make you dwindle, alike in intellectual and moral stature, beyond your darkest reckonings." Nature abhors uniformity as she does a vacuum. She crowns the individual and refuses to reduce all mankind to a common level. Progress is realized by differences encouraged by the forces of life to greater differences. Innate powers, intelligent effort and the utilization of time are all important factors in world achievement. If two men are equal in mental endowment and energy and one works twelve hours a day and the other eight, equality of the men as world forces ceases. If each works ten hours a day at similar vocations and one spends two or three hours a day engaged in interesting avocations, his power will grow with leaps and bounds; his value to the world will be far greater than that of his fellow, and his mental work in diversified avocational fields will increase his vocational ability; thus he will outstrip his colleague who believes in work and rest, i. e., ten hours' work and the balance of the day, aside from enjoyment of family and desirable social life, occupied in the usual killtime fashion which is mental rust-not rest. The proper distinguishing, grading and relative placing of duties and opportunities that occur in a day are a fine art, and man can with profit study to know how to distinguish that which is important from that which is relatively unimportant; and that which should take precedence from that which is subordinate to a well-balanced, effective life. We rightly criticise Pietro Medici for employing the immortal genius of Michael Angelo to make a statue out of frozen snow, yet we refuse to see that if Angelo's time was precious to the world, our time is as precious to ourselves and was ordained to be of some use to the world. Are we spending our time chiselling in solid granite or are we utilizing our forces merely to make statues of snow or idols of mire? G XI OETHE said that life lies before us as a huge quarry lies before the architect. He de serves not the name of architect except when, out of this fortuitous mass, he can combine with the greatest economy, fitness and durability, some forms, the patterns of which originated in his spirit. All things without and about us are mere elements-externals, but deep within us lies the creative force which out of these can produce what they were meant to be. Thomas has said that "The force that drives a man to any goal he has before him, is personal power. It is the divine part of man that gives him domination over the earth and over himself. It is something more than intelligence, because it makes a man use his intelligence in the right way. It is something more than character, for it creates character. It is something more than personality, because a man's personality is but an expression of the mind." Environment does not make a man, but it may tend to retard or stimulate his growth. A man's capacity for worth-while thought and intelligent effort is almost always inversely proportionate to the amount of stimulus furnished by his environment, which, however, is greatly affected by the man's relation and general attitude to his environment. Environment is to life what wind, tide and weather are to the sailing craft. Adverse winds do not stop progress, but they demand that the real guiding power within the boat utilize his power and skill in tacking against head winds, as well as in running free before fair winds and holding up and pointing well with wind abeam. The environment tends to regulate, but man alone strives, selects and adapts. To be successful is to utilize personal power in its fulness. Did not Aristotle have this in mind when he said, "To be happy, means to be self-sufficient"-not self-satisfied, but one in whom dwells part of the great Cosmic Spirit of life which we designate as God? The happiest people in the world are the busiest, -engaged in worth-while pursuits. Bishop Cumberland (1632-1718), defending his incessant application to mental activity, made famous the saying, "It is better to wear out than to rust out." Great achievement may be realized by constant application, but the mind is benefited, strengthened and refreshed by change of thought, by the turning from one line of activity to another without wasteful friction; thus inertia is not necessary for rest; and avocations which interest and stimulate are refreshing for a mind working for hours in a deep brain rut of routine. One of the industrious Goethe's maxims was, "Work without haste and without rest," but our word "rest" does not exactly express his idea. Americans, more than any other people on earth, need to heed and reflect upon Goethe's advice to work hard and efficiently without nervous and wearing hurry; without fuss and undue anxiety; without that strenuosity in the wake of which follow the waste of rest, dissipation and time lost in the recuperation of physical powers. "Haste not, let no thoughtless deed "Rest not, Life is sweeping by, When these forms have pass'd away." Mental idleness is not rest. It is apt to develop mental laziness and prove more tiring than work. The old Romans had a proverb, "It is difficult to rest if you are doing nothing." The miserable people in the world are never the busy workers; they are not the active, up-struggling poor, but rather the blasé, world-weary, down-gravitating people who, ignoring opportunities and courting idleness, spend their useless lives "going over the face of the earth vainly seeking to escape the shadow of their own disgust." Griggs has said that "he who fails to contribute in some form to society as much as he takes from it, has failed of ordinary honesty and is to be regarded as a pauper or a thief, whatever his wealth may be." The pessimists of the world are the sick, the immature, the unbalanced and the ignorant. The first class should be considered pathologically, although |