and not be a miserable sacrifice to unjust laws,\nas now she often is. It would be a step toward the ideal of the\nmarriage state, which is a union based on love, in which each party\nhas absolutely equal rights and stands pledged to equal duties, and\nneither is bound to the other longer than love and duty are respected.\nNeither government nor religion should put obstacles in the way of the\ndissolution of marriage other than those safeguards of the interests\ninvolved, which attend the termination of all important contracts.\n\nDeep thinkers on the relations of life in goodly number have long\nadvocated these views. They have been those of John Milton, of William\nvon Humboldt, of John Stuart Mill. Nor is there anything in them which\nan enlightened moral or religious sentiment should oppose; rather the\ncontrary. As Milton so well says in his Treatise on Divorce,\u2015\u2015\u201cWhere\nLove cannot be, there can be left of wedlock nothing but the empty\nhusk of an outside matrimony, as undelightful and unpleasing to God as\nany other kind of hypocrisy.\u201d\n\nThe object of marriage is the Family. Love claims immortality through\nposterity. The hidden though ever-present purpose of the union of the\nsexes is the perpetuation and evolution of the species. Any union\nwhich avoids this object is destructive, and not creative of true\nhappiness. We are told of the ancient ascetic sect of the Essenes that\nthe sexes united in marriage, but remained chaste; and had families of\nchildren, but gathered them from among the foundlings and homeless\norphans of the highways. Their impossible example does not merit the\npraise, as it has not enlisted the imitation of, later generations.\nThe maternal and paternal affections, the love of family and the\npleasures derived from the ties of kindred, are enjoyments which the\nproperly constituted individual will never be willing to sacrifice\nunless constrained thereto by mighty and exceptional conditions. The\ntacit assumption of mutual aid and confidence between brothers and\nsisters, and the intimacy which is fostered by even remoter degrees of\nrelationship, are beneficent elements of the social compact, and\ncontribute largely to the happiness of the individual.\n\nThe Family, as we understand it, is distinctly a product of high\ncivilization. In savage tribes the ties of consanguinity are quite\ndifferent. In many, for instance, the father is scarcely regarded as a\nrelation, blood kin being counted through the mother only. The rise of\nthe paternal or patriarchial form of the family appears at a higher\nstage of culture; and when, as among the Etruscans and Romans, it was\ncoincident with a recognized equality in marriage, society advanced\nwith rapid strides.\n\nSome believe that the theory of the family, as it has so long\nprevailed in Europe, is inappropriate for this country, and hence that\nit is disappearing among us, as unsuited to the development of our\nforms of culture. Children desire their liberty earlier, and parents\nare ready to comply with their requests. No ties other than material\nones are recognized as constituting a family unit. It will be for the\nfuture to decide whether the greater personal independence thus\nsecured has been of more value to the happiness of the race than the\nelements of affection sacrificed in obtaining it.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nLaw is the bond of the state, love, of the family. The former rules\nbest by precept, the latter by example.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThose marriages are ominous which transmit miseries.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe family tie differs from the tie of friendship in that it binds\ntogether interests rather than sympathies.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nLove, says Michael Angelo in one of his Sonnets, is the mental\nimpression of ideal beauty:\u2015\u2015\n\n  Amore e un concetta di bellezza\n  Immaginata, cui sta dentro al cuore.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe aims of the child centre around his maturity; those of the man\naround his posterity.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe generations unborn are the sovereigns of the world, and the goals\nwe are running for are invisible. Posthumous aims are the potent.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe heart of every woman is like a page written with sympathetic ink.\nIt seems blank, but warm it sufficiently, and you will find a\nlove-letter written on it.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\n_Cara amica_, beware of that tendency in your nature to repose utter\nconfidence. Learn that nought is so fragile as Faith. It is like those\ndelicate vases of Venetian glass which a single drop of poison is said\nto shiver into atoms. Better the homely ware which will toss it out,\nand fill again with wine. It is a law of reasoning that full belief is\ndisproved by a single event, but partial belief only by a series of\nevents. But what have you to do with reasoning? you who must trust\n\u201cnot at all, or all in all\u201d? and bless you for it, fated, foolish\nfriend.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nA man weeps for the lost loved one; a woman for the lost love.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nLove is the language in which the gods speak to man, observes Plato.\nUnfortunate is he who hears it not; doubly unfortunate he who hears,\nbut comprehends it not.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nTrue love is love of love; not love of the pleasures of love.\n\n\n\n\nPART V.\n\nThe Consolations of Affliction.\n\n\n\n\nI. _The Removal of Unhappiness._\n\n\nSuffer we must. No position is exempt, no foresight can avoid it.\nNeither the self-abnegation of asceticism nor the visions of\nsuperstition relieve from that law. The latter do but deceive and the\nformer atrophies the soul. Far better to seek in the strength of our\nown minds and in the helpful sympathy of others those sources of\nConsolation which will enable us to bear pain and grief and\ndisappointment, without allowing them to pass into ennui, gloom, and\nthe distaste for life. Calm reflection, clear reasoning, and the\nsoothing kindness of those who love us, will prepare us to meet and\nbear the evils of life, without having recourse to the illusions of\ncredulity or the aridities of stoicism.\n\nThe mind can be trained to forecast the probable good and ill of its\ncareer, and thus prepare itself for even the worst of fates, without\nbeing plunged into the hopelessness of despair. We can learn to\nsuffer, and to find even suffering good. To a trained mind, no\ndeprivation is an absolute misfortune.\n\nWhat is more, this very training is the best of preservatives as well\nas the best of alleviatives; for by it we are prompted and enabled to\ntake wise measures to avoid those evils which our forethought brings\nto our mind.\n\nConsolation we all need, all must have, all should give, if we would\ndevelop the sweeter and nobler elements of our natures. He who through\nmistaken pride or stubborn distrust refuses to seek it, does but dwarf\nhis powers and darken his perceptions to the beauties of the world\naround him. To impart and to receive the solace of sympathetic words\nand kindly offices belong to the highest ministrations of friendship\nand love and charity. Those characters in history around whose faces\nshines brightest the aureole of glory have been those who have soothed\nthe sorrows and bound up the wounds of the despairing sons of men.\n\nFortunately, if evils are many, so are the sources of consolation. We\nmay seek them in ourselves, from others, or from a correct\ncomprehension of the laws of nature; and when these prove inadequate,\nwe may still win the victory, by discovering that Sorrow itself is not\nan enemy but a friend, a veiled and ghostly guide, who leads us, as\nthe spirit of Virgil led Dante, and as only Sorrow can lead, through\nthe realms of gloom and woe to undreamed-of fields of serenity and\nlight.\n\nOnly in hint and outline shall I sketch this part of my plan. It is\ntoo vast to attempt more. Some of the reflections which in the sadder\nhours of my own life I have found of avail I shall present in detached\nfragments; for the spirit in the shadow needs but a single ray to\nillume its path. The moods of sorrow are many, and one suggestion may\nsoothe where a score of others find no application. What I offer are\nsuggestions only, to be expanded by the reader as he finds one or\nanother of them suitable to his own case.