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Show ) I j I I THE ART OF LEAVING OFF ending of a good 'day off.' We are sorry to be 'coming out of the woods' instead of 'going in.' And that regret is perfectly natural and all right. It is part of the condition on which we receiYe our happin"-'8. The mistake lies in wishing to escape from it bT a petrification of our. joys. The stone forest in Arizona will never decay, but it is no place for a man to set up his tents forever. "The other day, a friend was admiring the oldfashioned house where I live. "Tis a good camp,' said I, 'plenty of wood and water, and I hope it's on the right trail.' "Hany of our best friends h9.ve gone ahead of us on that trail. Why should we hold back P The fairest things in the world and the finest are always in transition: the bloom of tender Spring disappearing in the dark verdure of Summer; the week of meadow-rue and nodding lilies passing as silently as it came; the splendid hues of the autumnal hills fading like the colours on a bubble; the dear child, whose innocence and simplicity are a daily joy to you, growing up into a woman. Would you keep her & child forever, her head always a little lower 320 THE ART OF LEAVING OFF than your heart? Would you stand where you are to-day, always doing the same things, always repeating the same experiences, never leaving off? Then be thankful that the Wisdom and Goodness by which this passing show is ordered will not suffer you to indulge your foolish wish.. The wisest men and women are not those who cling tenaciously to one point of life, with desperate aversion to all change, but those who travel cheerfully through its mutations, finding in every season, in every duty, in every pleasure, a time to begin and a time to cease, and moving on with willing adaptation through the conclusion of each chapter to the end of the book. "And concerning that F-inis of the volume, which is printed in such sober, black, italic type, I remember a good saying of old Michel de Monlaigne in one of his essays,-not the exact words, but the soul of his remarks. He says that we cannot judge whether a man has been truly fortunate in life until we have seen him act with tranquillity and contentment in the last scene of his comedy, which is undoubtedly the most difficult. For himself, he adds, his chief study and desire is that he may well 321 |