existence a lie,
Franzel? Because its end is so abrupt? But your existence had its
beginning as well and did that beginning ever bespeak a promise of
perpetuity? On the contrary my dear fellow, there is much honesty in
human life; it promises so little and yet yields us so much. Will you
censure it because it can't be all that we visionary or dissatisfied or
unjust people demand?"

"There's no joy to me in living," muttered the other gloomily, covering
his eyes with his broad hands. "As soon as one need is satisfied,
another takes its place, and he who ventures to differ from the
opinions held by mankind in general never finds repose."

"And would life be worth the living if we were sunk in repose? Is
sleeping, living? Or absorption in a dull dream of existence, such as
the beetle has when it climbs up the blade of grass to reach a
dew-drop--is that leading a worthy life? My dear fellow, if you drive
necessity out of the world, how unnecessary it would be to live!"

"You're playing upon words."

"No, I speak in sober earnest. A short time ago I read a stanza, in
Voltaire, which, like many things he says to the masses, is drawn from
his deep hoard of knowledge and contains a pure gem of truth.

"Oh! who could bear the harden of his life,
The sad remembrance of the whilom strife,
The threat'ning ills that hover round his way,
If the dear God, to ease man of his pain,
Had not so made him thoughtless, careless, vain,
That he might be less wretched in his day.

"Don't growl at the poor translation; its a hasty improvisation which I
ventured upon because I know you can't bear French. The sense is
faithfully rendered, and it's a sense admirably suited to the
senseless. I know of but one way that leads to real unhappiness, and
that's when a person is vain and frivolous. And those lines contain
much wisdom for it is just those people who lack the strength to endure
sorrowful recollections of the past and anxiety concerning their
futures, that are so deeply indebted to Nature for the ability of
thoughtlessly and unconsciously enjoying their pitiful present. This
will not bring them happiness, it will only make them less miserable,
for the real bliss of living they will never learn to know. He only can
understand that who is capable of quiet reflection, or, if you will,
who is able to grasp the meaning of both past and future at once.
Perhaps, though you're exactly the opposite of vain an