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nTwo very consoling reflections are: First, how much of the unhappiness\nof life springs from preventable causes, and next, how little of it\narises from actual evils. When we deliberately investigate, catalogue,\nand analyze what we ourselves and our neighbors are distressed about,\nwe are inclined to say that the chief aim of human effort is not\nhappiness, but rather that each shall make himself as unhappy as\npossible.\n\nLook at the list! Desires and aims which are plainly inconsistent and\ncontradictory with each other; hopes which reason clearly shows are\ndoomed to disappointment, because they are unfounded or exaggerated;\nanxieties which are visibly causeless or useless; mistaken estimates\nof our own powers, which honest reflection would correct; envy of the\nsupposed better fortune of others, when often they are more unhappy\nthan ourselves; fears for a future which we may never reach; regret\nfor a past which we can never recall; open-eyed abuse or neglect of\nopportunities; indulgence in passions or appetites which we know to be\nharmful; needless risk or sacrifice of health or liberty or money.\n\nThink of how much of your unhappiness has arisen from one or other of\nthese causes, and then take comfort in the thought how much it lies in\nyour power to be far happier than you are.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThere is an advantage in the multiplicity of miseries. One deep\nvexation is often more fatal to happiness than several. It becomes a\nfixed idea, monopolizes the mind, and is more dangerous to its health,\nthan when one is obliged \u201cto take up arms against a sea of troubles.\u201d\nRegret not, therefore, when clouds darken all the horizon; better\nthis, than the single sky-specter, in whose bosom is the whirlwind,\nand on whose path follows destruction.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWhen little matters annoy you, remember that it is a proof that your\ncondition is a peculiarly happy one. Great sorrows leave no room for\nslight irritations. The man on the rack does not feel the prick of a\npin.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nTears are the medicinal waters provided by nature for healing the\nsickened spirit. They are the stream which by its overflowing renews\nthe fertility of the wastes left arid by woe. But, like these greater\nstreams, their excess brings devastation.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nUnhappiness is sometimes only a bad habit. Weeping eyes are quick to\ntears, and grief is a guest that stays on slight urging.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIll-fortune and plenty of it is the very stimulus some natures need to\nbring out the best that is in them. There is a dead weight about them,\nand bad luck is the only lever that will lift it. Without its prod,\nthey would sink into lethargy and become like Chaucer\u2019s\n\n                \u201cEclympasteyre,\n  That was the God of Slep\u2019 is heire,\n  That slepte, and did none other worke.\u201d\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThere are two inconsistencies of grief which surpass all others: the\none, when it leads us to regret that which we might have enjoyed, long\nafter the time when we could have enjoyed it is past; the other, when\nit makes us the sadder to-day, because we enjoyed ourselves yesterday.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThere is something humorous in the two most popular methods of\nconsolation. The one is, to show you how much worse off you might have\nbeen; the other, to remind you how much more wretched others are.\n\nWhen I was a boy, I was consoled for cutting my finger by having my\nattention called to the fact that I had not broken my arm; and when I\ngot a cinder in my eye, I was expected to feel more comfortable\nbecause my cousin had lost his by an accident.\n\nThe general opinion evidently is that the most agreeable consolation\nin sorrow is a contemplation of the greater misery of others; and the\nreal ground of happiness is to know that others are suffering.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWhen a man in adversity complains of the demeanor of others toward\nhim, inquire of his actions toward them.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nTalk it over. \u201cPull not your hat about your brows.\u201d Seek a sympathetic\ncompanion and pour your sorrows into his kindly ears; not so much for\nthe consolation he may administer, but because sad emotions assume\ntheir right proportions only when shown to others. In the darkened\nroom of the mind they loom up like giants, when in the light they may\nprove to be pigmies. But hide your sorrows from the general gaze;\nsometimes the effort will conceal them from your own.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIf we would only see it, there is a humorous side to nearly every\noccurrence; and if we did see it, what a preservative from despondency\nit would be!\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWhatever happiness we get, we believe it is our own by right; when we\nmiss that which we expected, we consider ourselves robbed. What\nimpertinence! Does any one really pretend that because he wants\nsomething he is therefore entitled to it? Because he covets my house\nhas he a fee in it? Suppose we give up for a while coveting and\nwanting, and settle down to doing and thinking and bearing. Perhaps\nthat is the best way out, after all.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIf you have no passions that you cannot conquer, you will have no\ngriefs that you cannot bear.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe human body has a surprising ability to adapt its functions to the\npresence of permanent injuries and chronic maladies. Physicians call\nthis the \u201ctolerance of disease.\u201d The healthy mind has a similar power\nto recover its cheerfulness in the presence of an abiding grief or\nafter an irreparable loss.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIndolence and Timidity are the jailers who rivet the fetters of\nDespondency. Courage and Activity will deliver us if we choose to\nsummon them.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nAs the scars of battle are, in the opinion of the pious, proofs of the\nprotection of Heaven, so a keen sense of past calamities testifies to\na capacity for future enjoyment.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nBetween the leaves of the Book of Life why not press the violets, the\nlilies, and the roses which we find on our path, rather than the\nnettles and bitter weeds? We could then turn back its pages with\nsatisfaction, and live again long-since-vanished joys.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThere are few more accurate standards of a man\u2019s education, in the\nwidest sense of the term, than the quality of the consolation he\noffers.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWould you learn the Universal Catholicon, the Balm for all wounds, the\nPanacea for all sorrows? I will whisper it: Work\u2015\u2015hard physical work,\narduous mental work. Try it; it will dry your tears, renew your love\nof life, recall the light of hope, and exorcise the evil spirits.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nStrengthen the Will. If you have any earnest business in life, and are\nbound to carry it through, you will have no time for moping. If you\nhave none, find some.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nLook before and after. Do not allow the present to cheat you. The\nimpression of the moment always claims more than it deserves, because\nwe have not time to modify it by other thoughts and images. A present\ndanger frightens us, though we may know it is infinitesimally small; a\nparting brings tears, though we are aware it is for the good of all;\noffensive words hurt us, though they may proceed from a contemptible\nperson. Hasten to evoke memories and summon hopes which will beautify\nthe incident, and strengthen the mind. Remember the slightness of the\nperil, speak of the happy return, recall the praise you have received\nfrom worthy lips.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe honey of life can be had only at the expense of some stings in its\ncollection.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWhatever happens, take it as a matter of course. You are not running\nthe world, nor born to set it right. You are not half so much the\nmaster of your own actions as you think you are.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nDeal justly by yourself. Few do. They regret making that decision, or\nperforming the other action, or neglecting such or such an\nopportunity. They reproach themselves for their hastiness or\ncarelessness.