CHAPTER EIGHT.
"GOOD-BYE!" So, upon the verge of sorrow Stood we blindly hand in hand, Whispering of a happy morrow In the undiscovered land! The world is not half so bad a place as some discontented people make out.
Our fellow-mortals are not _always_ striving after their own interests, to the neglect of their duty towards their neighbour:--the mass of humanity not entirely selfish at heart--no, nor yet the larger portion of it, by a good way! Of course, there are some ill-natured people.

Blisters, are these; moral cataplasms imposed on us, probably, to produce that very feeling we admire, acting as they do by contrast--one of the most vivifying principles of mental action.
But, when we come to calculate their percentage, how very few they are in comparison with the better-disposed numbers of God's creatures that live and breathe, and sicken and die in our midst, and whose kindly ministrations on behalf of their suffering brethren and sisters around them, remain generally unknown, until they are far beyond any praise that the world can give.
Yes, humanity is not so debased, but that its good points still excel its bad! Just as you see but one real miser in a fixed proportion of men; so, are there, I believe, quite as small a representative set of absolutely heartless persons.

I am certain that the "good Samaritans" outvie the "Levites" in our daily existence--opposed, though my theory may be, to the ruling of the old doggerel, which cautions us that-- "'Tis a very good world to live in, To spend and to lend, and to give in; But, To beg, or to borrow, and to get a man's own, 'Tis the very worst world that ever was known!" Look at my present case, for instance.

Of course, personal instances are, as a general rule, wrong; but, one cannot very well argue without them--especially when telling a story, and when they come up so opportunely in front of one's nose, so to speak.
No sooner was it generally known in Saint Canon's that I was going away, than I met with offers of sympathy and assistance from many that I did not expect.

I did not require their aid, yet, the proffer of it could not help being grateful to one's feelings, all the same.
There was Horner now.