OUR LOTS IN LIFE.
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f I had only been born in some other position! If I had the advantages that my friend ——— has! If I had been endowed with such talents as so and so possesses! If I had enjoyed as uninterrupted prosperity as such and such a one! If I had been allowed as much leisure as this or that person! If I were not tormented by so many petty vexations! If I had not been bowed down by such heavy trials, ah! then, indeed, I might have been a very different being from what I am! Then I should have been full of hope and spirit, full of patience and thankfulness; then I should have accomplished great ends in life; then I should have filled a worthy place in the world; yes, then I should have been quite contented!" Is not that the daily complaint of thousands, sometimes loudly spoken, often unuttered, though deeply felt?
To murmur against our lots in life, as though they had been distributed by some blind chance, is the very commonest of the darling sins which we hug to our thankless hearts; the favorite de-
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