\n\nWhat folly! far worse results might have attended a different course.\nWe can see but a very little way in life, and that very darkly. We can\nneither forecast events, nor predict our own decisions in new\ncircumstances.\n\nIf we act at the time with reasonable prudence, we need never waste\nlater moments in self-reproach. Any other decision than the one we\nadopted would likely enough have brought still more dismal\nconsequences.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nRemember that you are never deserted by all until you have deserted\nyourself.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nDo not confound a decision with its results. The former may have been\nat the time the wisest possible, although the latter were disastrous.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWhat you consider a life-long mistake, your biographer may regard as\nthe most fortunate decision of your life.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nGrief lies in ambush. Its attack is like the spring of a lion. Its\nonset is the crisis that calls for the most heroic resistance. Despair\nseizes its victim in the first moments of a great sorrow.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nLife is like a game of whist. Luck deals the cards, but we have the\nlead. We may receive a poor hand, but by playing it carefully win the\nodd.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nPhysical pain is an excellent antidote for mental pain. The hair shirt\nand the scourge were positive pleasures to the ascetic, because they\ndistracted his thoughts from hell-fire.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe incivility of others is a frequent source of keen pain to\nsensitive dispositions. Socrates\u2019 advice was to look on an impolite\nperson as on one deformed or repulsive in appearance; to be borne with\nwhen necessary, and fit to excite our pity rather than our anger. When\nsome one asked Descartes how he met discourtesies he replied, \u201cI try\nto live so high that they cannot reach me.\u201d The impoliteness of small\nchildren does not hurt our feelings; we should look on the uncivil\ngenerally with the same consciousness of our own superiority.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nGrieve not at the ingratitude of others, even of your children. Much\nthat looks like ingratitude is only forgetfulness. Again, what you\nthink is a favor conferred, others may regard as a right respected. To\nsome minds a sense of obligations received is really painful, and\ntheir ungrateful demeanor is an effort to escape this feeling. Perhaps\nyou conferred the favor in a manner to induce such a feeling. When\ningratitude pains you, overhaul your books and see if you find any\ndebt of gratitude unpaid.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nDo you seek consolation for the loss of a loved one? Call to mind, not\nthe pleasant hours you passed together, but the kind actions, the\nproofs of affection, you received from him. Thus his personality will\nbe idealized, and will become a sweet memory instead of a bitter\nregret.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nI have repeatedly noticed, in my own life and in others, that the\nfailure of a plan led to a success in another direction far greater\nthan that anticipated from the original project. Two of the most\neminent surgeons in the United States became physicians only in\nconsequence of early failures in small business. When misfortunes\nhappen, therefore, they may be paving the way for great successes. Our\nfailure may be due to our superiority. Milton failed as a teacher of\nsmall boys, and Dr. Marion Sims as keeper of a country store. The\nChipeways have a story of a man who could do no work, because he was\nso strong that he broke every tool he took up.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nAre you vexed by some persistent anxiety, haunted by some ugly\nthought? Learn the secret, that the only way to stop thinking of\nanything is to think of something else. You cannot banish care by an\neffort of the will; but you can drive it away by changing the\nassociations of your ideas, by engaging in some occupation which\ndemands your constant and close attention.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nAlways keep in mind the uselessness of contending with the inflexible\nand inevitable processes of nature; but never let them become your\nmasters when you can make them your servants.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nResignation is the more of a virtue the less it is exercised. A\nhealthy tree bends before the blast, but straightens itself the moment\nthe wind lulls. Resignation to evils that can be avoided is indolence\nor apathy.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWhen the world seems a desert to you and life a blank, reflect whether\nyou have not had just such feelings before, and overlived them to\nenjoy happy days and smiling seasons.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nSeek sympathy for your losses from a woman, for your failures from a\nman. A woman will not understand why you tried, if you failed.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nHalf of happiness is the recognition that we are happy; and half of\nmisery is the forgetting how many causes of happiness we have.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nBe sure you are more doleful than you need be. There is no liar like\nlow spirits. Melancholy is a sort of mental stagnation; and stagnant\npools are soon filled with foul growths.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nYou there, you on the verge of despair, sit down, take a pen, and\nwrite me off a list of your sorrows and misfortunes; and follow it\nwith a faithful inventory of what you have left on the side of\npossible happiness, your faculties, your possessions, your friends and\nrelatives, your acquirements, your tastes, your healthful activities,\nyour probability of life, your reasonable expectations, not forgetting\nyour duties to others and the gratification their fulfillment will\ngive. Then I am ready to adjust the account.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nPlato says that nothing in human life is worth much trouble; certainly\nmany things give us more trouble than they are worth.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nHow small is your grief if you measure it by the standards of the\nuniverse! Look up at the calm and silent stars; they are billions of\nmiles away. Notice that piece of sandstone; fifty million years have\npassed since the primeval tide washed its grains together. Is there\nnot something in such thoughts that makes you a little ashamed of the\npreoccupation of your mind with its petty present cares?\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nDo you reflect sometimes that you are but one of fifteen hundred\nmillions of human beings, fifty millions of whom die every year? Is it\nworth while passing your invisibly small share of life in worrying\nabout trifles?\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe only malady all covet is the only one which is absolutely\nfatal,\u2015\u2015old age.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nDeath is the most and the least feared of any event. Seven of my most\nintimate friends committed suicide for various reasons, all good\nenough in their opinions. \u201cNo passion is so weak,\u201d remarks Bacon, \u201cbut\nthat a little pushed it will master the fear of death.\u201d\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe visits of death seem always inopportune. Dickens tells of a visit\nhe paid to an Old Man\u2019s Home. He found that, in the opinion of the\ninmates, every old man died prematurely. They invariably said, \u201cHe\nbrought it on hisself.\u201d\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nHe who is haunted by the dread of dying makes himself miserable for\nfear he cannot make himself miserable longer.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWhen death is natural, that is, in extreme old age, it is neither\nfeared nor felt. That it is so little a thing when natural, suggests\nthat at all times we may deem it too great.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIf we understood Death, we should no longer care for Life.\n\n\n\n\nII. _The Inseparable Connection of Pleasure and Pain._\n\n\nThe hard and strange lesson that I would teach in this chapter is,\nthat dreams of unalloyed bliss are not merely fanciful, they are\nimpossible of realization under any known conditions of life; that\npleasure requires pain, joy demands sorrow, as the very condition of\nits existence; and that these pairs are inseparable twins, the\npresence of one being bound up in that of the other.