He laughed again, evidently enjoying her bewilderment. "This world is a strange place, dear girl, and full of unexpected meetings and surprises. When I was in the Australian Bush, miles away from civilization, I came across someone— But it's a long story, and this is rather a public place. Come in here," throwing oper the door of a private sitting-room," and I will tell you something which, unless I am greatly mistaken, will indeed gladden your heart.” CLARA MUlholland. (To be continued.) SONG O FAIR fields and flowering hedges, If only things could be about you Could I be a weeny childeen Or a cailin, shy and wild, in Could an old man come to meet me, Tears in his blue eyes to greet me― Might I and my own true lover, With contented hearts roam over All that lovely land; Never from your charms I'd sever, You are not to blame, But-the dead are dead for ever Things are not the same! NORA TYNAN O'MAHONY. LITTLE ESSAYS ON LIFE AND CHARACTER I III.-COURAGE HAVE a confession to make. When I was a very young man(My present age? you will wish to know it? Dear reader, practise a little self-denial and let that wish remain ungratified)-when I was a very young man, I used to suffer in a singular fashion. Whenever I walked through the city, I made it my aim to be seen in becoming attire; but it happened not unfrequently that, while my apparel was on the whole unobjectionable, there was a glaring defect that caused me anxiety and shame. Either my hat was somewhat worn and seedy, or my trousers had grown bent and baggy at the knees, or my coat lacked a button in a conspicuous spot, or a small aperture smiled at me from my boot. I felt convinced that everyone whom I passed had his eye fixed on what was amiss, and regarded it with amusement. How I blushed! What confusion I felt! Time, however, which cures so many of life's evils, has provided a remedy for this source of annoyance. I know now that I am not an object of such absorbing contemplation to every passerby; that, in fact, the majority of people pay me no attention whatever. This discovery, unflattering as it is to vanity, contributes not a little, I perceive, to a quiet and easy frame of mind. How many, indeed, of our troubles are wholly self-caused! Yet, nonsensical though they are, and even ludicrous, they inflict keen pain; and when they rob us of courage, "the native hue of resolution is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought." There are those who, through groundless apprehensions, shirk plain duty, and excuse their sloth and cowardice by alleging their inability to cope with an adverse fate. Full of self-pity, they yield to what they regard as insurmountable obstacles, and make no struggle. The truth, of course, is that every man has it in him to be the shaper of his own destiny. He achieves this result, not by finding external circumstances favourable to success, but by exerting resolutely the powers native to the soul. It is extraordinary what triumphant force a man develops who is determined to do his duty in the world and to act always with courage. His energy and resolution attract from every side the elements that contribute to the attainment of his purpose, and his very boldness compels fortune to smile upon his efforts. I do not here speak merely of social or business advancement. A higher success is gained when one by steadfast striving wins a noble character and builds for his spirit a fitting home. He is then secure against calamity, and in the midst of adversities, before which others cower and tremble, he stands erect and unmoved like a cliff "that looks on tempests and is never shaken." There is no evading the law that the fruit which we gather in the harvest of our life shall correspond exactly with the seed scattered in our spring. If we are idle, self-indulgent, and faint of heart, we sow the seeds of inevitable failure, and we are both foolish and dishonest in laying the blame on other people, and shutting our eyes to the true cause. Each is responsible for his own career-if not for actual success in money-making-at least for that spiritual success which springs from the strengthening and annealing of his will, that it may follow truth and justice. When we look at modern society, can we say that it is characterized by courage and self-denial, and is devoted to the pursuit of wise and noble objects? Alas, by no means. "We are a cowardly generation," says a well-known author,* "and men shrink from suffering now, as their fathers shrank from dishonour in rougher times. The Lotus hangs within the reach of all, and in the lives of many it is always afternoon,' as for the Lotus Eaters. The fruit takes many shapes and names; it is called Divorce, it is called Morphia, it is called Compromise, it is designated in a thousand ways and justified by ten thousand specious arguments, but it means only one thing: Escape from Pain." A pathetic spectacle is the voluntary shipwreck of life's opportunities and gifts. At times, the