suffer of wrong from our fellow-men, so little do we suffer from the combined efforts of all the intellect and power of the wicked, that, in order to complain at all, we pour out our bitter bewailings upon some petty three-penny tax or other that we feel to be unjust! Think of it, scholars! Think what might be the condition of the world to-day if evil were actually more clever and strong than good! What would become of our asylums, hospitals, and life-saving stations; our schools, churches, and libraries? What would become of veneration for the aged, of respect and homage to woman, and of the almost universal value placed upon sacred human life? In short, what would become of the law and order, national and international, which protects not only the humblest subject or citizen in his rights, but the feeblest state in its independence?

Frank Williams. Dr. Dix, when I said that good boys were not so smart as bad boys, I was n't talking of men, I was talking of boys.

Dr. Dix. And, pray, what should make a difference? The proverb says, "The boy is father of the man." Our other proverb, "There is no rule without exceptions," applies here, of course; but you will find it to be generally the case that the bad men of to-day are the bad boys of twenty years ago, and vice versa.

VII.

MORE ABOUT GOOD BOYS AND "FUN."

Dr. Dix. One of the specifications in the recent indictment of the typical good boy was, that he "is afraid of a little fun," and another was that "he does n't know how to have fun, any way."

Defining fun as malicious mischief, or as injurious pleasure, we admit both specifications, with no palliating circumstances.

But if you mean by fun pure, honest enjoyment of the pleasures so lavishly given us to enjoy, we deny both specifications.

An indispensable requisite to the highest enjoyment is a healthy, natural condition of mind and body. You have all heard of the miserable dyspeptic who finds no pleasure in the most luxurious table, and of the healthy hunger which finds a sweet morsel in a dry crust. The principle applies to all kinds and conditions of real enjoyment.

Thomas Dunn. You speak of real enjoyment; do you mean to imply that there is none in what are called forbidden pleasures that wickedness actually renders men incapable of real enjoyment?

Dr. Dix. I mean that forbidden pleasures always entail more pain in the end than pleasure. So, if we strike the balance, or get what I may call the algebraic sum, it is nothing less than nothing. I mean that every sinful indulgence diminishes the power of enjoying even the forbidden pleasure itself, until at last the power of enjoyment of the good or the bad may be utterly lost.

The opium-eater always secures the greatest effect from his first dose, because his nerve-system is then in its most vigorous condition, and therefore most capable of responding to the stimulant. His next dose must be larger to produce an equal effect upon his impaired susceptibility.

Thomas Dunn. You are speaking now of an indulgence which we all know to be injurious. Are there not immoral indulgences which are not necessarily injurious, that is, I mean, to the health?

Dr. Dix. Do you know of any such?

Thomas Dunn. I know a good many that are called immoral, going to the theatre, for instance, or dancing. Dr. Dix. I cannot see how anything that is not injurious to the mind, body, or heart can be immoral. If drinking wine and smoking cigarettes were not injurious, they would not be sinful; if malicious pranks upon our fellow-pupils were not injurious, both to them and much more so to ourselves, for health of body is not the only or the most important kind of health, - they would not be forbidden pleasures.

Henry Phillips. You just remarked, Dr. Dix, that health of body is not the most important kind of health.

Dr. Dix. I did.

Henry Phillips. Is not health of body the foundation of mental and moral health? and is not the foundation of anything the most important part?

Dr. Dix. The foundation is a necessary part, but not the most important. That which rests on the foundation, that for the sake of which the foundation exists, is the most important. As to whether physical health is the foundation of mental and moral health, we say, on general principles, that if one member of an organism suffers all will suffer. The mind suffers with the body, the body with the mind, and, if the law is true, the heart must suffer with both.

Louisa Thompson. It does not seem to me that the law can be true. Have not some of the most famous minds been found in inferior, weakly, and diseased bodies, from old Æsop down to George Eliot ?

Julia Taylor. And do we not often hear of poor suffering invalids who show the best and noblest hearts?

Dr. Dix. Yes, all that is true. Still such apparent exceptions neither prove nor disprove the law. It can never be known whether those famous intellects were really strengthened or brightened by physical defects and sufferings. Disease often stimulates the faculties to abnormal but short-lived brilliancy; but is that real strength? We do not look upon the maniacal strength which fever sometimes gives as real strength; certainly not as we look upon the substantial and enduring strength of health. Some physiologists regard that which we call genius as nothing more nor less than a form of brain disease.

If only the physically feeble were intellectually and morally strong, the case would be different; but the truth is, that the majority of the world's leaders in great moral reforms as well as in intellectual achievements have been blessed with bodily health and vigor, have had the mens sana in corpore sano.1

As to the saintly invalids of whom Miss Taylor spoke, we have all known of them; of all mankind they are most deserving of love, tender sympathy, and admiration they prove to us that disease may exert a most benign influence upon men, that "as gold is tried by fire, so the heart is tried by pain: " they show us what lessons of heroic patience and sweet resignation may be learned by physical suffering. Yet who knows that the hearts even of these sainted sufferers might not have throbbed with still stronger love if the blood that vitalized them had been richer and warmer?

Do not, I pray you, misunderstand me.

1 A sound mind in a sound body.

For no con

sideration would I disparage the merits of any of my fellow-men, least of all those who most deserve our sympathy and appreciation; nay, our emulation. It is their fate to suffer rather than to do, and to suffer with godlike patience and fortitude is even nobler than to achieve with godlike power; in its influence upon other hearts and lives, even its achievements may be more beneficent.

But, though disease may sometimes exert a most holy influence, it is not only never to be sought, but it is always to be avoided by every means in our power, except the violation of a higher duty. Body, mind, and heart are all stronger, better qualified to do their duty, in health than in disease.

And, to return to the subject with which we began this morning's Talk, one of our duties is to enjoy. We exist not only to make others happy, but to be happy ourselves. Both happiness and misery are contagious.

Other things being equal, our happiness is in proportion to our health; and again, other things being equal, our health is in proportion to our goodness, that is, as I have already shown, in proportion as we obey the laws of our being.

Jonathan Tower. Dr. Dix, what do you mean by "other things being equal"?

Dr. Dix. By other things, I mean in the one case character and external circumstances, and in the other natural constitution and external circumstances. Thus, the bedridden invalid may sing with joy, while the vigorous criminal who never suffered a day's illness endures mental tortures that only he and such as he knows; or while the mother, herself in perfect health perhaps, is weeping for her children, and will not be comforted. because they are not. Thus also one with inherited disease, or one placed in circumstances beyond his control, or one heroically discharging his duty, may to the very best of his ability obey the laws of his being, and yet