\n\nI here promulgate no new discovery in the science of mind, though it\nhas been much overlooked by physiologists, and quite put one side by\nsanguine optimists in their rosy paintings of the future\nperfectibility and universal happiness of the human race. More than\ntwo thousand years ago Socrates dwelt upon this same uncanny blending\nof contraries. The jailer, as we are told in the \u201cPh\u00e6do,\u201d of Plato,\nremoved the galling iron fetters from the philosopher\u2019s ankles shortly\nbefore the cup of hemlock was handed him; and in this brief interval\nhis friends gathered around him for the last farewell.\n\n     \u201cAnd Socrates, sitting on the side of the bed, bent his leg\n     and rubbed it with his hand, and in doing so said,\u2015\u2015'How\n     strange a thing, my friends, is that which is called\n     Pleasure! and how oddly it is connected with what is called\n     Pain! Pleasure and Pain do not come to man together; but if\n     a person runs after the one and catches it, he almost\n     immediately catches the other too, as if they were fastened\n     together at one end. I think if \u00c6sop had noticed this he\n     would have compiled a fable to this effect: That the gods\n     tried to reconcile these two opposites, and not being able\n     to do this, fastened their extremities together so that when\n     you take hold of one it pulls after it the other. And so it\n     happens to me now; there was pain in my leg when the chain\n     bound it, and now comes pleasure following the pain.\u2019\u201d\n\nA law of physiology, a law of the whole universe, underlies these\nhomely reflections of the ancient Greek.\n\nOn the one side, pleasure and pain are states of feeling totally\nopposed to each other both in sensation and in physical effect,\npleasure being concomitant with an increase, pain with a decrease, of\nthe vital functions; and yet, on the other, there is a unity, or, at\nany rate, a close analogy of action, under these contrary conditions\nof mental life. Each is a stimulus to new forms of mental change and\nbiotic motion, though in the one instance the tendency of the new\nactivity is toward a higher concentration of the individual life, and,\nin the other, toward its diminution or its disaggregation into other\nand lower forms.\n\nA feeling of pleasure is an exaltation of sensation in some special\nset of nerves. These are stimulated to an unwonted exercise of their\nfunctions; but they can provide this disproportionate energy only by\ndrafts on the general resources of the nervous system; and this must\nbe paid back through exhaustion, fatigue, or, perhaps, actual pain.\n\nA sensation of pain also demands for its presence special and unusual\nconditions of nervous activity, which also result in exhaustion of the\npowers of sensation, but, unfortunately, much later than in conditions\nof pleasure. Pain seems in some sort more our natural element, for we\ncan bear it much longer than pleasure in equal degree. Generalizing on\nthis fact, Schopenhauer reached the dismal conclusion\u2015\u2015\u201cThe essential\nelements of all Life are pain and sorrow.\u201d\n\nThe mere cessation of pain is in itself a pleasure of considerable\ndegree, as in the case of Socrates relieved from the chafing of his\nirons; indeed, probably some of the intensest moments of delight are\nthose experienced on a sudden relief from acute suffering, or during\nthe reaction from long privations.\n\nIt may not be quite correct to say that all pleasurable sensations are\nimmediately derived from or directly lead to others of a painful\ncharacter. There are some belonging to the organic life, such as the\nsatisfaction of the desire for food or for muscular exercise, in which\nmere repose or remission is enough to repay the nervous drafts. But\nhow close these are to pain is visible from the acuteness of the pangs\nof hunger, or the painfulness of prolonged positions of restraint.\n\nEven exalted esthetic and intellectual pleasures, which seem to leave\nno sting behind and to require no goad for their advance, constantly\nmake unfelt though heavy drafts on the nervous centres, the results of\nwhich, under the various forms of cerebral and spinal exhaustion and\ndegeneration, physicians are obliged to take cognizance of only too\noften.\n\nSo close is the analogy between the two antagonistic sensations, that\nthe one becomes merged into the other without our being able to mark\nthe dividing line between them. A moderate pain may by its active\ndiffusion actually bring a surplus of pleasure, as Professor Bain has\nremarked; and that an acute sensation of pleasure may pass into one of\npain is matter of common observation. Thus, Pain is born of Pleasure,\nPleasure of Pain; and memory and association have a tendency to\ndiminish the extremes of each by recalling to the mind the sources\nfrom which it sprang. Some physiologists, therefore, refuse to\ndiscriminate between such inseparable feelings, and prefer to regard\nthem both as manifestations of the same, calling it the \u201cPleasure-Pain\nsensation.\u201d\n\nIn all these respects what is true of these sensations also holds good\nof their analogues in the realm of emotions, as joy and sorrow, mirth\nand sadness, hope and fear, and the like. Each of these exercises, and\nby exercising exhausts, some fibres of the nervous system, and thus\ntends to develop its contrary.\n\nThe general law which, as far as it goes, explains these facts is that\nof the alternation or periodicity of the manifestations of force. This\nis the fundamental law of the Universe, beyond which no analysis has\nproceeded. Force, or Power, or Energy, wherever we discern it and\nunder every one of its exhibitions, expresses itself in undulatory or\nrhythmical movements, pulsations of the primal potency, vibrations of\nthe central harmony, of the universe. In the rise and fall of\nsensation and emotion the sequences of height and depth are as closely\nrelated as are the proportions of the crest and trough in the waves of\nthe ocean, or those of the vibration of the strings of a musical\ninstrument.\n\nSuch considerations as these, drawn from the unalterable laws of\nnature and life, show how short is the sight of those who look upon\nhappiness as the uninterrupted continuance of pleasurable sensations,\nor would seek it in a ceaseless round of gayety. Far clearer was the\nvision of Pindar when he exclaimed, with the inspiration of a\npoet,\u2015\u2015\u201cBeneath every true pleasure hides the sense of a past pain.\u201d\nThe dark background of sorrow can alone give full relief to the bright\nfigure of joy. Grief is a part of gladness, and that life is not\nhappy which has no unhappiness. So Browning, with characteristic\ninsight and strength, puts in the mouth of one of his intensest\ncharacters,\u2015\u2015\u201cNaught is lacking to complete our bliss, but woe.\u201d\n\nThese are not mere paradoxes and literary refinements on scientific\nfacts. All who have entered sympathetically into the deep and tender\nemotions of the human heart have felt and seen this mysterious and\ninseparable connection. It is so beautifully set forth in reference\nto one of the saddest griefs of life by Leigh Hunt, that I must quote\nhis words. They are in his essay on the \u201cDeaths of Little Children.\u201d\n\n     \u201cPain softens into pleasure as the darker hue of the rainbow\n     melts into the brighter.\u2026 Made as we are, there are certain\n     pains without which it would be difficult to conceive\n     certain great and overbalancing pleasures. We may conceive\n     it possible for beings to be made entirely happy; but in our\n     composition, something of pain seems to be a necessary\n     ingredient in order that the materials may turn to as fine\n     an account as possible. The loss of children seems to be one\n     of those necessary bitters thrown into the cup of humanity.\n     If none at all ever took place, we should regard every\n     little child as a man or a woman secured; and it will easily\n     be conceived what a world of endearing cares and hopes this\n     security would endanger. The very idea of infancy would lose\n     continuity with us. Girls and boys would be future men and\n     women, not present children. They would have attained their\n     full growth in our imaginations, and might as well have been\n     men and women at once. On the other hand, those who have\n     lost an infant are never, as it were, without an infant\n     child. They are the only persons who, in one sense, retain\n     it always; and they furnish their neighbors with the same\n     idea. The other children grow up to manhood or to womanhood\n     and suffer all the changes of mortality. This one alone is\n     rendered an immortal child. Death has arrested it with his\n     kindly harshness, and blessed it into an eternal image of\n     youth and innocence.