highest welfare; therefore, obey me and you shall be rewarded; disobey
me and you shall be punished." It needs some moral courage to bravely
stay in the path of Wisdom, for there are many allurements to leave it;
more particularly as the inexperience of the traveler does not warn him
of the dangers of following pleasures that lead away from wisdom's ways.
The guide worthy of trust must not fail to point out these dangers; and
the prudent youth will listen to the warning voice and walk in Wisdom's
ways, for "all her ways are pleasantness, and all her paths are peace."

We talk much about our personal liberty, and assert that we have a right
to live in Maine or California, but we have not that much liberty in
regard to dwelling in the Land of the Teens. If we are ever to reach the
Heights of Maturity we must spend ten years in the Teens. We cannot sell
our domain, nor give it away, and we cannot even hire some one to
cultivate it for us. This being the case, it becomes important for us
to study the soil and how best to develop its advantages.

We find that the land has three divisions: the Domain of the Body, the
Field of Intellect, and the Garden of the Heart,--the same divisions
that exist in the Sunny Land of Childhood, and that we have been
cultivating ever since we were born. These are the kingdoms which came
to us with the gift of life. We recognize that the gifts which come to
us at birth and death are of life for ourselves alone, and we have had
no thought during our childish years except to develop our powers for
our own advantage. It may be we have not felt perfectly satisfied with
our lot in life, but we have felt that we were not responsible for this.
We did not choose to be born in America instead of Asia, though we do
not rebel at this fact. We did not select to be white instead of black.
It is not our fault if we are born of a family in which consumption is
an inheritance; and, on the other hand, we can claim no credit to
ourselves if we have inherited strong bodies with healthful tendencies.
It is our misfortune, and not our fault, if we are not quite perfectly
poised by nature; it is our good fortune, not our foresight, if we have
genius instead of mediocrity. The gifts that come to us through
inheritance are ours without blame or credit to us but they bring with
them the responsibility of their use. We are responsible for maintaining
or increasing our dower of health by obedience to physical laws;
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