How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.

goes forward, singing, to the accomplishment of the greatest task of all, the establishment of a practical brotherhood of man. What shall we say of adversity, of the “ slings and arrows of outrageous fortune ” that beset us in the course of our studies in the art of living ? Two schools of thought exist with reference to misfortune. Many pray nightly that life’s difficulties may be kept from their path. “ Lead us not into temptation ” runs their prayer. It seems highly problematical whether any secure happiness can be attained by running away from tempta¬ tion, discord, pain, disappointment. Since these things exist in the life of everyone, it seems wiser to counsel a stoic philosophy. Not freedom from temptation, but a serene fortitude in the face of disappointment and chagrin, should be our goal. If you have evaded all unpleasantness in life, your happiness is placed in unstable equilibrium by the constant dread that some unavoidable disappointment is just around the corner. If you have faced pain and disappointment, you not only value your happiness more highly, but you are prepared for unpredictable exigencies. Just as we can immunize ourselves against certain bodily diseases by stimulating our reserves to over-activity by taking graduated doses of toxin into our bodies, so we can immunize ourselves against adversity by meeting and facing the unavoidable chagrins of life, as they occur. There may be happy human vegetables who have succeeded in avoiding unhappiness and pain, but they cannot call themselves men. U envoi I have come to the end of my book, but before I reach the last page, let me make a plea for leniency. I am fully aware of the limitations of my outline of the fine art ot being human, and I take this occasion to remind readers that in my very first pages I stated my purpose in writing this book : to prepare a catalogue