Mistakes In Life

There is no more proliüc causo of ro pining nnd dlpoontènt in life than i iuund iu lookiug back upoo by gone inistiikes. The word "ii" is on a!l our lips in accounting for the vnrious evili vvhk-h beset us, ;iud wc are fond of per suadin'g puraelves nnd othcrs ihat coulr eertain crises Lave been decided difieren tly our wholo oourse io life woulc have been onoof ünniiogled buccoí-s, hfftead of the partial ftüluio that it so frequently appears. This mclancliolv review is nut vli lly erroneouH. Noue can teil how weili!y may be the resulta of even trifling actious, tor how much of the futuro is bour.d up in every day deotsioos, Wo can nover calmly review our pat lifo without being conscious of bavmg fallen lar short of the ideal with wliich tfe stárted, and compared with wbich the leality seema indeed but a coníused medley of unfuiished beginnings. J.üe great error men makc in tlus revisión is in i.ttributing thcir failures to circuuistances, iustead of to cliaraoter. - Thcy see the mistakes whic-h üo ou the surface, but fail to trace them b:ick to tbe sources from which they spring. Tho tiuth is that crises are tbo occasiona for bringiog out predomiuatim puiuts of charncter. Tbey are testj öf tho naturo and qanlitics oí' tlo ninri, jatber tban causes of future tuccess or failure. Chances are'losr, aud opportu nities wasted ; advisera i.l chosen, and disastrous spi culatioiis undeitaken ; unhapjiy attiichments furmed ai.d ili-sortec marriag8 contracted ; but thcre-ia nothing propcrly accideiüal in these steps. They aro to be résarded as tbo results of anbalaoced eharacter as rauch as causes of future inisery. Tho d spoi tion of miad tbat led to tbeee eirors would, under otber circumstances, have ld to different, but not le:-8 larueutable resulta. We se tliij clcarly in judging of olhers. VlTe attribute their nnschances without comjmhctions to tho faulis that wo soe in them, and Bomctimcs ven míike cruel inisíakcs in the iimstigation; but in reviewing our onn coursc, seiflovc draws a vei! over our impcrfections, and we persuade ourfclves tbat unavoiduble misiakcsor ui, fortúnate circurastanpes are the entire cause of all our misfortunes. This spirit of inincl foou leads us to impl:catu also friends and cocneetion?, and where blame ís nevi'.able, to llirow it upou ethers, raíher than to ;iccept our íull share. If ;i mistake w ackDOwledged, the responsibiüty is sbifted ting defects too g'aring lo be cn'ire y ígnored, they are usually blamed lipón a defective education, and tho guardians of youth are mude tho solu oñottiere, - It is truc that no circumst mees uro ways favorable ; no training perfoetly judicious ; no {rienda wbolely wise; - vet he who is cvcr sbifting the Llame of his misuliunces u on these ex'.ernal causea, is the very man who has tho most reasm to trate them to his owu inhoreut weakness or demeiits. It is qucstionablo whether the habit of looking muuh at uiistakes, even of our own, is a very profilable one. Cet taiuly tho practice of nioaning ovcr and bewnüing them, aud charging upon ibem all the evils that aíllict us is most injurious to our futuro course, and the greatest hindr.ince to any real ímprovcincnt oí character. Aeting from impulse, and not from reason, is one of the chief causes of these mistakts, and ho nho would avoid them in the future will submit all i ís sudden impulses to tho eearching and peuetrating ordeal of hisbeít reason before acting upon them. Above all, tbe steady formation oí' virtuous habits, the BubjeotioB of all action to principie rather tban policy ; the stem and uniinching adberence to right as far aud as fust as it is discovereii, are the best safeguards ugainst raistakes in life. If these are cultivatod and observed, vc shall look back upon past error?, not to aciiHian tliem or to blatno othcrs fór them, but only as a meana of avoiding them i n the futuro, by controlling tlie evil and developing tbo good poi;its of our character.