religious-minded man meets with this disaster-not because he is religious, but becanse he is not religious enough. Through a false humility he will not believe in the power with which Heaven has blessed him, and so he fails to put forth the strength which is really his. He forgets that God helps those who help themselves; and while he can live, if he will, with the purest ideals and the highest aims, he yields to a craven spirit through lack of genuine and practical faith. The deeds of self-sacrifice and heroism that shed a lustre on the history of mankind sprang from hearts energised by faith. As it was in the past, so will it be in the future. The men of faith are the heirs of the ages that are coming. Firm Faith, resolute Hope, and Charity unfeigned-these virtues raise and perfect human nature, and the man who is gifted with them, is the conqueror of himself and the lord of all the world. * F. Marion Crawford in A Rose of Yesterday. Courage, says Vauvenargues, has more resources against misfortune than even reason has. In undertaking life's duties, they who yield to weakness and timidity are lost. The swimmer that stretches forth his hands with confidence, makes his way with ease through the foam-crested waves which fear would have changed into a source of peril. In the battle of life courage is as necessary to all of us as it is to the soldier who wishes to get the better of his enemy in the field. A brave man, it is true, may be attacked by fear, but neither in will nor in action does he yield to its sway. True men, doubtless, meet, like others, with apparent or real failure, but they are able to change the reverse into a gain by the temper with which they meet it, and they use that gain as a stepping-stone whence they spring forward to greater nobility of character and greater success in achievement. "Man is his own star, and the soul that is courageous and perfect, commands all light, all influence, all fate." Fortune, it has been well said, can make sport of the wisdom of resolute men, but she is not able to break their courage. All things-such is the blessing of fortitude and determination-co-operate for their welfare, and they know that, no matter how dark looms the prospect before them, "man's extremity is God's opportunity," and "Sudden the worst turns the best to the brave." Courage, indeed, is the sun of adversity: it generates light, warmth, and vigour, and by it the winter of our distress is often made glorious summer. No one who believes that God created the world and has care of His creatures, can do aught but abide without solicitude under the protection of His Providence. The children of an Almighty Father should not be cowards; but cowards, in very truth, the children of the devil have every reason to be-they, namely, who boast of "their noble father Satan," and who spend their brief span of life in puny attempts to destroy the worship of God. When we find ourselves called upon to encounter responsibility and difficulty, our sole security is "to bear up and steer right onward" with perfect trust in Heaven. In enterprises of great pith and moment daring is the truest wisdom. Life has placed its richest prizes under the guardianship of Patience, Abnegation, and Courage, who will hand their treasures to none save those whose pluck and resolution prove them to be kindred spirits and men of valour-men who never bate a jot of heart or hope," but know how to labour and suffer and be strong. M W. I A CHICAGO CHURCH BULLETIN AM not aware that any Catholic parish in England or Ireland issues a monthly bulletin, such as is continuously published with admirable regularity by certain parishes in the United States, at Boston, New York, Chicago, and many other places. A friend has just sent me the Church Calendar and Sodality Bulletin of the Holy Family Parish in Chicago, the third number of the twentieth volume, March, 1907-36 pages, those on the right hand being given up to parochial announcements and to religious and literary matter, while the left-hand pages are reserved for advertisers, a hundred or so of them, who, no doubt, more than pay for the expenses of publication. Besides furnishing practical information on the devotions and religious functions of the coming month, great care is taken in putting together a pleasant and useful set, sometimes original and sometimes selected, of pieces of prose and verse. For instance," The Fool's Prayer," by Edward R. Sill, was worth reprinting, and is now worth quoting here. The royal feast was done, the King Sought some new sport to banish care, Kneel now, and make for us a prayer !" The jester doffed his cap and bells, And stood the mocking court before; He bowed his head, and bent his knee "No pity, Lord, could change the heart "'Tis not by guilt the onward sweep Of truth and right, O Lord, we stay ; 'Tis by our follies that so long We hold the earth from heaven away. "These clumsy feet, still in the mire, Go crushing blossoms without end; |