lence.

Only when we know how to practise this--in an impersonal, free and
quiet spirit, one which is not due to outward repression of any
kind--are we able to talk with quiet, loving, helpful speech. Then may
we tell the clean truth without giving unnecessary offence, and then
may we soothe and rest, as well as stimulate in, wholesome ways; then,
also, will our minds open to receive the good that may come to us
through the words and actions of others.

VII

_The Circumstances of Life_

IT is not the circumstances of life that trouble or weigh upon us, it
is the way we take them. If a man is playing a difficult game of chess,
the more intricate the moves the more thoughtfully he looks over his
own and his opponent's men, and the more fully he is aroused to make
the right move toward a checkmate. If, when the game became difficult,
the player stopped to be depressed and disheartened, his opponent would
probably always checkmate him; whereas, in most cases, the more
difficult the game the more thoroughly the players are aroused to do
their best, and a difficult game is invariably a good one,--the winner
and the loser both feel it to be so,--even though the loser may regret
his loss. But--the reader will say--a game of chess is a game
only,--neither one's bread and butter nor one's life depend upon
winning or losing it. If, however, we need to be cool and quiet and
trustful for a game, which is merely an amusement, and if we play the
game better for being cool and quiet and trustful, why is not a quiet
steadiness in wrestling with the circumstances of life itself just as
necessary, not only that we may meet the particular problem of the
moment truly, but that we may gain all the experience which may be
helpful in meeting other difficult circumstances as they present
themselves.

We must first convince ourselves thoroughly of the truth that
CIRCUMSTANCES, HOWEVER DIFFICULT, ARE ALWAYS--WITHOUT EXCEPTION,
OPPORTUNITIES, AND NOT LIMITATIONS.

They are not by any means opportunities for taking us in the direction
that our own selfishness would have us go; they are opportunities which
are meant to guide us in the direction we most need to follow,--in the
ways that will lead us to the greatest strength in the end.

The most unbelieving of us will admit that "there is a destiny which
shapes our ends, rough hew them as we may," and it is in the stupid
resistance to having our ends shaped for us that we stop and gr