TAKING A RISK.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIII, Issue XVIII, 3 August 1912, Page 10

TAKING A RISK.

Goethe says that there are three essential elements of any strong and moving story. It must illustrate enterprise, it must involve the incurring of peril, and it must result in the achievement of success. You cannot make i anything moving or heroic out of -the lives of men who took no risks and always sailed so near the shore that they could easily swim to land in the event of disaster to their craft. Henry Ward j Beecher once said that the most dangerous thing that happens to any man is coming into the world at all, but having come, and being there, you find yourself in conditions in which there are no "dead certainties." You simply have to act, with your best judgment, upon the light you have, and take the consequences. A young man, who has1 a fair position, and a good outlook, asks whether he is justified in marrying the girl of his choice before he has saved, say, a thousand pounds. We have no hesitation in answering that question. Minimize the risk of leaving your wife penniless at your death by taking out a reasonable life insurance in a sound company, and then marry, thanking your lucky stars that the woman of your love believes in you so as to trust herself to you. Take each other for better or for worse, and then set to work with all your powers, so that the woman who gives herself to you shall look back to the wedding day "with joy. There will be disappointments and griefs. There may be heartbreaking sorrows and crushing defeats. There are no lessons that are irremediable except the breakdown of- character, and that is in your hands. Do not take the step with a timid; forecasting mind, but with the cheerfulness that is the invariable accompaniment of true courage, and hand in hand go forth to take and share whatever life may bring.