On all sides we may see that the stern laws which are necessary
to our development may become exhaustive and destructive,
passing beyond a given limit, as in athletics a man may be
overtrained. And all this is just as true of our moral as it
is of our physical and intellectual nature. A fair share of
hardship develops heroic qualities, but when existence becomes
too hard it breaks the spirit; the child cruelly treated becomes
cowed; men and women bred in misfortune’s school become timid,
nervous, cowardly. So, if heaven did not temper life, the finer
qualities could never be developed in us. Burdens too heavy
to be borne would break our heart; temptations too fiery, or
protracted, wear out our patience; sorrows too acute drink
up our spirit. Overborne by unmitigated pressure, we should
lose all faith, courage, hope; nothing would be left to us but
atheism, cynicism, despair.--W. L. WATKINSON, “The
Transfigured Sackcloth.”
(2282)