OVERCOMING CIRCUMSTANCES.
THE secret of a happy, useful life is to accept cheerfully what may seem to be adverse circumstances, and then set resolutely to work to get the better of them. The following incident carries its own lesson:— A physician whose life had been made beautiful with good deeds and a high faith, said once:— "If I have been happy or useful in the world, it is due largely to the effect on my mind of a chance question from a stranger. "I was a poor boy and a cripple. One day, standing on a ball field, I was watching the other boys with bitterness and envy. They were strong, healthy, well clothed and well fed. Some of the mothers of the players sat in carriages, waiting to see the game, intending to drive their sons home, when it was over. I looked at them with an angry scowl, sick at heart. A young man standing beside me, and seeing, no doubt, the discontent in my face, touched my arm. 'Say, bub! You wish you were in the place of those boys, eh?' he said. 'Yes, I do!' I broke out. 'Why should they have everything, and I nothing?' 'He nodded gravely. 'I reckon God gave them money and education and health to help them to be of some account in the world. Did it ever strike you that he gave you your lame legs for the same reason—to make a man of you?' 'I did not answer, and he turned away. I never saw him again. But I couldn't get his words out of my mind. My crippled leg—God's gift? To teach me patience and strength? 'I did not believe it. But I was a thoughtful boy, taught to reverence God, and the more I thought of it the more it seemed to me the stranger had told the truth. I did believe that God pitied me—and at last came to feel that it would please him if I rose above my deformity, and by it were made more manly and true. It worked on my temper, my thoughts, and at last upon my actions. Gradually it influenced my whole life. Whatever came to me I looked upon as God's gift for some especial purpose. If it were a difficulty, he gave it for me to struggle with, to strengthen my mind and faith; if it were a helpless invalid cast on me for support, or even a beggar, I thought—God has given me another chance to do his work. "The idea has sweetened and helped all of my life. I wish I could find the man who gave me this password which has lifted my life to a higher plane and has led me constantly to the Source of all good."—Selected.