\n\n     \u201cOf such as these are the pleasantest shapes that visit our\n     fancy and our hopes; they are the ever-smiling emblems of\n     joy; the prettiest pages that wait upon imagination; lastly,\n     'Of these are the Kingdom of Heaven.\u2019\u201d\n\nSomething akin to the sweetness of these touching reflections is found\nin Sir Richard Steele\u2019s essay on \u201cThe Death of Friends,\u201d whose stately\nand gracious style seems ever treading a minuet at the court of good\nQueen Anne:\u2015\u2015\n\n     \u201cWhen we are advanced in years, there is not a more pleasing\n     entertainment than to recollect the many we have parted with\n     that have been dear to us.\u2026 It is necessary to revive the\n     old places of grief in our memory, to lead the mind unto\n     that sobriety of thought which poises the heart and makes it\n     beat with due time, without being quickened by desire or\n     retarded by despair from its proper and equal motion.\u201d\n\nThus it is that sadness is ofttimes a necessary and the best\npreparative for gladness. The blacker the shadow, the brighter is the\nlight that casts it. In all pleasurable feelings there must be the\nalternations from exercise to remission and repose; and in proportion\nas such feelings are keen, will pain take the place of simple\nexhaustion. When the waves of emotion are but ripples on the surface\nof life, stirred by the zephyrs of light desires, the remission will\nbe but a passing sense of fatigue; but when the sensitive heart is\nshaken to its depths by the mighty winds of passion, then the reaction\nwill be not less profound, and the moments of wild joy will be repaid\nto the uttermost by periods of dejection and despair. In such\ntemperaments there is danger of the morbid persistence of the period\nof depression, and ready recourse must be had to diversion and\noccupation to avoid this considerable peril.\n\nThere is a singular but comforting contrast in the influence of time\non pleasure and pain and the mental states which correspond to them.\n\nThrough repetition and habitual exercise we may become passionately\nfond of what at first was painful or disgusting. Witness the use of\ntobacco and all other so-called \u201cacquired tastes.\u201d The physician\nbecomes enamored of the studies of the hospital ward and the\ndissecting room; persons who are at first sight repulsive become\ntolerable and then companionable; studies which we take up with\ndislike later on fascinate us.\n\nHow different with pleasures! Their tendency is not upward but\ndownward, gravitating ever toward the lower and painful strata of\nsensation. Those built on a foundation of previous pain alone escape a\nmerely evanescent existence. How quickly facile loves are sated! Ennui\narrives never earlier than when enjoyment is gratuitous. The law,\nalas, holds good even for our dearest joys; as Mrs. Browning wrote:\u2015\u2015\n\n                                 \u201cEntertain\n  Your best and gladdest thoughts but long enough,\n  And they will all prove sad enough to sting.\u201d\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nTime, transmuter of all things, turns delight into disgust, and\naversion into love, but his metamorphoses constantly warn us that\npermanence is related to painfulness and duration depends on\nendurance.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nPain is more natural to us than pleasure. We bear it better. Bad\nfortune is easier sustained than good. The hour of prosperity is more\ntrying than that of adversity. These are commonplaces, and speak for\nthe universal recognition of this feature of mind.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nOur first language is wailing, and our most hilarious laughter brings\ntears.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nDo you say that had the Creative Hand been yours, pain would not have\nbeen in the world? Compel my belief in your words by seeing you\nrelieve all pain now in your power to relieve.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe abrupt ending of any deep emotion is unpleasant, even though a sad\none. When we have been sailing in the clouds, the descent to earth is\nalways a shock.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nAny action, however trifling, assumes an immeasurable significance\nwhen we know it is performed for the last time. It evokes the idea of\nthe Irrevocable and the Infinite, of Death and Destiny. Our souls hear\nthe distant dirge, _Vale, vale, eternumque vale_.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWe can always explain our merriment, but often not our melancholy.\nGlee is concrete and affirmative; dejection is vague and negative; and\nthe negative is unlimited.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe drama of life is a tragedy, for its last scene is always that of\nthe death of the title-role. We take the greatest interest in the\nspectacle, but rarely care to remember the denouement.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nIf you love life so much, why complain of ennui? There is nothing like\nit for lengthening the hours, and thus giving you longer to live.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe more pleasant the moments, the swifter they fly. Perfect happiness\nwould destroy Time.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nMany pleasures, like Barbary figs, are gathered at the cost of\nbleeding fingers.\n\n\n\n\nIII. _The Education of Suffering._\n\n\nWhat is suffering? What is sorrow?\n\nNought but the wounds in our conflict with the imperfections and\nlimitations of life, with the elements of death and annihilation, with\nthe powers of falsehood and hatred. The inappeasable thirst in the\nhuman heart for the fullness of existence, for complete happiness,\ncould only be satisfied with all love and all truth, and we should\nneed the term of all time in which to attain them.\n\nPain and grief are, therefore, evident proofs of the capacity for\nbroader conditions of being; and at the same time they are the guides,\npointing out what to avoid and what to seek, in order to attain this\nend of all desire.\n\nThis is true of all organic existence; but man alone is capable of\nSorrow, a passion allied to the most exalted moods of mind, presenting\nto it the image of infinity, defining and educating his desires by the\nclear exhibition of their painful limitations, and thus revealing to\nhis perceptions new though arduous paths, which will lead him to a\nloftier evolution and broader horizons.\n\nHe finds that sorrow is an initiation into the hidden mysteries of\nlife. Through its draped portals he enters the Temple of Sadness,\nthere to learn \u201cthe elder truths, and the secrets that cannot be\nspoken.\u201d He must be bathed in the fountain of tears and be branded\nwith the blade of adversity before he is established in the novitiate\nof the order of Our Mother of Sorrows.\n\nOnce admitted to her chosen band, he looks back without regret at his\nearlier and placid joys. His sorrow lives on within him as a new and\nindestructible force of character, expressing itself in added strength\nof will, clearness of perception, and breadth of sympathies. It has\nimparted to life another meaning, one more male and heroic, and yet\ntender, such as no pleasures can suggest or beget. The years may be\npaler, their flowers fewer, their grave-mounds more numerously strewn\nacross his pathway; over them he steps with steady tread, his eye\nfixed on the work which he has learned is for him to do, asking\nneither about its rewards nor its results.\n\nThis is the spirit of those teachers and lovers of their kind, who\nhave taken as their own the sorrows of the race; it is the spirit of\nthose martyrs to liberty who have fallen to free their country from\nthe yoke of tyrants; and of those sufferers for truth\u2019s sake who have\nbeen tortured and burned by the Churches rather than live by lying\nrecantations.\n\nHistory constantly proves that the worthiest prizes of life, its\nloftiest virtues, and its most ennobling ambitions, are sold only at\nthe price of suffering. The great world-religions, Buddhism and\nChristianity, began with proclaiming this final fact of life; and to\nits instinctive recognition by the experience of all mankind are due\ntheir conquests over the faiths which held out the allurements of\nmaterial success and physical pleasure. The spirit of Christianity is\nthe spirit of sadness. To it the house of mourning is ever better than\nthe house of mirth. The Cross is the symbol of suffering; the steps\nare blood-stained that mount to Calvary; anguish and death are at its\nsummit; for suffering and death are the signs, the admonitions, and\nthe entrance to the Infinite.