had the same spirit, born
of his own suffering. He was not accustomed to complain, and was always
reticent in speaking of himself. Once, however, for the sake of a
friend, he allowed himself to tell of his own life:

"With all your sorrows I sympathize from my heart," he wrote. "I have
learned to do so through my own sufferings. The same feeling which made
you put your hand into your pocket to search among the crumbs for the
wanting coin for the beggar, leads me to search in my heart for some
consolation for you. The last two years have been fraught to me with
such sorrowful experiences that I would gladly exchange my condition for
a peaceful grave. A bankrupt in health, hope and fortune, my
constitution shattered frightfully, and the almost certain prospect of
being a cripple for life before me, I can offer you as fervent and
unselfish a sympathy as ever one heart offered another. I have lain
awake, alone, and in darkness, suffering severe agony for hours, often
thinking that the slightest aggravation must make my condition
unbearable and finding my only consolation in murmuring to myself the
words patience, courage and submission."

That, surely, is a part of what Robert Louis Stevenson meant when, as
one element in his statement of the ideal for the perfect life, he named
"to be kind." True kindness is impossible without sympathy.

So long as there is so much real sympathy in the world there can be no
place for the maunderings of a pessimist. Every sight of a man, a woman
or a child whose life is beautified by the outgoing of sympathy is an
effective message of courage, of cheer, of hope.

IV

DOING BUSINESS FOR OTHERS

A Boston boy, Samuel Billings Capen, wanted to become a minister. Yet it
did not seem possible to secure the special training which was
essential. Instead of being discouraged, he determined to go into
business.

But he resolved that he would be a business man of God. From the first
he carried his Christian principles with him into the carpet business.
His faithful work as office boy was a part of his testimony for Christ,
and when--within five years--he became a member of the firm, he was
known as one of the solid Christian men of the city. Always his duty to
Christ came first. In the words of his biographer, "There was not a
moment when he would not have left the firm with which he was associated
had the business demanded any compromise with the best things of
character."

Once he spoke