Page:Advice to young ladies on their duties and conduct in life - Arthur - 1849.djvu/205

Rh to another, or entail disabilities upon the actor that will prevent him from discharging, at some future period, his duties to others, which would be to wrong them.

To one who is inexperienced in life, and who feels that the most desirable thing in the world is the gratification of her own wishes and the seeking freely her own pleasures, there is nothing attractive in the idea of regarding the good of others in all she does. This seems to her like giving up every thing that makes life desirable. But she has yet to learn the meaning of this divine law, that “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” She has yet to have her mind opened to the higher truth, that in seeking to make others happy, there is a delight inconceivably beyond what is to be found in any mere selfish and exclusive regard for our own happiness. Indeed, happiness is a thing that, when sought for as an end, never comes. It is not a positive something that the mind can seek for and find, but a consequence that flows from good actions. Idle pleasure-seeking is, therefore, a vain and worse than useless employment. It disappoints the expectations, and leaves the mind restless and dissatisfied. But a diligent and faithful performance, every day, of what the hands and intellect find to do, brings with it a