\n\nArt acknowledges the same inspirations as its highest. Sad emotions\nattract most potently because they arise from the unplumbed depth of\nthe soul, and suggest its limitless dimensions. They attest the words\nof the poet, that \u201cMan\u2019s grief is but his grandeur in disguise.\u201d There\nis always a strange attraction about scenes of suffering; the appetite\nis always keen \u201cto sup full of horrors;\u201d our emotions are more\nprofoundly stirred by the spectacle of pain and anguish than by that\nof any imaginable pleasure.\n\nTherefore the works as well as the lives of great artists have been\nfull of sadness. The group of the Laocoon struggling in the deadly\ncoil of the serpent; the agony of the crucifixion; the tragedies of\nlove and jealousy and devotion,\u2015\u2015these have been the chosen themes of\npainters, sculptors and dramatists; chosen because they mark\ngraphically the struggles of our common nature with its limits,\nennobled by its ambition to leap beyond them.\n\nEvery soul knows, unconsciously and instinctively, that sorrow is the\nonly teacher of what is most valuable in life. It alone develops\nfortitude, and therefore it commands the respect of all; it alone\nteaches sympathy, and therefore it enlists the admiration of all. No\ncharacter is ripe which has not crispened under its sharp breath; none\nis of finest temper but those forged by its heavy blows. The noblest\nlives are sad; but those who have quaffed the severe joy of sorrow\ncare little for the light froth of pleasure.\n\nThe quality of high energy is developed only by affliction. Wrestling\nwith it, the sinews of the mind are trained. We must go forth and seek\nnew supports in life, when we have lost those which we loved and\ndepended upon. By such an effort, we reconcile ourselves to the loss,\ngain a victory over fate, strengthen our minds, and reach an air of\nwider freedom. The blast may beat at the gate, but all is quiet\nwithin. There is a habit of sadness which is not gloomy, which may\nshare and admire the delights of life, but which is ever ready to meet\nthe storms of misfortune with serenity and fortitude. Such a habit of\nmind lifts one above the threats and disturbances of the ceaseless\nstruggle for existence into the companionship of ideas and powers\nwhich the poet rightly calls celestial:\u2015\u2015\n\n    \u201cWer nicht sein Brod mit Thr\u00e4nen ass,\n   Wer nicht die kummervollen N\u00e4chte\n     Auf seinem Lager weinend sass,\n   Der kennt euch nicht, ihr himmlischen M\u00e4chte.\u201d\n\nThere is a ministry of grief, a compensation in calamity, a remedial\nproperty in misfortune, sweet uses in adversity, which need but to be\nrecognized and cherished for the sting to be blunted, and what seems\nat first a grief without an element of alleviation, to become in time\nthe foundation of a higher happiness. How often may one exclaim with\nCleopatra, in the midst of her immeasurable losses:\u2015\u2015\n\n        \u201cMy desolation,\n  Does begin to make a better life.\u201d\n\nWe need occasionally some violent and painful shock to waken us from\nthe lethargy of pleasant custom, to break the shackles of agreeable\nand enervating habit, to tear us by the roots from the soil in which\nwe lazily vegetate, and transplant us into fresh and richer fields.\nThe beautiful elements in a noble character are woven together by the\nexperience of afflictions, as the pearls which form the design of a\nbrooch are held in place by the thread of iron on which they are\nstrung.\n\nThe affections which are deep and pure leave behind them when they are\nsevered by fate a happiness which is comparable to that of their\nenjoyment. Our sorrow for such is accompanied with an inexpressible\nsense of consolation, the firm and sweet assurance\u2015\u2015\u201c\u2019Tis better to\nhave loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.\u201d\n\nThis compensation flows, from the nature of affection itself, because\nit is essentially unselfish, and ever seeking objects outside the\ncircle of egoistic instincts. It is Love that teaches us that Joy and\nSorrow are twins; and at the same time sharply defines what are the\ntrue objects of affection. Its sweet waters pour inexhaustible streams\nof consolation for the wounds of Fate, but not for those of Fortune.\nFor the loss of money or rank or other mere externality it offers no\nsuch assuagement, for it deems all such losses beneath its sovereign\nnotice. The solace for these must be sought in fortitude and courage\nand resignation. Only of the loss of such lower means of happiness as\nthese is the saying of the poet true, that \u201cA sorrow\u2019s crown of\nsorrows is remembering happier things.\u201d Rather let us say, the only\nsorrows we should not be ashamed of, are those which turn into joy.\nThe griefs that embitter and harden, follow loves that are lowering.\n\nNoble sorrow is the teacher of sympathy. The sense or the memory of\nour own pain awakens the desire to relieve the pain of others.\nCompassion and Pity are the offspring of grief. It also teaches\ntolerance, charity for the imperfections of others, and a knowledge of\nthe limitations and deficiencies of our common nature, without which\nknowledge the successful endeavor for any of the higher aims of\nexistence is not possible. The sense of physical suffering has been\nthe guiding principle in the evolution of organic forms from the monad\nup to man. His future and higher evolution, that of his spirit-powers,\nwill come from his mental suffering and the lessons he will draw from\nit.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThus, at the end of our wide wandering in pursuit of Happiness, we\nlook back and see that it is absent from nothing in life, not even\nfrom pain and sorrow; nay, that when all else has gone, when youth and\nhealth and fortune and love have left us, when we look forward\ndespairingly to nought but loneliness and suffering, our very despair\nmay prove to be divine, \u201cbegotten by the finite upon the infinite,\u201d\nand from its depths we may draw a rapture unknown to common pleasures,\nand taste the sweet waters of a bliss which is celestial.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nWho would wish to escape suffering himself, when suffering makes up so\nlarge a part of the experiences of his fellow men? Who would seek by\nany base flight to avoid Sorrow, when Sorrow alone can teach him the\nhighest meaning of Life?\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nHistory is ever ready to point out how nations have been benefited by\ncalamities, and churches by persecutions. Why not believe that the\nsame rule holds good in our own lives?\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThink what we should miss if all went smoothly with us! Without pain,\nwe should not know pity; without danger, we should not develop\ncourage; without receiving injuries, no chance to show forgiveness;\nwithout affliction, no opportunity for fortitude; without ingratitude,\nno means of proving disinterestedness; without injustice, no occasion\nfor forbearance; without violence, no training in self-control.\nReally, it seems that to encounter misfortunes must be the finest\nfortune in life!\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe surgeon restores a stiffened joint or an atrophied muscle by\npainful manipulations. Nothing but painful experiences will restore a\nsluggish mind to activity and enjoyment.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nTo forget even for a short time those we have loved and lost seems a\nlack of fealty to them; but if their influence is ever present with us\nto our good, our joy is a worthier memorial to them than would be\nendless repining.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe memory of a great sorrow obliterates the slight asperities of\ndaily life.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe mingling of tears is a transfusion of spirit. A sorrow in common\nis the strongest of covenants.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe only complete satisfaction of the sense of living is its\nsacrifice.\n\n       *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe sweetest joys are consoled sorrows.\n\n\n\n\n  INDEX.\n\n\n  Abderrhaman, Sultan, 27.\n\n  Adversity, consolations of, 253.