Page:Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse.pdf/178

 or irritated by the watchful observations of those who decry religion, and hate its professors.

Egotism and vanity are weapons which we use against ourselves. We wish to stand high in the opinion of others; but nothing destroys our own dignity more than the repetition of the pronoun I. We wish to appear gracefully in the eyes of others; yet nothing destroys the attraction of beauty more effectually than vanity. "In simple manners all the secret lies."

When we have recovered from dangerous illness there is an error into which our earth-bound minds are apt to fall. This is entertaining our friends, with every symptom and variation of our malady, instead of the praise of our great physician. Few say, "Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night?"

Any affliction is more supportable than the consciousness of having mispent our time, and neglected opportunities for usefulness. The