rable in the grief of disappointment. It is not for man
wholly to direct his steps. Sometimes what he thinks for his good, turns
out ill; and what he thinks a great evil, develops a great blessing in
disguise. It is folly, almost madness, to be miserable because things
are not as we would have them, or because we are disappointed in our
plans. Many of our plans must be defeated. A multitude of little hopes
must every day be crushed, and now and then a great one. Besides, the
success of our plans is not always essential to our best interests or
our Happiness. Sometimes success is our misery. Our plans are often our
idols, to worship which is false and wrong. It is not in this, or that,
or the other peculiar mode of life, nor in any particular class of
outward circumstances; nor in any definite kind of labor, or duty, or
pleasure, that we must look positively for Happiness; nor yet in any
chosen place or society, or surroundings, or under any particular class
of influences. If we do, we shall be disappointed; for it is not in our
power to have things just our way, or to control our outward or
associational life just as we would. We live amid a multitude of
influences we can not altogether control. Nor is it best we should. Our
vanity, or ignorance, or selfishness might do us great spiritual injury.
We might soon become like spoiled children, or nerveless drones, or
pampered aristocrats. What we are to control is ourselves, our minds.
We must seek Happiness in the right state of mind, in the legitimate
labors, duties, and pleasures of life, and then we shall find what we
seek; yet we may often find it under very different circumstances from
what we expected. We may look for it in one pursuit and find it in
another; and sometimes where we expect the least we shall find the most;
and where we look for the most we shall find the least. "The first shall
be last and the last first." We are short-sighted, and fail to see the
end of things. There is not a little of the misery of life comes from
this disposition to have things our own way, as though we could not be
happy under any circumstances only just those we have framed to suit our
minds. Circumstances are not half so essential to our Happiness as most
people imagine. A cabin is often the theater of more true Happiness than
a palace. The dunghill as often enthrones the true philosophy of life as
the seats which kings occupy. Women in humble circumstances often
possess richer mi