\n\n  Advice, slight value of, 188;\n    effect of, 193.\n\n  Afflictions, consolations of, 248.\n\n  Age and youth compared, 34, 225;\n    not synonymous with wisdom, 35;\n    sorrows of, 76.\n\n  Angelo, Michael, 78, 177, 235, 246.\n\n  Anger, destructive to happiness, 147.\n\n  Anthropology, its aim, 54.\n\n  Apathy, as a calmative, 146.\n\n  Architecture, the best, 86.\n\n  Argument never convinces, 188.\n\n  Aristotle, quoted, 10, 11, 13, 17, 167, 222.\n\n  Art of happiness, the, 9, 54;\n    of pleasure, 38;\n    the aim of, 149;\n    inspirations of, 154.\n\n  Asceticism, the blunders of, 24, 128.\n\n  Association required, 216.\n\n\n  Bacon, Lord, quoted, 51, 85, 108, 145, 217, 221, 234, 261.\n\n  Bain, A., quoted, 41, 148, 206, 211.\n\n  Bentham, J., quoted, 10, 27.\n\n  Beauty, the power of, 67;\n    the ideal of, 68;\n    results of, 69;\n    the burden of, 236.\n\n  Benevolent emotions, pleasures of, 213.\n\n  Berkeley, Bishop, quoted, 126.\n\n  \u201cBlues,\u201d how to relieve, 74.\n\n  Books, what kind to read, 160.\n\n  Brillat-Savarin, quoted, 133.\n\n  Bronte, Charlotte, 189.\n\n  Browning, Robert, quoted, 46, 267;\n    Mrs., quoted, 270.\n\n  Bruno, Giordano, quoted, 171, 173.\n\n  Buddha, words of, 21, 61.\n\n  Buddhism, aspirations of, 21;\n    advice of, 143, 274.\n\n  Burke, quoted, 215.\n\n  Business principles, how studied, 42;\n    precepts, 124, 217.\n\n\n  Calculus of probabilities, the, 93, 105.\n\n  Chagrin, the feeling of, 193.\n\n  Chamfort, quoted, 213.\n\n  Chance, the laws of, 92;\n    the logic of, 94;\n    the slaves of, 103.\n\n  Chaucer, quoted, 252.\n\n  Cheerfulness, how cultivated, 72.\n\n  Chief end of man, the, 175, 212.\n\n  Child, the mind of a, 79.\n\n  Chinese proverb, a, 80.\n\n  Christianity, influence on position of woman, 31;\n    spirit of, 22, 275;\n    aim of, 178.\n\n  Christian fatalism, 143;\n    doctrines, 172, 173.\n\n  Church of the future, the, 179, 232.\n\n  Civility, its value, 107, 223.\n\n  Civilization, does not increase pleasure, 28;\n    motive of higher, 29.\n\n  Climate, its influence, 88-90.\n\n  Clothing, purposes of, 81-83.\n\n  Coleridge, Hartley, 105;\n    S. T., 70.\n\n  Colonna, Vittoria, 78, 235.\n\n  Colors, their effect, 83, 90.\n\n  Common-places admired, 192.\n\n  Comradeship, explained, 230.\n\n  Confidence, delights of, 218.\n\n  Confucius, quoted, 100.\n\n  Congenital traits, 59.\n\n  Conscience, what it is, 209.\n\n  Consolations of affliction, 248.\n\n  Contentment, falsity of, 40;\n    not happiness, 22, 116.\n\n  Conversation, rules for, 223.\n\n  Cookery, French, 136.\n\n  Correspondence as an art, 164.\n\n  Cosiness, the delights of, 86.\n\n  Country, the love of, 83, 90.\n\n  Courage, the value of, 146.\n\n  Cowley, A., quoted, 84.\n\n  Criminals, psychology of, 209.\n\n  Cromwell, anecdote of, 192.\n\n  Culture, the true end of, 40.\n\n\n  D\u2019Alembert, quoted, 46.\n\n  Damocles, story of, 196.\n\n  Dante, quoted, 247.\n\n  Death, reflections on, 261, 262.\n\n  Decalogue, the, discussed, 208.\n\n  Decision of character, 188.\n\n  Demonic force, the, 107.\n\n  Depression, fits of, how cured, 75, 254.\n\n  Descartes, quoted, 168.\n\n  Despair, how avoided, 260.\n\n  Despine, Dr., quoted, 207.\n\n  Despondency, remedies for, 74, 75, 254.\n\n  Destiny, the rule of, 102.\n\n  Diary, benefit of keeping, 165.\n\n  Dinner, a well-served, 135.\n\n  Disraeli, quoted, 161.\n\n  Divorce discussed, 243.\n\n  Dogmatic doctrines considered, 170, 178.\n\n  Dress, the philosophy of, 82, 91.\n\n  Dualism, of morals, the, 209.\n\n  Duty as related to happiness, 206, 207, 215;\n    the sense of, 209.\n\n\n  Eating as an art, 136.\n\n  Economy, its uses, 122.\n\n  Education, of woman, 33, 200;\n    should be free, 199;\n    the true moral, 204, 205, 212.\n\n  Egotism, not individuality, 194.\n\n  Emerson, R. W., 182.\n\n  Emotions, pleasures from, 142.\n\n  Energy, excessive, 113;\n    developed by affliction, 276.\n\n  Ennui, analysis of, 44;\n    good in, 272.\n\n  Epictetus, quoted, 19, 25, 39.\n\n  Epicurus, quoted, 206.\n\n  Error more agreeable than truth, 56, 167.\n\n  \u201cEssay on Man,\u201d Pope\u2019s, 54.\n\n  Essenes, the ancient, 244.\n\n  Esthetic emotions, the, 149.\n\n  Ethics dissevered from happiness, 206.\n\n  Eud\u00e6monics, 11.\n\n  Evidence, the study of, 43.\n\n  Evolution, the secret of, 20;\n    strange law of, 169.\n\n  Executive ability, what it is, 42.\n\n\n  Faith, abuse of, 174.\n\n  Fame, a doubtful pleasure, 168.\n\n  Family traits, 60;\n    love of the, 244.\n\n  Fear, prevention of, 39;\n    definition of, 142, 145;\n    avoidance of, 145.\n\n  Fellowships, what they are, 228.\n\n  Fichte, quoted, 17, 77.\n\n  Ficinus, M., quoted, 141.\n\n  Fifine at the fair, 46.\n\n  Fine arts, pleasures from, 151.\n\n  Fixed opinions, folly of, 187.\n\n  Fontenelle, quoted, 78.\n\n  Food-taking, as a rite, 134.\n\n  Fox, George, 32, 232.\n\n  Foster, John, quoted, 189.\n\n  Friendship explained, 232;\n    rules for, 233;\n    of men and women, 235.\n\n  Frivolity of old men, 80;\n    its usefulness, 225.\n\n  Fuller, Thomas, quoted, 115, 131.\n\n  Furniture, its place in life, 83.\n\n\n  Gambler, the guileless, 97.\n\n  Gamblers, superstitions of, 98;\n    true spirit of, 106.\n\n  Games, pleasures of, 153.\n\n  Gibbon, quoted, 27, 128.\n\n  Goethe, quoted, 34, 102, 107, 151, 220, 276.\n\n  Good taste, what it is, 152.\n\n  Good and evil, how to distinguish, 213.\n\n  Government, the use of, 198;\n    theories of, 199;\n    aim of, 204.\n\n  Grief, inconsistencies of, 252.\n\n\n  Habit, its tyrannical power, 48.\n\n  Halevy, quoted, 129.\n\n  Hamilton, Sir William, 57.\n\n  Happiness, as the aim of life, 9;\n    definitions of, 15, 77, 105, 109, 167, 168;\n    the distribution of, 26;\n    in relation to health, 65;\n    in relation to beauty, 69;\n    washwoman\u2019s ideal of, 109;\n    and success, 116;\n    how related to riches, 125;\n    complete, not attainable, 143;\n    whence derived, 195;\n    two theories of, 196;\n    independent of morality, 206.\n\n  Hatred, as an emotion, 148.\n\n  Hazlitt, Wm., quoted, 113.\n\n  Health in relation to happiness, 65.\n\n  Hearing, the pleasures of, 137.\n\n  Hedonism, 11.\n\n  Herbert of Cherbury, quoted, 148.\n\n  Herder, quoted, 88, 110.\n\n  Heredity, the laws of, 59.\n\n  Hobbes, quoted, 162.\n\n  Holland, Sir Henry, 161.\n\n  Home, what makes a, 83;\n    the love of, 87.\n\n  Homesickness, 87.\n\n  Hope, definition of, 142, 145;\n    in disease, 73.\n\n  House, building a, 85.\n\n  Humanity, the ideal of, 170.\n\n  Humboldt, W. Von, quoted, 34, 235, 244.\n\n  Hume, quoted, 16, 26.\n\n  Hunt, L., quoted, 268.\n\n  Hygiene, science of, 65.\n\n\n  Ibsen\u2019s drama, 63.\n\n  Ideal and real, relations of, 53;\n    attraction of, 67;\n    aim of art, 176;\n    ideal truth, 177;\n    of humanity, 170.\n\n  Ignorance, the bliss of, 56.\n\n  Imagination, the, its cultivation, 149.\n\n  Immortality of the soul, 174, 179.\n\n  Incivility, how to be received, 257.\n\n  Incompatible desires, 144, 250.\n\n  Inconsistencies of grief, 252.\n\n  Individual, the true aim of, 183.\n\n  Individuality, cultivation of, 181;\n    traits of, 194.\n\n  Ingratitude, how to regard, 258.\n\n  Insincerity has no limit, 217.\n\n  Insurance, value of, 101.\n\n  Intellect, pleasures derived from, 156;\n    why cold, 167.\n\n  Intense application, danger of, 113.\n\n\n  Johnson, Dr., quoted, 22, 26, 46, 65, 110, 184, 234, 241.\n\n  Joy, a cry of nature, 20;\n    and sorrow are twins, 277.\n\n\n  Kant, quoted, 16, 25, 141, 195, 206.\n\n  Knowledge, the most useful, 40;\n    its relation to liberty, 199.\n\n\n  Labor, as a source of pleasure, 110;\n    unions, their weak points, 230.\n\n  Lamb, Chas., quoted, 162.\n\n  Lamps, new for old, 124.\n\n  Land, ownership of, 84.\n\n  Leisure, its real use, 117.\n\n  Letter-writing, 164.\n\n  Liberty, the true, 197.\n\n  Life, meaning of, 17, 56;\n    normal duration of, 76;\n    love of, 77.\n\n  Literary clubs, 163.\n\n  Littr\u00e9, quoted, 39.\n\n  Locke, quoted, 16.\n\n  Logic of chance, the, 94.\n\n  Longevity, how attained, 76.\n\n  Love, of neighbor, 18;\n    the emotion of, 67, 239;\n    of money, 127;\n    and marriage, 238, 246, 247.\n\n  Love-feasts, 134.\n\n  Luck and its laws, 92-96;\n    value of, 106.\n\n\n  Making a living considered, 114.\n\n  Mal des montagnes, the, 89.\n\n  Malaise, the seat of, 72.\n\n  Malloch, quoted, 223.\n\n  Man, the science of, 54;\n    in art and science, 150;\n    evolution of, 169;\n    chief end of, 175, 212;\n    very human, 228.\n\n  Many-sidedness of character, 190.\n\n  Marriage, effect on woman, 32;\n    various forms of, 240;\n    French system of, 242;\n    unhappiness in, 243.