pher, "refuses to be so adjusted as to eliminate
from it all strife and conflict and pain. There are a thousand tasks
that, in larger interests than ours, must be done, whether we want them
or no. The world refuses to walk upon tiptoe, so that we may be able
to sleep. It gets up very early and stays up very late, and all the
while there is the conflict of myriads of hammers and saws and axes
with the stubborn material that in no other way can be made to serve
its use and do its work for man. And then, too, these hammers and axes
are not wielded without strain or pang, but swung by the millions of
toilers who labor with their cries and groans and tears. Nay, our
temple-building, whether it be for God or man, exacts its bitter toll,
and fills life with cries and blows. The thousand rivalries of our
daily business, the fiercer animosities when we are beaten, the even
fiercer exultation when we have beaten, the crashing blows of disaster,
the piercing scream of defeat,--these things we have not yet gotten rid
of, nor in this life ever will. Why should we wish to get rid of them?
We are here, my brother, to be hewed and hammered and planed in God's
quarry and on God's anvil for a nobler life to come." Only the muscle
that is used is developed.

The constantly cheerful man, who survives his blighted hopes and
disappointments, who takes them just for what they are, lessons, and
perhaps blessings in disguise, is the true hero.

There is a strength
Deep bedded in our hearts of which we reck
But little, till the shafts of heaven have pierced
Its fragile dwelling. Must not earth be rent
Before her gems are found?
MRS. HEMANS.

"If what shone afar so grand
Turns to ashes in the hand,
On again, the virtue lies
In the struggle, not the prize."

"The hero is not fed on sweets,
Daily his own heart he eats;
Chambers of the great are jails,
And head-winds right for royal sails."

"So many great
Illustrious spirits have conversed with woe,
Have in her school been taught, as are enough
To consecrate distress, and make ambition
Even wish the frown beyond the smile of fortune."

Then welcome each rebuff,
That turns earth's smoothness rough,
Each sting, that bids not sit nor stand but go.
BROWNING.

CHAPTER VI.

ONE UNWAVERING AIM.

Life is an arrow--therefore you must know
What mark to aim at, how to use the bow--
Then draw it to t