t positively happy, but we may be content."

"I doubt it."

"You were once contented."

"I beg you pardon; if I had been, I would have remained in business."

"And been a much more contented man than you are now."

"I am not sure of that."

"I am, then. Why, Parker, when I met you last you had a cheerful air
about you. Whenever I came into your shop, I found you singing as
cheerfully as a bird. But now you do not even smile; your brows have
fallen half an inch lower than they were then. In fact, the whole
expression of your face has changed. I will lay a wager that you have
grown captious, fretful, and disposed to take trouble on interest.
Every thing about you declares this. A year has changed you for the
worse, and me for the better."

"How you for the better, Mr. Steele!"

"I have gone into business."

"I hope no misfortune has overtaken you?"

"I have lost more than half my property, but I trust this will not
prove in the end a misfortune."

"Really, Mr. Steele, I am pained to hear that reverses have driven you
to the necessity of going into business."

"While I am more than half inclined to say that I am glad of it. I led
for years a useless life, most of the time a burden to myself. I was a
drone in the social hive; I added nothing to the common stock; I was of
no use to any one. But now my labours not only benefit myself, but the
community at large. My mind is interested all the day; I no longer feel
listlessness; the time never hangs heavy upon my hands. I have, as a
German writer has said, 'fire-proof perennial enjoyments, called
employments.'"

"You speak warmly, Mr. Steele."

"It is because I feel warmly on this subject. Long before a large
failure in the city deprived me of at least half of my fortune, I saw
clearly enough that there was but one way to find happiness in this
life, and that was to engage diligently in some useful employment, from
right ends. I shut my eyes to this conviction over and over again, and
acted in accordance with it only when necessity compelled me to do so.
I should have found much more pleasure in the pursuit of business, had
I acted from the higher motive of use to my fellows, which was
presented so clearly to my mind, than I do now, having entered its
walks from something like compulsion."

"And you really think yourself happier than you were before, Mr.
Steele?"

"I _know it_, friend Parker."

"And you think I would be happier than I am now, if I were to