OUR DUTY IN THE WORLD

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4307, 16 March 1901, Page 5 (Supplement)

OUR DUTY IN THE WORLD

We are often told how had and sad this world of ours is, "Where e'en to think is to be full of woe and leadeneyod ! despair.’’ It is not advisable, there- | fore, to think too much about this as- ! pect of this our dwelling-place; and the I best cure for sad thoughts is to he up J and doing. This is especially applicable in regard to' our view of the world generally, and of our own little sphere of life in particular. It is better, a thousand times, to try and set a few trifles in our immediate neighbourhood right than to sigh and moan over the multitude of ills and evils we are powerless to improve, Sydney Smith, a wise and witty cleric%was fond of advising people, bo take short views of life, not to look too far ahead, but, though taking prudent forethought, to concern themselves with the things of the present rather than look fearfully into the future, dreading the ills which often never come. And speaking of this, con over the following versa of Lowell’s : * \ “Some of your hurts you have cured, And the sharpest you still have survived ; But what torrents of grief you endured For the evils which never arrived.” Bather severe, hut who shall say it has not much truth ini it?