will stand in the way of thy acting justly and soberly and considerately.  But perhaps some of thy active powers will be hindered?  Well, by acquiescing in the hindrance, and being content to transfer thy efforts to that which is allowed, another opportunity of action is immediately put before thee in place of that which was hindered.”  What is this but saying in other words that not in having lies our life, but in doing and being.  Not even in succeeding, we must remember; and this is perhaps the hardest part of our lesson.  It is one thing to bear with serenity those blows of fortune against which we are obviously defenseless; it is another thing, when there seems a chance for averting the disaster, when our whole heart and soul are thrown into that effort, to await the outcome with tranquility, to bear failure without complaint.  The “might have been’s” and the “perhaps may yet be’s” are the greatest disturbers of our peace.  To use our keenest wits for attaining what seems best, to use our utmost persuasion for protecting ourselves from the selfishness and stupidity of others, and then if we fail, if the fair hope slips from our grasp, if the thoughtlessness or cruelty of men prevails against us, to smile and attack the next problem with undaunted cheerfulness, requires, indeed, to attain to that level may well be called “the last infirmity of noble minds.”  For the very concentration of life upon doing and being carries with it the danger of staking happiness upon the success of the doing, the attainment of the ideals.  We must count even the stupidity and impulsiveness of our own mental make-up as among the materials we have to work with, and not allow remorse for our own part in past failures to interfere with the joyful earnestness with which we attack the problems of the eternal present.  We may, indeed, often succeed, and that may be a very great and pure joy to us; but we are not to count upon success; or, to put it another way, we are to think of the real success as lying in the dauntless renewal of the effort rather than in the show of outward result.  “To have often resisted the diabolic, and at the end to be still resisting it, is for the poor human soldier to have done right well.  To ask to see some fruit of our endeavor is but a transcendental way of serving for reward.”  This is not pessimism, it is the first step toward a sound and invulnerable optimism.  We must recognize once for all that this world is not the world of our dreams, and cease to be so pathetically surprised and hurt when it falls short of them.  Were we to be rebellious at life for not being built after the pattern of our ideals there would be no limit to our faultfinding.  We may, indeed, long in our idle hours with Omar “To grasp this sorry scheme of things entire, shatter it to bits-and then Remould it nearer to the heart’s desire!” But in our daily life a braver and saner attitude befits us; for it is not in such an ideal world but in the actual world that we have to