n the opposite slope of the
same hill.

"There the trees were covered with foliage, still green but uncommon, and
their appearance indicated an unhealthy condition of growth.

"'Alas!' said a man who was working in the hedges to me, 'it is not well
to cultivate trees on the height of Tung-Tshi, for the sun never shines
there, and they can only acquire the vigor they would possess if they
were planted in another country.'

"And, altho recognizing the truth of these two opinions, so
contradictory, I could not help thinking that they were the reproduction
of those which men, deprived of common sense, express every day.

"The same hill produced a vegetation, affected in different ways, by
reason of different causes; and the people, instead of taking into
consideration how carelessly they had chosen the location of their
plantation, preferred to attribute the defect to the site itself, rather
than to their lack of precaution.

"Both of them were suffering from a hurtful exaggeration, but each one
explained it in a way arbitrarily exclusive.

"He of the north made out that the sun never shone on the summit of
Yung-Tshi, and the inhabitant of the south affirmed that the
health-giving shade was unknown there."

This is why it is indispensable to the successful resolution of the
thousand and one problems of daily life, both those whose sole importance
is derived from their multiplicity and those whose seriousness justly
demands our attention, to employ the very simple method which prescribes
that we place ourselves mentally in the position and circumstances of the
person with whom we are discussing.

If each one of the inhabitants of Yung-Tshi had followed this precept,
instead of declaring that the hill never received the sun or that shade
never fell upon it, they would each one have thought for himself.

"At what conclusions should I arrive, if I had planted my trees on the
opposite side?"

From the reasoning which would have ensued, the following truth would
most certainly have been revealed.

"If I were in the other man's place, I should certainly think as he
does."

This premise once laid down, the conclusion would be reached; all the
more exact, because, without abandoning their arguments, each one would
present those which it is easy to turn against an adversary.

Before solving a problem, he who desires to avoid making a mistake must
never fail to ask himself this question:

What should I do if my inter