the public are not competent to judge, and consequently commendation or censure is often strangely misapplied.
But we must pursue this side of the picture no farther. Let us turn away from it, and forget it. On its reverse, we may find a few green spots, an occasional oasis, or some wild flower. It is a comfort to rest after toil, to feast after fasting, and to sleep after watching. It is pleasant to meet friends, and enjoy their cheerful greetings and social intercourse, or share with them their anxieties and mingle our tears with their sorrows. When there is no excess of cold, none of heat, and no pelting storm without to annoy us, it is pleasant to go abroad on a visit, to breathe the pure air and enjoy the variegated beauties and perfumes of nature; and if on such an occasion we happen to see others, whom we have helped to raise from a languishing bed, partaking of the same enjoyment, it greatly enhances our own happiness. And if the pecuniary compensation for all our labors enables us to supply the wants of our families, we are satisfied. But the most precious reward which the
