fall;
Lord of himself, though not of lands;
And having nothing, yet hath all.

CIII. THE ART OF DISCOURAGEMENT.

Arthur Helps (b. 1813, d. 1875) graduated at Cambridge, England, in 1835.
His best known works are: "Friends in Council, a Series of Readings and
Discourses," "Companions of my Solitude," and "Realmah," a tale of the
"lake dwellers" in southern Europe. He has also written a "History of the
Spanish Conquests in America," two historical dramas, and several other
works. Mr. Helps was a true thinker, and his writings are deservedly
popular with thoughtful readers. In 1859 he was appointed secretary of the
privy council.

1. Regarding, one day, in company with a humorous friend, a noble vessel
of a somewhat novel construction sailing slowly out of port, he observed,
"What a quantity of cold water somebody must have had down his back." In
my innocence, I supposed that he alluded to the wet work of the artisans
who had been building the vessel; but when I came to know him better, I
found that this was the form of comment he always indulged in when
contemplating any new and great work, and that his "somebody" was the
designer of the vessel.

2. My friend had carefully studied the art of discouragement, and there
was a class of men whom he designated simply as "cold-water pourers." It
was most amusing to hear him describe the lengthened sufferings of the man
who first designed a wheel; of him who first built a boat; of the
adventurous personage who first proposed the daring enterprise of using
buttons, instead of fish bones, to fasten the scanty raiment of some
savage tribe.

3. Warming with his theme, he would become quite eloquent in describing
the long career of discouragement which these rash men had brought upon
themselves, and which he said, to his knowledge, must have shortened their
lives. He invented imaginary dialogues between the unfortunate inventor,
say of the wheel, and his particular friend, some eminent cold-water
pourer. For, as he said, every man has some such friend, who fascinates
him by fear, and to whom he confides his enterprises in order to hear the
worst that can be said of them.

4. The sayings of the chilling friend, probably, as he observed, ran
thus:--"We seem to have gone on very well for thousands of years without
this rolling thing. Your father carried burdens on his back. The king is
content to be borne on men's shoulders. The high priest is not too proud
to do the