g us the blessing of happiness
though all things else fail us--and that is hard work.

WHEN FORTUNE KNOCKS.--Fortune is said to knock at the door of every man
once in a lifetime. That once is all the time, for the truth is that
fortune is knocking at our doors every day. The trouble is that we are
not prepared to take advantage of her importuning habits. Fortune has
her laws, and we cannot enter her chariot except by obeying these laws.
The young wife who resolves to be considerate and agreeable for one
month is obeying one of her laws, because, if she keeps her promise, she
will have learnt more than she ever did in any preceding month of her
experience. She will find, for example, that people are really more
amiable and agreeable than she ever thought they were; that, because of
the restraint she is exerting on her temper and self-control, she is
growing stronger temperamentally. She has more patience, and she is more
thorough in little things; her environment is enlarging and life is more
interesting. The month's experience will teach her something of her own
capabilities and resources, and she will be so interested and encouraged
that she will determine to experiment more and in other directions. She
is experiencing the psychology of character building--the most
fascinating study of that most fascinating riddle, human nature. Fortune
always favors the brave--it will favor her because she is working in the
right direction--she is obeying the law of success.

To resolve is to obey--to know what you want, to desire to succeed, to
be willing to sacrifice self, to attain results, to smile at adversity,
to be patient, truthful, honest, unselfish, sympathetic, in short to
work hard every minute and all the time.

CHAPTER XXVI

"Habit is a cable: we weave a thread of it each day, and it
becomes so strong we cannot break it."

HORACE MANN.

SPARE MOMENTS

The Study Habit--The Germ of Self-culture--Millions of Tiny
Cells in Our Brain--The Economic Value of the Study Habit--Two
Ways of Gaining Knowledge--Happiness in the Company of Those
Striving for Higher Ideals--A Young Wife's Incentive to
Self-culture--The Difference Between Moral and Mental
Disloyalty--The Study Habit Creates Its Own
Interest--Nosophobia, or the Dread of Disease--Keep Still and
Be Well.

THE STUDY HABIT.--Every individual differs from every other in