same. Indeed, I question whether it is not irreligious to
attempt to shift from men's shoulders their natural burdens.

5. "Then, as to its succeeding,--for my part, I see no chance of that. How
can it go up hill? How often you have failed before in other fanciful
things of the same nature! Besides, you are losing your time; and the yams
about your hut are only half planted. You will be a beggar; and it is my
duty, as a friend, to tell you so plainly.

6. "There was Nang-chung: what became of him? We had found fire for ages,
in a proper way, taking a proper time about it, by rubbing two sticks
together. He must needs strike out fire at once, with iron and flint; and
did he die in his bed? Our sacred lords saw the impiety of that
proceeding, and very justly impaled the man who imitated heavenly powers.
And, even if you could succeed with this new and absurd rolling thing, the
state would be ruined. What would become of those who carry burdens on
their backs? Put aside the vain fancies of a childish mind, and finish the
planting of your yams."

7. It is really very curious to observe how, even in modern times, the
arts of discouragement prevail. There are men whose sole pretense to
wisdom consists in administering discouragement. They are never at a loss.
They are equally ready to prophesy, with wonderful ingenuity, all possible
varieties of misfortune to any enterprise that may be proposed; and when
the thing is produced, and has met with some success, to find a flaw in
it.

8. I once saw a work of art produced in the presence of an eminent
cold-water pourer. He did not deny that it was beautiful; but he instantly
fastened upon a small crack in it that nobody had observed; and upon that
crack he would dilate whenever the work was discussed in his presence.
Indeed, he did not see the work, but only the crack in it. That
flaw,--that little flaw,--was all in all to him.

9. The cold-water pourers are not all of one form of mind. Some are led to
indulge in this recreation from genuine timidity. They really do fear that
all new attempts will fail. Others are simply envious and ill-natured.
Then, again, there is a sense of power and wisdom in prophesying evil.
Moreover, it is the safest thing to prophesy, for hardly anything at first
succeeds exactly in the way that it was intended to succeed.

10. Again, there is the lack of imagination which gives rise to the
utterance of so much discouragement. For an ordinary man, it