\n\n  Meditation as a pleasure, 162.\n\n  Melancholy, causes of, 272.\n\n  Men who outlive themselves, 77.\n\n  Mill, J. S., quoted, 32, 158, 244.\n\n  Milton, J., quoted, 244.\n\n  Minor arts, the, 151.\n\n  Mirabeau, quoted, 197.\n\n  Misanthropy, causes of, 194.\n\n  Mission of the species, the, 191.\n\n  Mitchell, Weir, quoted, 80.\n\n  Moderation, the rule of, 129.\n\n  Money and how made, 122;\n    the love of, 127, 226.\n\n  Morality, explained, 195;\n    not identical with happiness, 206;\n    no general code of, 207;\n    motive in, 214.\n\n  Moral life not the highest aim, 175, 212;\n    sense, distinct from morality, 209;\n    pleasures of the, 209.\n\n  Motherhood, its attraction, 240.\n\n  Muscular sense, the, 130.\n\n  Music, enjoyment of, 137.\n\n  Mutuality of interests, 229.\n\n\n  Nature, is equitable, 62, 80;\n    the charms of, 138;\n    emotions excited by, 150;\n    peculiarities of, 154, 155.\n\n  Necessity and chance, as arbiters of destiny, 58.\n\n  Newton, Sir Isaac, 116, 184.\n\n  Novalis, quoted, 134, 178.\n\n  Novel reading as a narcotic, 168.\n\n\n  Obstinacy, 187.\n\n  Occupations of necessity and choice, 109.\n\n  Odors, the power of, 132.\n\n  Old age, its false claims, 34, 35;\n    how attainable, 75, 76;\n    considered, 79;\n    coveted, 261.\n\n  Opinion, its might, 186.\n\n  Ordinary people, preferable, 220.\n\n  Over-conscientiousness, 114.\n\n  Over-sensitiveness, pains of, 185.\n\n\n  Pain, profitless, 39;\n    relations to pleasure, 16, 55, 263, 266;\n    as an antidote, 257;\n    more natural than pleasure, 271.\n\n  Paley, quoted, 26.\n\n  Pascal, quoted, 10, 45, 93, 109.\n\n  Peace the reward of virtue, 215.\n\n  Penn, William, quoted, 88.\n\n  Periodicity, the law of, 48, 267.\n\n  Perseverance, how useful, 116, 186.\n\n  Personality, the joy of, 182.\n\n  Personal liberty, attacks on, 199.\n\n  Philosophies, the folly of, 142.\n\n  Philosophy and Happiness, meanings of, 54.\n\n  Piety and morality, 175;\n    as the last passion, 180.\n\n  Pindar, quoted, 267.\n\n  Places, love of, 87.\n\n  Plato, quoted, 9, 10, 19, 34, 203, 247, 261, 263.\n\n  Platonic friendships, 235.\n\n  Play, measure of its value, 117.\n\n  Pleasure, definitions of, 15, 80, 264;\n    and pain, how connected, 16, 55, 263, 265, 277;\n    from reflection, 162.\n\n  Pleasure-pain sensation, the, 266.\n\n  Pleasures, relative value of, 21;\n    sources of, 24.\n\n  Plot-interest, as a pleasure, 152.\n\n  Poetry, pleasure of reading, 161;\n    of science, 177.\n\n  Polygamy, injurious results of, 241.\n\n  Politeness, its value, 222.\n\n  Politics, why avoided in society, 226.\n\n  Polycrates, story of, 97.\n\n  Pope, quoted, 54.\n\n  Poverty, the worst of, 127.\n\n  Prayer, the universal, 118;\n    refreshes the mind, 180.\n\n  Property, as an incentive, 118.\n\n  Pursuit, the emotions of, 153;\n    of happiness, explained, 54;\n    conclusion of, 278.\n\n  Puzzles and riddles, pleasure of, 158.\n\n\n  Quakers, the, 176, 179, 232.\n\n  Quincy, Thomas de, quoted, 201.\n\n\n  Racial characteristics, 60.\n\n  Rasselas, quoted, 12, 110.\n\n  Reading, as an enjoyment, 139;\n    rules for, 159.\n\n  Reason and religion, 177.\n\n  Recamier, Madame, her friendship, 235.\n\n  Recreations, the best, 115.\n\n  Reflection, pleasure from, 162.\n\n  Religion, happiness from, 169, 172;\n    unhappiness from, 171, 173;\n    true spirit of, 175;\n    of the future, 176, 179, 232;\n    why not mentioned in society, 226.\n\n  Remorse, the pains of, 147.\n\n  Reserve, value of, 189;\n    a help to reputation, 226.\n\n  Resignation, the virtue of, 259.\n\n  Respectability, the revolt against, 45, 46.\n\n  Revenge, as a pleasure, 148.\n\n  Riches, effective and productive, 120;\n    disappointments of, 126.\n\n  Risk, the emotions of, 153.\n\n  Room, the living, 83.\n\n  Rothschild, Baron, opinion of, 99.\n\n  Rousseau, quoted, 28, 84.\n\n  Rules for happiness, why studied, 54.\n\n  Ruskin, J., quoted, 187.\n\n\n  Schopenhauer, A., quoted, 44.\n\n  Science, the love of, 166;\n    the aim of, 176;\n    and religion, 177;\n    of man, the, 54, 68.\n\n  Security, how obtained, 196.\n\n  Self-abnegation, 24.\n\n  Self-admiration, 191.\n\n  Self-complacency, 192.\n\n  Self, conception of, 17;\n    the lord of, 61.\n\n  Self-conceit corrected, 186.\n\n  Self-consciousness, 17, 20, 52.\n\n  Self-control, 24.\n\n  Self-distrust, appropriate, 194.\n\n  Self-education, principles of, 36.\n\n  Self-publication, 226.\n\n  Self-realization, 17, 56.\n\n  Self recognition, 204.\n\n  Self-revelation not self-publication, 226.\n\n  Self-reverence, 189.\n\n  Self-sufficiency, 47.\n\n  Senancour, de, quoted, 43.\n\n  Seneca, quoted, 19.\n\n  Sensation the sense of existence, 140.\n\n  Senses, the pleasures of, 128.\n\n  Sex, origin of, 60.\n\n  Shakespeare, quoted, 50, 51, 62, 100, 103, 118, 121, 122, 157,\n    241, 277.\n\n  Sight, the pleasures of, 138.\n\n  Sincerity, importance of, 189.\n\n  Singularity, what it is, 192.\n\n  Small-talk, its value, 224.\n\n  Smell, the pleasures of, 132.\n\n  Smith, Adam, quoted, 210.\n\n  Smith, Sydney, quoted, 141, 201.\n\n  Social organization, the, 196.\n\n  Socialists, the dreams of, 115, 183.\n\n  Society, the basis of good, 219;\n    maxims for success in, 220;\n    the aim of, 220;\n    the justice of, 227.\n\n  Socrates, quoted, 54, 86, 208, 263.\n\n  Solitude, its uses, 204.\n\n  Sophocles, quoted, 214.\n\n  Sorrow, as an educator, 273, 279, 280.\n\n  Sorrows of age, 76.\n\n  Spencer, H., quoted, 10, 36, 202.\n\n  Spinoza, quoted, 16, 17, 155.\n\n  State and individual, the relations of, 48.\n\n  Steele, quoted, 193, 269.\n\n  Success, what it is, 116;\n    from failure, 259.\n\n  Suffering, the education of, 273.\n\n  Suicide, easy, 261.\n\n  Sympathy, whence to seek, 233, 236, 260.\n\n\n  Table-talk, rules for, 141.\n\n  Talleyrand, quoted, 223.\n\n  Tasso, quoted, 70.\n\n  Taste, the pleasures of, 133-137.\n\n  Tears, their use, 251.\n\n  Temperaments, the four, 71.\n\n  Tennyson, quoted, 202, 277, 278.\n\n  Thoreau, H., 35, 40.\n\n  Time, its value, 124, 142;\n    relation to happiness, 272.\n\n  Tobacco, the pleasure of, 133.\n\n  Tolerance of others, 187;\n    of pain and sorrow, 254.\n\n  Touch, the pleasures of, 131.\n\n  Truth, the search for as a pleasure, 156, 165;\n    the spirit of, 166;\n    alone gives happiness, 214;\n    ideal, 177;\n    gives freedom, 199.\n\n\n  Unhappiness, the removal of, 22, 248;\n    as a habit, 252;\n    in marriage, 243.\n\n  Uniforms, the value of, 82.\n\n  Unknown, the, 53.\n\n  Urbanity, value of, 56.\n\n\n  Variety in dress, 82;\n    to be sought, 47;\n    the rule of, 130.\n\n  Vauvenargues, quoted, 211.\n\n  Veracity a relative matter, 190.\n\n  Virtue, its relation to happiness, 206, 211;\n    and vices, relations of, 214.\n\n\n  Waitz, Th., quoted, 28, 32.\n\n  War, destructive to virtues, 215.\n\n  Ward, L. F., quoted, 10.\n\n  Wealth, its meaning, 119.\n\n  Weather, how it affects us, 81, 88.\n\n  White race, higher sensation in, 63.\n\n  Whitman, Walt., quoted, 78, 140, 179, 182, 191, 194.\n\n  Will, motives of the, 16;\n\n  to strengthen, 255.\n\n  William of Normandy, his wit, 100;\n    his birth, 102.\n\n  Woman, unfavorably placed for securing happiness, 30;\n    education of, 33, 200;\n    physical training of, 66;\n    her clothing, 82, 91;\n    intellectual pleasures of, 158;\n    lack of justice, 33, 205;\n    her attraction for man, 237, 240.\n\n  Work, measure of its value, 117;\n    its healthful action, 255.\n\n  World, the, as our country, 90.\n\n\n  Xavier de Maistre, 83.\n\n\n  Youth not the happiest period of life, 34, 76;\n    misanthropy of, 194;\n    compared with age, 76, 80, 225.\n\n\n  Zola, E., quoted, 109.\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber\u2019s Note:\n\nWords and phrases in italics are surrounded by underscores, _like\nthis_. Dialect, obsolete and alternative spellings were left\nunchanged. Obvious printing errors, such as backwards, upside\ndown, or partially printed letters, were corrected.\n\nThe following items were changed:\n\n  si\u00e9cle to si\u00e8cle \u2026la maladie de la si\u00e8cle\u2026\n  targe to target \u2026misses the target\u2026\n  XVI. to XVI \u2026Louis XVI stops at\u2026\n  brook to book \u2026the oldest prayer-book\u2026\n  Sidney to Sydney \u2026in the words of Sydney Smith\u2026\n  Bront\u00e9 to Bronte \u2026in Charlotte Bronte\u2019s poem\u2026\n  that to than \u2026anguish than by that\u2026\n  inmeasurable to immeasurable \u2026her immeasurable losses\u2026\n  Shopenhauer to Schopenhauer, in the index","title":"The Pursuit of Happiness: A Book of Studies and Strowings","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":69439}